Landscaping for Year-Round Appeal
Plants, with their richly varied foliage and behaviours, can play a starring role in your home and garden.
Each room in your home is a place where a plant can flourish; creating an accent that reminds us of the season and the beauty of nature.
A garden designed with a careful appreciation and understanding of the seasons can provide shade and cool breezes in summer and then filter light through bare branches in winter.
Punctuate with Colour, Decorate with Functionality
Plants play a role indoors in recycling air and creating an ambience that says there’s life in the home. Flowering plants can bring the décor of a room together, transforming a space from something lovely to something loved and lived in.
The orchid phalaenopsis is a delicate flowering plant that lasts up to 3 months with a majestically tall stem that looks especially summery in white, while a cyclamen in one of its many hues of pink brightens up kitchens and bathrooms in the cooler months.
Bathrooms can be cold during winter and the addition of a flowering plant can provide a warm ambience within a room that is giving life to a beautiful living thing.
For kitchens, consider larger bowls of spectacular cyclamens or white bouvardia for its strong but subtly distinct perfume.
Winter is also a time to prepare bulbs or cuttings for spring planting, which can add interest to a kitchen. Try two to four of the same plant or bulb in identical vases or glasses along a bench or window sill. Succulents and avocado pips are an easy option and require only fresh water every so often.
Keep the Outdoors Alive
If you have an outdoor kitchen garden, consider making it portable. You can bring your herbs indoors during the cooler months to a well-lit room and flavour your winter dishes with freshness from your garden.
Plants that are sensitive to the cold should be arranged in pots that can live indoors in well-lit areas of your home. Any plant that you bring indoors will help to keep the air fresh during months when the doors and windows are closed more often than not.
An Indoor Home for Your Garden
A sunroom can provide a naturally warmed living space in winter as well as a home for plants year-round. They’re increasingly popular as an energy-saving option and can also provide a warm place for a kitchen garden or tropical garden to flourish during the colder months.
Another area that can be ideal for an indoor garden is a well-lit entrance hall with a tiled and sometimes drained floor. Aesthetically, it’s a transition from the outdoors and nods its hat to mid-century design, where large leafed succulents and palms dominated landscaping and even textile design.
Where Do I Start?
The first thing you’ll need to assess is the time you have to maintain any indoor living features. Then, take a trip to your local nursery for advice on plants that meet your home décor and lifestyle needs.
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