39 INDOOR PLANTS

B. Loganayaki

Introduction

The technique of growing indoor plants are called as interiorscaping. It means giving a touch of natural landscape to an interior. Rapid urbanization, increase in population speedy technological progress along with other social changes have all contributed to move man away from nature. It thus becomes the duty of an interior designer to try and bring man closer to nature.

Plants are living things. It therefore needs love and care, while selecting indoor plants. Also must study the plants which can live in limited, diffused or filtered sunlight. There must be air movement around their foliage and a humid atmosphere. In a well-lighted and airy room ,one can find the charm of their growth and colourful flowering beauty. Tto have more charm and attractions we must study various types of plants and learn to decorate different types of covered spaces, for example, a drawing room of a house, a most decorated and beautiful space , can be made more appealing and elegant by using indoor plants with right container and appropriate stand, instead of a costly decorative piece. Generally a drawing room has a cool environment and no direct sunlight for which ferns, philodendrons, begaonia, bonsai and anthuriums are suitable.

The quality of an ideal indoor plants are that they

1. Should be evergreen.

2. Must be able to tolerate wide variations in temperature.

3. Should grow well in containers.

4. Must be able to tolerate a certain degree of neglect by the owner.

Objectives of Indoor Plants:-

Indoor plants are the link between the world and nature.
They are valuable tools for the designers as they can be used as room dividers or visual barriers.
Can make small rooms appear larger by leading the eyes into the corners of such rooms.
Plants can introduce colour, pattern and texture into an interior.
Plants are very important ecological aids to control glare, filter noise, dust and fight pollution by absorbing gases from the air.

History of Indoor Plants:-

The use of plants in interiors is not a new trend. The Egyptians were among the earliest to grow plants in containers and Cleopatra carried potted palms on her barge. The Chinese grew them in earthenware pots. The Babylonians were expert gardeners and grew trees in pots. Even in Europe, the fan palm and the boy laurel have been popular for centuries. Indians have always subconsciously loved to keep potted plants in their homes, especially in balconies and on parapet walls; and at the entrance to any place of feast or festival.

Selection of Indoor Plants:-

The plants can be obtained from nurseries either personally or by direct mail. It is preferable to purchase plants from a local nursery. Here are a few guidelines to select a good plant.

Find out a reliable nursery by asking friends and other plant lovers.
Examine the plants before purchasing.
Do not opt for freshly received plants as they have undergone a trauma (shock) during transit and require time to settle down.
Purchase the indoor, especially delicate plants, in spring or rainy season to avoid the strain imposed by extreme heat or cold during their transit, replantation and settling down.
Purchase the potted plants and not the ones to be pulled from the soil and then planted in pots or wrapped in straw for carrying away, to obviate trauma and damage to plants.
Check if the plants have been watered properly. See the soil in the pot is not too dry.
Examine the undersides of leaves, lower stems and branches for pests, insects and other problems. If purchased with such problems, the whole garden will get affected.
Flowering plants are not suited to Indian indoors. If there is any preference for flowering plant, seek the one with many buds. Avoid plants in full bloom with no further buds, except in the case of spiked plants.
Go for plants with firm and brightly coloured foliage.
Inspect roots emerging from the drain holes. Avoid the plants with too many roots.
Mature plants adapt to their surroundings quickly and smoothly.
Match the plants to their environment considering temperature, light, humidity and other factors.

Principles of Interior Decoration:-

While using plant as an element of interior decoration, we must take care of the principles of interior decoration like proportion, scale, colour, harmony, contrast, texture etc. For example, two plants of same height, size, shape and variety may not provide good composition. Some times more than two plants in the form of cluster, can be point of attraction but this grouping must be done in a way they must compliment each other. In general, height and colour of plants are two aspects, which have to be kept in our mind as the element of interior decoration. Plant can be used at every place of the house or building provided it is suitable to the environment of the place. The walls of the various functional spaces can act as background for the plant. For darker background, we can use the plants of light colour flowers and leaves. The green colour of the plant foliage can accept any colour of back ground. First we must decide the plant and place to decorate and then decide the colour of each other. background. Even after this decision, we must analyse each plant with respect to neighbouring elements to get pleasing arrangements. At the same time, we have to take care about proportions while decorating with plants, otherwise whole thing may look clumsie. For example, there must be sufficient space all around a large plant otherwise they will look squeezed between the furnitures. A huge palm tree with overhanging fronds will look wonderful in a high ceiling room. Therefore it is a must that plants and the furnishings must compliment

Planters for Indoor Plants:-

In recent years, a large variety of materials have been used to make planters, i.e, containers for growing indoor plants. The advantages of these are that they are small units, and being light, can be moved easily to any position and there is less chance for leakage.

