Indoor Greenery!

-Ar. Alex Shrestha

Indoor gardens have become a growing trend for various reasons, from our desire to get back in touch with nature to an attempt to lead a healthier lifestyle. Either way, indoor plants are fabulous in enhancing the architectural space! They benefit you physically, psychologically, add color and greenery to your homes and fill your life with fresh fragrance.
And, just because you have a small or no garden space doesn›t mean you cannot have greenery in your homes or offices. Indoor gardening is also ideal for fostering plants not native to a particular outdoor climate while providing you a whole new way to get creative with greenery that you can enjoy all year round.

Benefits of Greenery in Living Space
Indoor environment: Aside from the aesthetic appeal of flowering plants and foliage, plants also influence the indoor temperature, making your room nice and cool. Plants also increase the overall humidity of a room making it more pleasant especially in dry climates.
Natural air cleaner: Poorly ventilated rooms often contain pollutants that cause eye irritation, lung and upper respiratory problems, allergies, colds and viruses. Going green improves air quality of your room by removing harmful toxic gases from carpets, wallboards, paint, electronics and cleaning chemicals.
Reduced illness: Looking at green plants also significantly lowers blood pressure, reducing stress within minutes and is therefore effective for sleep, agitation, and cognition of dementia patients.
Increased productivity: Indoor plants increase productivity by giving out oxygen while taking in carbon dioxide from your room’s air, resulting in improved concentration and creativity for you. Plants also absorb noise thus calming nerves.
Increased sales for your business: Retail customers also tend to visit shops with greenery more often, stay longer, and perceive the products quality to be much higher. Spaces with interior landscaping appear more chic, inviting and more comfortable.
Inexpensive facelift: You can also conceal what you don’t want to reveal; construction flaws, ugly wires and cables are easily camouflaged with live foliage.  Plants can also be used to define traffic patterns or demarcate a work space without expensive barriers.

Greenery in your Living Area
Space and natural lighting will likely be the biggest factors in determining the location of your indoor garden. These gardens do not need to be large or expensive to make an impressive statement. And often a beautiful plant, few ferns or creeping plants in striking containers will do the trick to liven your interior.
Knowing your plants’ preferences for light, water and a few other things will keep them healthy and happy. It is better to purchase a plant which requires the same environmental conditions your indoors has to offer than to alter the environment of your home or office to suit the plants. 
People who live in apartments can also have a beautiful garden. You can use your patio or balcony to have an indoor garden where you can relax and enjoy greenery in a concrete city!  You can find beautiful ivy and flowering plants and place hooks to hang these from an overhang. You can also get tall plant holders or holders of different heights to give a tiered look and fill them with colorful flowers and greenery. These can be placed in your patio, balcony or even in the living room.
Rooftops allow you to own your small, private oasis in the middle of the city. The greenery allows a fascinating definition of your garden space, privacy and protection, and creates the illusion of a floating Eden. You can also enhance your indoor garden by placing wrought iron chairs and tables and bordering the space with potted plants.

Highlighting your Plants
A courtyard can also be the stage of showcasing your indoor greenery; you can relax in this space, listen to the rain and feel the breeze sweeping with the company of your beautiful plants. Sculptures are a nice way to create a focal point and add interest with upscale style. Fountains are also a soothing way to evoke peace and tranquility throughout your indoor garden.
Rock gardens provide a beautiful organic element to compliment your greenery. You can use white rocks or sand to create contrast against the foliage by highlighting the plant forms and colors in your garden. 
Lighting plays an important role in creating depth and composition, setting a mood, providing security and highlighting your indoor garden. One way to create drama is to use subtle accent up-lights to feature your beautiful greenery.

Designing your Indoor Greenery
The space: Finding a permanent place for plants will help you not having to move your greenery around the house when the seasons change. Also, select a relatively low-traffic location as too much motion can disturb the plants’ environment and cause unwanted soil spills.
Natural Light:  Look for open spaces that receive indirect sunlight; though some plants will prosper in full sunlight, many will actually burn in it. Place the plants outside during the summer to give them a much needed boost of energy and rotate your plants to ensure upright growth since most plants bend toward the light. As a general rule, you want to incorporate plants that require a medium to low light.
Ventilation & Humidity: All plants benefit from air flow, so position them near windows or oscillating fans to foster air and humidity flow around your plants. Make sure plants are not exposed to a direct air flow for too long as it can dry the plant out. Low moisture leads to curling and dry leaves, if you are going to spray your plants, do it in the morning. A humidifier can be used during the winter while your heater is on.
Water: Every plant has different needs when it comes to watering, so research about your plant and its watering needs. Be sure to wet the soil fully, but be careful not to over-water your plant. All types of houseplants thrive best with natural sources of water, whenever possible, capture rainwater for your plants or use distilled water rather than tap water.
Containers:  Choose containers big enough for their particular plants and make sure they drain well; standing water in container bases can cause deadly root rot. Plastic containers also retain humidity better than clay or terracotta containers. A good quality, loose potting soil should contain all the nutrients your houseplants will need for at least eight to 10 weeks.
Natural pesticides & fertilizing: To keep your family and pets safe, combat houseplant pests with natural pesticides such as dish soap, alcohol and hot peppers. Fertilize quickly growing plants every two to three months. On the other hand, dormant plants do not need to be fertilized at all.
Care for your houseplants, and they’ll care for you!