Bringing the outdoor world into your home isn’t difficult, you just need to find the right botanical element to fit with the style of your space and the right location for your plants to flourish.

To get started, here are some basic tips to help you determine the best botanicals for your interior and some tips for choosing containers, materials and a list of important tools to use.

1) Location, Light & Temperature

Access your home to understand its bright and not so well-lit spaces. Which alcove or corridor needs a touch of green? Think about the rooms you spend plenty of time in, or that romantic spot at the balcony which requires some soft green touch, or that unexpected spot that could benefit from a little brilliant green project, like the stairways or the front door.

2) Plant types

Plants appeal to us in various ways. It can be its colour, texture or shape or whether it’s something soft and lush like moss or something striking and geometric like succulents. You can choose to work with a single plant or an assortment of different plant types. You might also want to create more everlasting features from dried flowers, twigs or pressed cuttings. Any approach is best kept simple and subtle, blending softly into your living space to create that wonderful natural experience.

Some interesting plants types to choose from other than regular house plants:

a) Aquatic plants – Suspended beneath the water surface, or swaying subtly while submerged. A sense of ephemeral lightness  in spatial experience is evoked when the floating aquatics are lit perfectly under ambient lightings.

b) Ferns – Simple in form, but the leafy fronds, rich in structure and form, are complex and geometric by nature. They are well complimented by their natural forest brethren, the moss and lichens. Dating back millions of years, they evoke an air of ancient ambience. These natural wonders are the model plants for indoor décor as they thrive in low-light environments and low humidity.

c) Moss & Lichen – Dating back longer than the ferns, you are dealing with one of the oldest forms of living things on Earth. The Lush greens  of different mosses and the spectrum of grays and greens of lichens are examples of nature’s incredible palette. They add a delightful garden texture and ambience to your home.

d) Succulents and Cacti – They are the sculptures of the natural world. The stoic stillness of their presence gives a natural calmness to any interior space. There are a myriad of cacti and succulents species boosting a hosts of shape, size and texture. There is also a wide range of colour palette to choose from when using succulents for your project. The succulent and cacti are the natural alternatives to regular house plants.

e) Tillandsia – These plants are intriguing and sculptural in form. Their spikey leaves, perfectly neutral, muted, matte gray-green colour suits many interiors. These plants grow in all directions in the wild, and are commonly know as air plants because  they appear to grow in thin air.

f) Vines – Vines are creepers that grow wildly in a mad tangle, as if it was taking over the space. However, they are a great botanical surprise worth discovering. They can be arranged in a variety of ways. The traditional potted topiary can be relaxed into various shapes beyond the ball by training them on a trellis, column or mesh to prevent chaos.

3) Container, walls or glass boxes

You must choose the most suitable way to capture the brilliance of the plants that you are using. Pots, concrete, blocks, glass, cups, stone and simple clay. Plants and their containers have a symbiotic relationship where one complements the other. There are many creative ways to cultivate plants, not necessarily in containers, but on trellises ,wire mesh, columns, aquariums and many more.

4) Essentials

We list the materials every live plants need to flourish and grow. a) Charcoal b) Drainage stones c) Fertilzers d) water e) soil

5) Complimentary elements

Some complementary elements to consider when you start your green project. a) river stones b) waxed twine c) sand d) natural twigs e) coloured stones f) ribbons g) ropes h) pots I) streamers

6) Tools, of Course!

a) bonsai shears b) bamboo tongs c) skewers d) fork f) gloves g) garden shears h) spoons I) straws

7) Maintenance

You will need that extra bag of soil, that bag of fertilizers and spray bottle or mister if you want your plant to flourish. So Start on your project today !

Stay tuned to read our easy-to-do kick starter green projects to help you find your green fingers !