Large Indoor Plants – Indoor plants are an interior design accessory back in fashion. There are many new houseplant varieties now available, as well as the old favorites, providing a bewildering choice of size, form and color to complement any interior design theme.
If you are starting your design from scratch think about plants and containers early, as plant displays are relatively inexpensive they may be used to replace more expensive items such as artwork and help with your budget.
Poinsettia – The symbol of Christmas outdoors is the Holly with its bright red berries. Indoors it is now the Poinsettia (proper name Euphorbia pulcherrima) with its large, scarlet flower-heads. This was not always so – in the early 1960s it was a tall-growing shrub which was distinctly difficult to keep in leaf or flower in the average home. Things have changed – modern varieties are bushier, more attractive and much less delicate – in addition modern chemicals are used to keep the plants small. The result is that the Poinsettia of today is compact (1-1,5 ft high) and the flowers (which are really colored bracts) should last for 2-6 months.
The Croton (Codiaeum) is a popular house plant and its attraction is obvious – vivid foliage colors and varied leaf shapes. Stiff leaves are borne on an upright plant – the usual pattern is large and lobed foliage on which there are distinctly colored veins. A tough-looking plant in the shop or garden center, but before you buy one of the hybrids of Codiaeum variegatum pictum you must make sure that you can satisfy its fussy requirements. It will need a fairly constant temperature which will not drop below 60°F and it will need high air humidity.
There are several types of Ivy – German Ivy, Swedish Ivy, Ground Ivy etc. Here we are dealing with the ‘True’ Ivies plants which are all varieties of Hedera. These Ivies thoroughly deserve their good reputation as decorative plants, and have long been a basic feature of Pot Groups. As climbers they can quickly clothe bare surroundings, provided you choose a vigorous Hedera helix variety.The stems bear aerial roots which cling to wallpaper, woodwork etc. The larger leaved, slower growing Canary Island Ivy does not possess these clinging aerial roots, so adequate support is necessary.
Ivies are not only climbers. They are just as useful as trailers in hanging baskets or as ground cover plants between larger plants, and it is here that the smaller bushy varieties come into their own. Examples of suitable types are Eva, Glacier and Needlepoint Ivy.