The selection of containers for plant is also very important. There are numerous varieties with respect to form, colour, material, size, texture and shape of containers. A metallic or ceramic container will be more expensive than a container of terracotta but it may be simpler and more elegant. The container must be in harmony with the furniture and inner environment. One have to avoid the bright coloured and heavily decorated pots, which may lower the natural foliage and colour beauty of plants. maintenance must also be considered. The size must be co – related with the size of plants, so as to get a right balance between the plant and pot. The pot materials may be terracotta, ceramic, brass, bamboo, fibre glass, plastic and other metals. Moisture resistant wood like cedar or marine plywood may be used for larger containers. We can make the pot holders or stands of different metals and materials to raise it from the floor.

Pot Culture:-

Pot culture means growing plants in containers such as earthern pots, ceramic pots, torumpole, a support covered with sphagnum moss, big sized bottles with narrow mouth called terrarium.

Advantages of Pot Culture:-

It has unique beauty of its own.
It can be cultivated under regulated temperature and humidity.
Special requirements of certain plants can be attended.
The pots are helpful in increasing the desired effect inside the house or outside the garden.
The garden may be brought inside the house by shifting the potted plants.
It supplements the total land available for cultivation.
Pots can be placed in rocky or poor soils where direct cultivation is not possible
For those living in the upper storey’s and in houses with lack of outdoor space, this is the cheap method of gardening.

Places where the indoor plants are kept is discussed below:

Open zone

The interior decorator has to select the place according to plant and the flower pot with respect to form, material, shape, colour, size and shining to make it more elegant. The place may be on floor, counter tops, show-wall unit or on the window sill. To save space, some times the plants are hanged from the ceiling of balcony, room, lobby, foyer etc. For hanging purpose we can select, hibiscus, bougainvilliea, asparagus, pilleas, ixora etc. which are quite suitable. Passage and stair cases are generally featureless, narrow and dull spaces. Some times, plant collection on the roof terrace gives attraction and provide a change in environment. Plants always welcome everyone and provide a colourful life. Bougainvillea is a plant which can be used in pot or to hang from ceiling or as a climber on the wall. This plant can grow multicolour in one pot or bougainvillea of two-three colours can becombined on one plant by budding process.

Shade of a tree (or) in front of a house:

Such places near the eastern side of the building may be considered for growing certain house plants which can easily come up under shade. Eg: Crotons, Dracena, Asperagus, Neem, Ashoka.

Bed room

Plants and creepers can be used to get filter light within the various functional spaces, particularly in the bed room. This way an interior decorator may get success in adding a feeling of coolness and restfulness to the bedroom. We can arrange these plants inside the room before the window or out side the window. Some time visual screen can be developed with the help of creepers before the windows from outside, which provides life with colourful flowers and sweet smell. Sansevieria, diffenbachia-picts, green varieties of arnalias and aglaonemas plant decorate the dark corners of the house. These are various species of aglaonemas which can grow in shallow containers to prove ideal indoor plants.

The plants can be kept near the windows. Herbaceous flowering plants and foliage like Zebrina are preferred.

Bathroom:-

Diffenbactias have handsome compacted foliage and are slow growing plants. Therefore the plants can be used even in bathrooms and toilets to improve their beauty or for decoration. When looked at the mirror, the reflection of plants foliage provides a very charming look. These plants work as screen to toilet. Here other plants like epicias, rubber plants, fern, money plants can be used to get greenry in toilets.

Maintenance of Indoor Plants

The health of indoor plants basically depends on their potting, watering, feeding, and protection against insects and pests.

Potting

The pots must be always porous in nature, sothat the plant roots can have free circulation of air. The best material is non glazed earthernware. The pot should not be painted which would cover the pores.

1. Start with the smallest container the plant will fit in. Excess moisture in a large pot will force a small plant to produce more roots than aerial parts. Drainage holes can be made in plastic containers with a hot iron rod.

2. The drainage hole must allow water to drain, but keep the soil in; broken pieces of clay pots with a thin layer of pebbles or nylon mesh will accomplish this.

3. The soil mixture and layering the containers are the most important. The container mix must have air in it after the water has drained. Roots require air for respiration and growth. In heavy soil, the space between the soil particles is small, and when it is watered, the air is forced out of these spaces. So in a container mix, there should be large and small pores to permit free passage of air after watering. The addition of vermiculite, a mineral product, increases the water retentive quality of the soil mix which is very important.

