Flowers are a wonderful way to add color and life to your home’s interior. Whether you are a green thumb or an avowed plant killer, you can use flowers to add beauty and personality to your rooms. By taking a few moments to plan before you make a purchase, you can add variety, color and life to your house.
Cut Flowers
Cut flowers are an excellent choice if you want to make a statement. Bold colors and lush vegetation combine to create an eye catching ensemble. Even the most sedate blooms will become the focal point of your room. While it is truly hard to make a mistake when arranging fresh cut flowers, there are a few things to keep in mind.
More is usually better. Two or three stems of daisies in a cut glass vase is okay, but an armful stuffed into a decorative bucket is awesome.
One is enough. Sound contradictory? Not really. One big display per room is great. If you do something more sedate, such as a single rose bloom, you may get by with a few arrangements. The caution here is to avoid creating a room that could be mistaken for a funeral parlor.
Green thumb not required, general care is. You do not have to be an expert to keep cut flowers, they are technically dead as soon as they are cut. By providing a little maintenance, such as checking the water level daily, and plucking out flowers as they start to fade, you can keep your display looking tip top for a much longer period.
Plants
If you are not into big splashy displays and would rather have a more sedate flower arrangement, consider adding some blooming plants to your interior. While some of these plants require a little knowledge, such as the hibiscus, others such as the bromeliad are no more difficult than any other house plant. Here are a few things that will make your experience easier.
Choose your plants carefully. Rather than spending a lot of time trying to adjust your house’s climate to fit the plant, choose plants that will work well where you want to put them. Most houses have a variety of zones, so before choosing your plant, decide if your intended location is in full or partial shade, more or less humid, and how many hours of daylight a plant will get when placed there.
Establish a routine. Know how often your plant needs watered, how often to fertilize and if you need to trim or repot it. Many houseplants that have the potential to flower will not do so unless they are in ideal circumstances.
Don’t go overboard. Flowering houseplants do take a bit of work. No matter how enjoyable you find working with them, pace yourself, make sure that you still enjoy working with them in a few weeks or months before adding more. Flowering houseplants are a beautiful hobby, you do not want their care to become a chore.