Bring the outside in: creating a beautiful indoor garden

We regularly invite design and interiors experts to blog for us. Read the latest guest post here, from pool maintenance expert, Nick Stoyanov.

Winter is at our doorstep. This means that the beautiful summer blooms in your garden are likely a distant memory – with more months to go before they return. However, this is no reason to despair. You can always bring the outside inside, creating a wonderful indoor garden which will keep you smiling through the winter months. With an orangery or garden room being the perfect place to house this little retreat, here are some tips for your first indoor garden!
Choosing the right flowers
Basically, you can put flowers and plants wherever you want. However, if you truly wish to create a small indoor garden, there are several things you have to know.

First of all, space limitation can pose a real problem when it comes to big plants. Although you can still pull it off with enough space, have in mind that they will also require a lot of exposure to light. The outside corner of an orangery is ideal, as the plant will be next to the largest available area of glazing, and will therefore receive the most light possible. Smaller plants can be used to fill gaps between larger foliage and in shadier parts of the room – as long as they do not require as much light.

With that in mind, I would recommend that you opt for plants with similar traits. What do I mean by that? It is necessary to create optimal living conditions that will be adequate for all the plants in the room, therefore it is much easier to have flowers that require similar amount of water and temperature, as it means that they will require similar amounts of care. If you put a lot of different types of flowers in one room, there is a high chance that some of them will wither away as it can be a challenge to remember the requirements of each specimen if you have more than a handful. For example, it is great having roses, alyssum, marigold and begonia in one place; they require roughly the same amount of temperature, light and humidity.
Light
Light is necessary for flower photosynthesis. It provides valuable nutrients that allow them to survive. That being said, this is one of the main factors for consideration.

You will have to place your flowers near the windows. This is the best way to enable them to get the necessary exposure. However, before you do that, you need to make sure that the room will be illuminated for enough hours. Ideally, flowers should get sunlight throughout the whole day. This can be crucial for their survival during winter as cloudy weather buy hydrocodone pakistan will significantly impact the number of available hours. Also, climate of the region is another thing that needs to be considered. Some flowers need more exposure to light than others, therefore it is worth considering how much sun the room in which they are placed gets – it might be best to opt for plants which prefer shade if you have a north facing garden room, as sunlight will be limited to the side of the house.
Temperature
Temperature is the main reason why you should have similar plants in the same room. While you can modify water intake and light, there is very little you can do for temperature.

Simply put, different plants prefer different ambient temperatures. On average, that temperature is between 15 to 20 degrees. This is where home heating can pose a big issue. You will have to find a way to regulate it so it’s comfortable for both you and your plants. The  best way of  mitigating damage to plants is to firstly, as above, make sure that they like similar climates. Secondly, make sure not to put flowers near sources of heating such as radiators. If you can’t avoid it, make sure to provide some form of isolation so that any direct, intense heat doesn’t dry them out.

Humidity
Even though we’re prone to snow during the winter, this season is much dryer than the summer. Bear in mind that your flowers do not only require water, they also require humidity. WHen the surrounding air is dry, the plant loses moisture – and they can’t always replace it solely by absorbing water through the roots. Generally, the bigger the leaves, the more humidity the plant requires. The best ways to increase the humidity for your plants is by using a humidifier. Alternatively you can regularly mist your plants with warm water, or set the plant on a tray filled with gravel and water – make sure that the water does not cover all the gravel though; this way the plants benefit from a humid microclimate as the water slowly evaporates.

It is not that hard having an indoor flower garden. Yes, it definitely takes some effort but it is definitely worthwhile. Unlike outdoor plants and flowers which are able to bloom on their own in natural conditions, indoor foliage requires a bit of support. With these tips however, you will know precisely what to do!

This blog was contributed by Nick Stoyanov, a pool maintenance expert at forpumps.com.au. 4 Pumps is Australia’s largest online pump store which focuses on the national distribution of its comprehensive range of quality pumping products.