planting houseplants

We love our plants in our gardens and in our homes. We carry a wide range of houseplants including Bonsai, orchids, cacti and succulents.

The world of houseplants is often full of surprises. When your outdoor garden is asleep, brighten the gray days with houseplants. Tending indoor plants is a great way to keep your green thumb happy. If you have a love of tropical, unusual plants that can't possibly survive outdoors in our climate, you can make a home for some of these beauties inside your home.

From Aloe to Zygopetalum, we cover the alphabet with choices for your home or office; plants for your brightest window or your darkest corner, those that will love the humidity near your shower or prefer a dry, sunny spot. Orchids, succulents, indoor bonsai and cactus. We have them all.

At our Division store, we offer you a huge greenhouse just for our tropicals, another area for cacti and succulents and a broad conservatory area stocked with every other houseplant you'd ever want! If you don't find what you like, ask us!

Keep your Pets safe.

We all want to keep our pets safe and healthy, so it’s always a good idea to visit the ASPCA website prior to purchasing any houseplant.

houseplants

overwintering

Plants need light to grow so the spot you choose for your houseplant will determine its success. Light intensity and duration are affected by such things as the angle of sunlight through a window, trees or curtains inside and out of the room, and reflective surfaces like mirrors or bright walls. Most houseplants are tropical and therefore prefer bright, indirect natural light. Cacti and some succulents are the exception. They thrive in hot, direct sun year-round.

The amount of light a space receives differs greatly season to season. A rainy winter day at noon may provide 1/20th the brightness of the height of summer. Thus it may be necessary to move your plants to more light in winter, or shadier locales in the summer.

Too much light causes foliage to burn at the edges, or become colorless and wilt.

Too little light can make a plant leggy and cause leaf loss. If you are unable to move the plant to a more ideal location in your home, artificial light may be used to supplement (the lighting must be bright enough to stimulate photosynthesis).

Read more in our handout: Houseplant Light Needs

reseeding

Sometimes it's nice just to get the overview and a quick ID of plants. See if you see your favorite on this page:

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Orchid

Colorful and lush, Cymbidiums make dramatically beautiful houseplants. They’re among the easiest orchids to grow indoors, reliably producing flower spikes covered with up to 30 blossoms, each 2-5 inches across and lasting 8 weeks or more. They are available in a wide range of fantastic color combinations.

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Low Light Plants
  • Aglaonema: Chinese Evergreen
  • Chamaedorea elegans: Parlor Palm, Neanthe bella
  • Epipremnum aureum: Golden Pathos
  • Nephrolepis exaltata: Boston Fern
  • Philodendron: Heart-leaf
  • Rex Begonia
  • Sansevieria: Snake Plant
  • Spathiphyllum: Peace Lilly
  • Syngonium podophyllum Arrowhead Vine
  • Zamioculcas: ZZ Plant

Read more about these plants on our Houseplant ID page.

Houseplants for clean air

We all know how important it is to help clean and maintain air quality outside; but many people don’t realize that indoor air pollution is one of the fastest growing environmental problems we face today. The alarming fact is that electrical equipment, furniture, cleaning products and building materials all release trace amounts of toxins such as carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and benzene (a known carcinogen), into our homes and offices.

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Houseplants for Cleaner Air

overwintering

The main growing season for all plants is March through September. Daylight hours are longer and plants respond by pushing new growth. This is the time to increase watering and to start fertilizing. There are many types of fertilizers to choose from, but you will want to base your decision first on what state the plant is in.

If your plant is a flowering one, say an orchid, you would want to use a fertilizer for ‘flowering’. Conversely, if your plant is not a flowering one, but rather a ‘foliage’ plant, you would want to choose a fertilizer with a profile for leaf growth.

Your decision to choose organic fertilizer or not is more about your personal preference as the plant does not know the difference. Do be careful with over fertilizing in that salts and minerals can build up in the soil causing problems later.

With more daylight hours, your houseplants respond by increasing their photosynthesis. This production of food puts more demand on the plants need for water, which you can monitor by actually touching the soil. Stick your finger in the soil along the side of the pot and feel the soil. Is it bone dry or still damp? This is a better method than a weekly watering program since so many variables occur in your home. A hot sunny window next to an air vent will dry a plant faster than a window with only morning light and still air.

Houseplants can thrive outside during this time of year. This is a great opportunity to lightly hose off dust and generally give plants a break form being cooped up all winter long. Do use caution when moving your plants outside as they will need to be slowly transitioned; the change from inside to outside can shock a plant.

The night time temps need to be mild-warm; watch the daylight as sunlight can be too strong and burn plants that would otherwise be sheltered and insects can find their way to your plant. Always know the requirements of the plants before moving them outside and check them closely before bringing them back inside for hitchhikers (insects that can travel indoors with the plant).

There are always exceptions and each plant has its own needs and requirements. Knowing what type of plant you have is of course the first requirement in knowing how to care for your houseplant.

Please give us a call or stop by our information desk for further information. Try looking your plants up on line to learn the best steps to success.

overwintering

Winter is a resting period for most plants. Nights are longer and your indoor plants know it, too. They have far less need for food and water and so you should cut back on both of them accordingly.

Their main growing season is March through September. That is when houseplants want to be fertilized and will take more water. However, gift plants received in winter that are still blooming can use a light fertilizing to maintain and extend the bloom time.

There are always exceptions, of course -- if you have any questions about your particular indoor plant, give us a call or stop by the information desk!

Houseplants for all seasons

From Aloe to Zygopetalum, we cover the alphabet with choices for your home or office; plants for your brightest window or your darkest corner, those that willa love the humidity near your shower or prefer a dry, sunny spot. Orchids, succulents, indoor bonsai and cactus. We have them all. You'll find our featured houseplants below. We carry our largest of houseplants at our Division location. This is only a brief list.