Our top tips on caring for your houseplants

If you’ve visited Winterbourne recently and wandered through the lean-to glasshouse, you’ll no doubt have found yourself marvelling at the thriving display of houseplants and citrus trees curated by Glasshouse Supervisor Adrienne Wade. These luscious plants have been the envy of many visitors, who often ask our team for tips and tricks for how to make their own houseplants look just as happy and healthy as ours.

Whilst not everyone is lucky enough to have their very own Adrienne to cultivate their indoor jungle, we do have some simple tips for you to keep your houseplants happy and help them to thrive as much as ours.

Choosing the right space

The first challenge when creating your own indoor jungle is choosing the right plants for your environment. Everyone’s homes have different levels of natural light, humidity and space, so it’s important to do your research when choosing what plants to bring home with you.

If you have a beautifully sunbathed windowsill, you’ve likely got the perfect conditions to create an exotic display of cacti and succulents. Try growing Echeverias, Aloe vera, and a cactus such as a Rebutia to bring a variety of textures and colours to your windowsill.

If you’re hoping to bring brightness into a dark and shady space, we’d suggest getting creative with lush foliage plants, which will also help to purify the air around you. Try trailing an ivy plant from those high shelves that usually lay bare and bring colour into darker corners with angel wing begonias.

Get the watering right

For many people, bringing home a happy and healthy houseplant from the garden centre is the exciting bit. The real work starts as you try to find the perfect conditions to not only keep your new plant alive, but help it to thrive and grow in its new environment.

Since humidity levels differ in every home, you may not need to follow the one-size-fits-all rules for when to water from the plant’s label. As a general rule of thumb, you should be watering your houseplant only once the top inch of compost dries out. You’ll soon learn roughly how often this is in your own home, but it’s always best to get green fingered and check before watering. Make sure the water can drain through holes in the base of the pot and keep an eye to ensure your plant isn’t then sitting in a pool of water afterwards.

Fertilise and repot

For a really burgeoning houseplant, we’d recommend using a liquid fertiliser throughout spring and summer. A nitrogen-rich fertiliser will help your foliage plants to grow more rapidly and can help to bring back life to yellowing leaves. There are of course some exceptions, so do your research first – some plants such as cacti will require specialist fertilisers suited to their needs.

As your houseplants grow year after year, it’s important to grow their space with them. Repotting into a bigger pot helps to freshen the compost, ensure the roots are getting enough air, and prevent the plant from becoming pot bound. You’ll want to go for a bigger pot that gives more space for growth, making sure to go up in increments of about an inch or two to avoid overwhelming the plant with too much space. It’s best to do this during the spring so that the plant has space to establish and grow throughout its peak growing season. Dependent on the vitality of the plant, it’s likely that you will need to repot every 2-3 years.

Breathe deep

Looking after your indoor jungle and watching it flourish under your care is as good for the soul as any outdoor gardening. For those that don’t have access to their own garden, it gives you the chance to bring nature into your home and practice your gardening skills. Houseplants have been proven to improve surrounding air quality, bringing freshness into the home no matter where you live. As Adrienne has demonstrated with her lean-to-glasshouse display here at Winterbourne, houseplants can bring indoor spaces to life with vibrant colours, varying textures, and tantalising scents.