Easy Indoor Flowering Plants
- A peace lily is an easy to grow houseplant.spatiphillum image by Vasiliy Koval from Fotolia.com
While houseplants can aid in cleaning the air inside your house by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, some are also capable of adding bright color to your decor. Flowering plants can have special needs, but the variety of colors and sizes from which to choose are likely to outweigh the extra care. - Lilies are a beautiful plant that bloom in spring. Several varieties of lily plants can be grown indoors, but the most common is called a peace lily. White flowers on a long stem shoot out from dark-green, elongated leaves. The plants can be temperamental though. A feeding about once a month with a 5-10-5 house plant fertilizer should be enough. If the plant is getting too much fertilizer or if the water you are using has a high level of chlorine, the tips of the leaves will turn brown. Underwatering a peace lily will make the leaves droop. Overwatering will cause the roots to rot. Both can kill the plant. Peace lilies like light, well-draining soil. Regularly wipe the leaves with a wet cloth to maintain their natural shine and remove any parasites which may hide on the underside. The plants thrive in bright, indirect sunlight and like higher humidity. If your home is dry, spritz the leaves with water using a spray bottle once or twice a week.
- African violets are a popular plant for homes and offices because they do well in artificial light as well as bright, indirect sunlight. African violets have fuzzy green leaves and bloom in such colors as purple, pink and white. A mixture of equal parts peat moss, vermiculite and perlite make a well-draining soil for an African violet plant. Pre-mixed soil is also sold especially for African violets.
- Bromeliad plants come in reds, blues, pinks and purples. They tolerate dry soil for long periods. When watering, wet the plant well and then let the soil completely dry before watering again. Bromeliads will grow in any type of well-draining soil. The plant will bloom for months but only blooms once. An arrangement can be made of a several small pots of different bromeliads in a large pot. When one plant has finished blooming, it can be replaced with another plant.
- Indoor flowering cacti come in many shapes and sizes and in many colors, such as white, yellow, red, purple and lilac. Cacti like sandy soil and a shallow pot. Let the soil completely dry between waterings. Cacti can go long periods without water. They thrive in bright, indirect light but can tolerate some direct light. Cacti can have round bodies and round flowers or be skinny and tall with bright flowers at the tips. All have thorns or prickles, so wear gloves when transplanting. The three main type of the species are: barrel cacti, hedgehog cacti and prickly pear cacti. The indoor houseplant cacti are small versions of desert cacti.