4. Now cover drainage holes with nylon mesh. Add a 5 cm thick layer of drainage crocks and fill up with container mix as shown. The nylon mesh stops the fine soil from draining out.

Repotting:-

This should be done to prevent the plants becoming pot bound i.e. when the roots are packed very tightly in the pot. Otherwise the plants will suffer from lack of food, growth will be poor and they will dry out rapidly and require frequent watering.

Remove the plant from its pot by turning it upside down and tapping the rim of the pot on the edge of a bench. Place enough soil in the new pot and the plant is placed in it. Plants potted in spring and summer will quickly root into the new components because of the warm weather. This process is called as repotting.

Watering:-

As a general principle, it is best to give heavy doses at well spaced intervals.

Based on their water needs, most plants can be classified as:

Plants that prefer to remain moist and these should never be allowed to dryout.
Certain plants, in fact most indoor plants, like to dry out partially between watering.
Certain plants, for example, cactii and other succulents, like to dry completely between watering.

Frequency of Watering:-

The frequency depend on nature of plants.

. Plants require frequent watering

1. When they are actively growing.

2. When grown in clay or other porous containers.

3. In small pots, where roots fill the pot.

4. On warm sunny days.

Plants need less water

1. When resting.

2. When newly potted/repotted.

3. In large pots or in non-porous containers, eg. plastic ones.

4. On cloudy days.

Method of Watering:-

Here hints are given on how to water plants:-

1. Always saturate the soil.

2. Water plants before they wilt.

3. Touch the leaves; if they feel paper dry or limp, they need water. Well watered plant leaves have a springy feel.

4.Water plants slowly because dumping water will cause it to flow straight through the container.

5. If plants have to be left alone for long, fill a tub with water and line the bottom with thick layers of newspapers. Drain excess water. Place plants in the tub. On return, move the plants gradually from the dim light into bright sunlight.

6. Label all plants with a code with reference to their water needs to facilitate easy recognition and future additions.

Feeding / Manuring:-

A liquid fertilizer should be applied every 4 to 6 weeks and every two months in the colder seasons. Plants require nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium which indicates 15 parts of nitrogen, 30 parts of phosphorus and 15 parts of potassium.

Care:-

Some trimming and pruning is necessary to maintain form. All dead material and rubbish must be removed regularly.

Protection from Pests:-

1. Inspect all plants every few days or at the time of watering.

2. Inspect all newly potted plants.

3. Inspect plants moved indoors from the outdoors.

4. Before buying plants, rinse all pots and plants with a sprinkling can or hose.

5. All pests and caterpillars can be picked off by hand or with a pointed tool.

6. Fungi and other growth should be washed or brushed off.

1 Mealybug:-

It is one of the most common tiny grayish-white inanimate-looking insect that gathers in a white woolly clusters on a plant and feeds on the leaf sap. Mealybug in very early stages can be vanquished easily. Dip the cotton swab directly into methylated spirit and then swab down the plant where the mealybug colonies have taken up residence. Spray off with warm water next day. Also mix the spirit in about a 50-50 solution with warm water, and spray it on infected plants.

2 Red Spider:-

It is a much more difficult problem. Unlike mealybugs, can not see the virtually invisible little red spiders. Monthly washing is a good prevention, but if plant gets a bad infestation of red spider, malathion is the only hope. Red spider is almost impossible to cure.

3 Aphids

They are green and black flies. The green ones are the most common pests. Aphids are easily recognizable as small, winged insects that fix themselves to the leaves and do a lot of damage. Get rid of aphids with a good dousing of any general purpose insecticide. Moving plants from inside to outside brings aphids inside. Always examine plants carefully before bringing them in again.

4 White Fly:-

It is perhaps the most elusive of the bugs, being the fastest moving. Move a plant and a host of these minute white insects fly up, hover, and resettle in an instant. Moving the plant outdoors and spraying there is useless because most of the white fly will have found other homes on the way. Spray the infected plant and its neighbours with malathion.

5 Ants:-

Ants are a general nuisance in the home. They loosen the soil in pots and can carry aphids from one plant to another. Ant powders are available that can be used effectively.

Conclusion:-

Plants help us to keep our memory green and must be treated as baby-member of the family. We must give them our love, care and affection. Thus even if we have a space out-side the house, we must have plants. Many species of shrubs can claim a place in an ornamental garden, on account of their attractive foliage and lovely flowers. They usually grow to a height of 6 to 8 feet and live for about 10 years or so.

Shrubs play great part in the garden scheme on account of their permanent nature and character like trees. They form part of the frame work of the garden. They are ameanable to frequent trimming and as such are very suitable for ornamental purpose.

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