As the weather gets warmer, I spend more time in the house, at least during the hottest part of the day. At one time I had lots of indoor plants to keep me company. I started collecting them when I was in high school, although my collection didn't explode until my future husband and I got our own apartment in West Los Angeles. He built a floor to ceiling set of shelves to hold plants for me. Unfortunately, I've no photos of it, or my former plant collection. When we bought our first house after we'd both completed graduate school and were working full-time, the plant shelf unit was retired and I spread the plants I had throughout the house. With the house I finally got my own garden and that shifted my attention to outdoor plants. It was a tiny garden but, given that I was a certified (or certifiable) workaholic, it gave me a sufficient outlet for my growing plant addiction. When we moved again two decades later, several months after I retired, we got a house roughly the size of our former townhouse sitting on a half acre lot, which is large by local standards. At that point, my focus shifted almost exclusively to outdoor plants.
As as my house plant collection shrunk, I began cutting more flowers to bring inside than I ever had before.
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I featured this arrangement in my last In a Vase on Monday post but, since then, the second Lilium 'Pretty Woman' opened. I usually have at least 3 fresh flower/foliage arrangements in the house each week.
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Still, during the brutal peak of summer I wish I had a more robust collection of indoor plants. I'll never have a collection anything like those compiled by many of the hard core house plant influencers but our home interior could certainly use a little more green.
Here's a look at my current, rather paltry, indoor plant collection.
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The ever reliable Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema commutatum) on the fireplace hearth in the main bedroom
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Velvet Calathea (Calathea 'Rufibarba') in the laundry room
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A large spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum), also in the laundry room
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Song of India (Dracaena reflexa) and neon pothos (Epipremnum 'Aureum') in the front entry
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Another pothos in the main bathroom
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Variegated Peperomia (Peperomia obustifolia) in my home office
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Peperomia obustifolia 'Golden Gate' on the buffet cabinet in the dining room
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My current favorite house plant, Philodendron 'Birkin', in the living room
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Another Philodendron 'Birkin' and Fatsia japonica in a basket in the bedroom
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My largest and possibly oldest indoor plant, Schefflera arboricola, in the front entry
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A variegated peace lily (Spathiphyllum 'Domino') on a bedroom dresser
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A dried arrangement of plant material from the garden on the living room mantle. The contents include bunny tail grass (Lagurus ovatus), Cape rush (Chrondropetalum elephantinum), and seedheads of a South African lily (Aristea inaequalis).
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Maybe I'll add a couple of large house plants during the course of our interminably long summer. Do you have any favorite houseplants you can recommend?
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material © 2012-2022
by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Love that lily. Great indoor plant collection Kris. Once in a while on Gardeners World the show will feature someone who has indoor plants and they've taken over the entire home. One I enjoy is low-maintenance: Beefsteak Begonia (Erythrophylla). It has roundish leaves that are red on the backside. I love the effect with light passing through.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't familiar with that Begonia but it's a beauty, Susie. I have a few Begonias in my lath house but I've never tried growing them in the house, fearing that it would be too dry. I should give it a try.
DeleteOh my goodness! I laughed at the idea of a baby Fatsia japonica as a house plant. But, then again, why did I? In Sweden, we use both Corokias and Aspidistras as house plants, both of which grow happily in my garden here. I keep saying this, but you make the most beautiful bouquets, Kris!!
ReplyDeleteI've heard of Aspidistras as house plants but you surprised me with the Corokias, Anna. I have one ('Sunsplash') in my front garden and it's about 5 feet tall and still growing. It would make an interesting house plant if it could get by on the light available indoors.
DeleteYour indoor garden looks good. Some classic plants. I like the chartreus-ish Pothos.
ReplyDeleteThat Gardener's World guy with the flat filled with plants--that was really something! Doing so much with so little.
