Design a Plant Room
If you love indoor plants, then putting together your own plant room can be a great stress-relieving hobby. If you don't have an outdoor garden, creating a plant room can offer year-round gardening opportunities. You can even add a few edible plants or herbs. A well-designed plant room can also become a place where you can relax, meditate or even entertain guests. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Choose a room with good lighting--lots of windows will help. Find out where in the room plants will be exposed to maximum sunshine. If you live in a hot or desert climate, make sure that your plants will not be placed in direct sunlight if the heat will be too intense. Otherwise, go for the most light you can get.
2. Create as many surfaces to hold plant material as you can. Shelves and tables are good choices for smaller plants. Larger plants can stand in big pots on the floor. Ornamental plant stands can be excellent additions to a well-designed plant room.
3. Plan out the overall layout of the room. Designing a plant room is not much different than designing an outdoor garden. You will want to create paths among the plants to move through the room comfortably. You may also want to add some furniture so that you can relax and enjoy being surrounded by your own indoor jungle.
4. Protect surfaces while adding moisture to the air. Set pebble-filled trays and saucers on floors and other flat surfaces. Draining water from pots will help keep a light film of water collected at the base of the stones. This water will evaporate and raise the humidity of the room-something that will help plants to grow lush. The trays and saucers will protect the surfaces beneath from water stains. Just make sure the bottom of all containers rest above the water line and on top of the stones. Plants need air coming through those drainage holes because their roots will rot if they're immersed in water.
5. Use colorful pots or pot covers to spice up your plant room. Cane, bamboo and rattan baskets will add an exotic or tropical feel to your room. Another idea might be to mix Roman or Greek sculptures and embossed pots to design a formal and classical plant room.
6. Design larger plants in groups where foliage shapes and colors will complement each other. Smaller plants can also be clustered to create the look of ground cover.
7. Add a fan to keep air from becoming stagnant. Keep it small. You just want to create a mild air current.
8. Set up grow lights in dark corners. The lighting supplement can give a boost to some of the plants that are not located right near bright windows or glass doors. The light can also be effective on gloomy days, but make sure grow lights are turned off at night so plants have a rest period.
9. Add some decor to your plant room. Since curtains and dark painted walls will rob your plants of needed light, keep your walls light-colored and windows unobstructed. Instead, decorate your plant room with stained-glass ornaments, a trickling fountain or maybe a dangling mobile.
10. Design your plant room so it is comfortable for the plants and for you. If you use your imagination, you can create a room that will offer hours of indoor gardening fun and delightful relaxation.
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