Enhance your home’s ambience
STRATEGIC: INCORPORATE PLANTS INTO YOUR DECOR
Whether your style is minimalist, industrial or contemporary, there’s a plant that will fit in perfectly.
There is an art to styling indoor plants. They are as much a part of the decor as pictures, ornaments, lighting and furniture. It is all about composition, colour, texture, and shape. The added benefit is that plants improve indoor air quality which is so important because we spend so much more time indoors.
Choosing plants
Plants can act as focal points, with interesting leaf shapes, colours and patterns that draw attention. It is also necessary for the plant to fit in with the room’s ambiance and look.
Indoor plants with bold, simple leaf shapes, such as spear shaped Sansevieria or spikey Zamioculcas are at home in a contemporary, minimalist or industrial style decor, while more traditional decor favours ficus, ferns, and flowering plants, such as begonias and phalaenopsis.
Try this: Zamioculcas, better known as the ZZ plant, is a castiron plant like the aspidistra, but a lot trendier.
It grows in low or artificial light and low humidity, with minimal watering. Keep the large green leaves looking shiny by feeding with pot-plant food every six months.
Size ma ers
Use large plants to fill bare corners, such as delicious monster (Monstera deliciosa), a graceful bamboo palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens) or indoor ficus trees.
Just match the plant to the amount of available light.
For smaller spaces use hanging plants, like ferns, creeping Philodendron scandens or fuchsia, if the light is good enough. Try this: delicious monster is one of the traditional indoor plants that is coming back into fashion for its bold, beautiful leaves. These plants can grow for years indoors with the minimum of care. They just need a light place but no direct sunlight. The soil can dry out moderately between watering. With some support plants can grow upwards and fill a large space.
Different heights
For visual interest, place plants at different heights in a room.
This can be on floating shelves, a bookcase, on steps, and on a plant stand. This allows trailing plants to hang down, while others send spikes upward.
Pair them with stacked books, bookends, modern sculptures, or tall ornaments. It creates texture and adds personality.
Try this: Peperomia has rumpled, velvety leaves in rich colours, from various shades of green, to maroon or light pink red. This long-lasting foliage plant looks good in a shallow bowl. To make the most of their rich colours, place plants in medium light. Keep the soil moist but not waterlogged. From spring to autumn, feed monthly with a liquid fertiliser.
Surprise!
Use plants in unexpected areas like the bathroom, a passage or the kitchen. Bathrooms are a great space for greenery. The humidity, and low-to-medium light is ideal for tropical species like peace lilies (Spathiphyllum), ferns and orchids.
Try this: Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily) is a compact, well-shaped plant that fits into any decor style. It filters unpleasant odours and produces clean oxygen. Needing only low light, it’s ideal for bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchens. Water once a week, and don’t over water. It is sensitive to cold.
Choose pots carefully
The type of pot is almost as important as the plant.
It needs to be in proportion to the plant and suit its character. For instance, pots with straight sides are contemporary. Some people opt for an eclectic variety of pots and that will work if everything fits in with the overall colour scheme and ambiance.
Try this: for a dramatic, modern look plant Sansevieria in a bold, colourful pot. It needs almost no care, thrives in bright indirect light as well as medium light. Do not over water. It releases oxygen at night.
For more information visit www.plantimex.co.za