My house plants usually end up outside because they get more attention out there. I've enjoyed my fiddle leaf ficus quite a lot. It's outside for at least the summer. There's one in the neighborhood planted in the ground outdoors, doing well. A couple of Phalaenopsis do well next to a window open most of the time. They seem to like the cool night air (more humidity?) even down in the 50'sF.
I've seen a few segments on Gardeners World focusing on house plant aficionados too - I was impressed and overwhelmed at the same time. I also noticed that the Chelsea garden show featured house plant exhibits last year and again this year. My younger self never managed to create anything on that scale.
DeleteFiddle leaf figs have presence. My impression is that they're finicky but maybe I should try one. All my Phalaeonopsis (and some of my former house plants) have ended up in my lath house because it offers higher humidity. My air plants have gravitated there too...
Reading your post, what struck me was: "Unfortunately, I've no photos of it...". We all had a good life before the digital age, but we weren't documenting it with such enthusiasm. Buying and developing film, having to wait to find out if the picture turned out... assembling it in a photo album (or a shoe box)... it seems like ancient times.
ReplyDeleteI also grow Spathiphyllum, the thirstiest plant I know, plus a collection of Sansevieria, (S. cleopatra being the crown jewel), no hassle plant that thrives on neglect. A nostalgic attachment made me to buy couple of Hoya this past spring.
Chavli
What a different a couple of decades makes! I like having digital records of my garden to look back on but the extreme sharing of every moment on Instagram becomes tedious after a while. Hopefully, a reasonable middle ground will emerge (eventually), Chavli ;) Spathiphyllum's thirst surprised me. I grew a plain old peace lily years ago and I don't remember having to water it once a week or more as I'm doing now.
DeleteYou have a very nice collection of foliage plants. Creates a lovely green space when you have to be indoors. I have way too many houseplants, a majority of them are succulents, that vacation outside for the summer. We are the reverse of you in that I can't spend enough hours outdoors at this time of year. Our warm season is relatively short so need to enjoy it when we can.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that your much colder winters would lead me to accumulate more house plants too, Elaine. Many of my house plants with tropical origins have migrated to my lath house because that environment provides more humidity. If I could justify it - and had space for it - I'd get a greenhouse ;)
DeleteTo me, that is quite a collection of indoor plants! I just don't grow many...and these days they are small succulents. I find watering them such a problem! I forget; they like/don't like where I've put them; they outgrow the pot; then in summer they all have to be moved; on and on! But yes, a Fiddle Leaf I would like to try but am hesitant with all the bad press it has received!
ReplyDeleteIt's odd but, while watering outdoor plants is enjoyable (or rather it was until the intensity of our drought made me feel guilty every time I pick up a hose), I also find watering houseplants a chore. I'm not sure why I've never used succulents as houseplants...I probably should try that!
DeleteSorry, that "Anonymous" was me!
ReplyDeleteThanks for providing the ID, Libby!
DeleteI once had over 60 houseplants, but when it started to feel crowded in here, I cut back their numbers by bringing only the best back inside in the fall. The rest went to the compost heap or were given away. My old faithfuls are dracaenas, walking iris and snake plants. Geraniums in my sunspace get me through the long winter. Eliza
ReplyDeleteI've been looking for Neomarica for years, Eliza! I'd have never thought of the walking iris as a houseplant, though. Draceanas were my mainstay houseplants for years and your comment leaves me wondering why I no longer have any inside.
DeleteSome lush examples of classic indoor plants, Kris, all looking very happy. I can't seem to keep Aglaonema sp. happy! (too cold perhaps) - your specimen is lovely.
ReplyDeleteI grow many 'indoor' plants outdoors undercover (ctenanthe, maranta, sansevieria, spathiphyllum etc and they do well as long as kept dry in winter. My favorite is Ludisia discolor, which is tougher than it looks.
I have a number of "houseplants" in my lath house too, including orchids. I should try a jewel orchid! Tropical plants frequently struggle here as humidity levels are generally especially low during the summer months but I've noticed that's changing of late, perhaps yet another shift related to climate change.
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