Tag: indoor garden

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blog Native Plants of India

3 native plants to style corners

Want to create an Instagramable living room? Try integrating a few tall, statement plants in the corners of your homes.

Plants can brighten up any space, if placed in the right setting. Be it bonsais that make an extraordinary addition to one’s house or simple palms, plants have the potential of making any corner lively.

While doing so, choose low-maintenance and hardy plants so that they can survive in indirect light.

Here are a few native plants that can help you achieve a stylish and sustainable corner.

Palms

There’s a lot of variety in palms that you could choose from. However, the ultimate favourite of all time remains Areca Palm, Raphis Palm, etc.

Ficus

Comes in different sizes, shapes, colours. Weeping Fig, one of the most popular houseplants, is making a serious comeback in our homes.

Schefflera

It is one of the most under-rated plants. It can really brighten up your corners with its interesting umbrella shaped leaf pattern and strong stem structure.

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blog Sustainable Gardening Basics

FAQs: What is the fuss about exotic plants?

If an exotic or non-native plant is introduced in a new country / region, it may thrive equally well like the locals. However, it comes at a cost. Both for you and our environment.

Exotic plants affect the ecological functions in several ways.

Outnumber natives

To survive, exotic plants multiply at a much faster rate than native plants. In the long run, such exotic plants become invasive and push the native plants into extinction.

Degrade soil quality

In the race of survival, exotics end up consuming more nutrients present in the soil. Slowly and gradually, this process deprives native plants of basic nutrition to grow.

Reduce foliage area

Leaf canopy or structure of such plants is usually thin, fragile. Exotic trees such as pine don't let other plants to grow besides them, thus, reducing the green foliage area.

Induce pest attacks

One of the common problems with exotic plantation is frequent pest attacks. Native plants have the immunity to fight known and unknown pests as compared to exotics.

Bring new diseases

Plants from different countries may carry along certain organisms and viruses. Such scenarios can give birth to new diseases among plants on a foreign soil.

A simple observation related to the movement and settlement of birds can give us an idea of this impact.

For instance, birds use their intelligence to recognize exotic trees and avoid building their nests on them in the absence of an alternative. (non-native or exotic trees are weaker in the rooting system as compared to the native trees and are more prone to falling).

On the other hand, invasion, predation of birds is higher when they settle down on exotic trees v/s native, displacing species and eventually leading to their extinction.

Exotic plants are not bad by themselves. They are just plants after all, but happen to be in a different place, unknown environment, and more often bring along a host of issues. The human endeavor to introduce and multiply exotic plants in non-native conditions creates a negative impact on the local ecology.
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blog Client Project Sustainable Gardening Basics

5 native alternatives to popular houseplants

In our earlier post, we talked about the top five exotic houseplants. But what do we use in their place?


Here’s a list of native or indigenous plant that can serve as alternatives to exotic plants in your garden. Such plants are not just similar in terms of size, shape, colours, formation but are pro local environment.

Start by adopting these hardy, low-maintenance indoor plants that can serve as great alternatives to exotic plants.

While creating a new garden or adding plants to your existing one, choose plants wisely. Building a home garden with native varieties has several benefits – for you and our environment.
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blog Sustainable Gardening Basics

Myths v/s facts: mosquitoes and plants

One of the most debated topics in indoor gardening is that plants are responsible for inviting mosquitoes in homes. Let’s explore the myth and fact behind this.

Myth: Plants attract mosquitoes

Potted plants especially, indoor plants attract mosquitoes. Hence, it is not advisable to keep plants at home.

Fact: Water stagnation attracts mosquitoes

Mosquitoes get attracted to water that gets accumulated in trays or planters. Such conditions create their breeding zones.

In houseplants, mosquitoes are usually uncommon. However, they may develop if plants are kept in stagnated or standing water for a long period of time. Such conditions can avoided by maintaining a few simple cleanliness routines.

While watering plants, especially during monsoons, one must ensure to avoid overwatering the plants. Remove trays / plates if your plants are kept outdoors in direct rainfall. For indoor plants, reduce overall watering in a way that it doesn’t overflow in the tray.

If you’ve aquatic plants in urlis or artificial ponds, do not forget to add fish to have a mosquito-free zone. They will prevent any breeding activity, thus keeping the water clean at all times.

Observing hygiene in garden especially, for indoor plants can keep all sorts of insects, pests at bay – for you and your loved ones – plants included.
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blog Sustainable Gardening Basics

Can a home garden sustain itself, without our intervention?

Foreign or exotic plants that are cultivated or introduced somewhere else often become invasive in a foreign land and environment. Such invasion wipes off the native plants and local habitats with speed. When exotic plants outnumber native plants, it affects the biodiversity as the birds, bees, insects, don’t find them conducive for survival.

Their survival has a direct impact on our lives too with our food-chain being impacted among other aspects. To maintain such exotic gardens, one needs to adopt modern technology and products such as fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, artificial light, water conditions et al. The cost of creating such ‘beautiful’ gardens is not only borne by the ecosystem but also our treasuries eventually.

On the other hand, gardens that embrace local, indigenous plants require negligible human assistance to thrive. Just like a natural forest.

Five factors why native gardens are self-sustaining because:

1) They require minimal maintenance as such plants don’t need additional water, fertilizers, pesticides to survive

2) They are well-versed with local climatic conditions and are inherently designed to combat them naturally

3) They can create a natural paradise for local butterflies, birds & other species that make the garden alive in a real sense

4) They work with other plants in their community to share and conserve nutrients with their root network

5) They have well entrenched roots that tend to survive the harshest rains, winds, or storms unlike exotic ones

Making conscious choices can lay a root-solid fundamental for your garden whether it is as small as your window or as large as your farm.

Next in this series: How sustainable gardening can help reduce negative impact on our environment
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blog Sustainable Gardening Basics

Introduction to sustainable gardening

The definition of being eco-friendly in some way starts with plants.

Technically speaking, planting a tree contributes to greenery around us. One would imagine that the greener spaces we create, the better our world feels. More oxygen, improved air quality, cooler atmosphere, mental well-being among several other positives. When we grow a plant, we feel that we have taken the first step towards building a sustainable world.

But what if, someone told you that planting any tree isn’t enough? What if, gardening in the modern world is doing more damage than good to your green vision?

As it turns out, sowing a seed or growing a sapling isn’t enough to create a truly green, sustainable world. The complete knowledge of gardening and study of our natural world determines how well we are inching towards our green goals.

To create such a garden, one must remember these 3 principles where it should:

1. Support local biodiversity and the natural ecosystem

2. Self-sustains itself without constant human intervention

3. Creates minimal negative impact on the local habitat

In short, you must know what you are growing, where are you growing it, how are you growing it and what impact it is generating in this process.

Simply put, a sustainable garden works with nature, not against it. Such a space encourages co-existence among other habitants of our planet in form of other species of plants, birds, butterflies, bees, etc.

While creating or sustaining an indoor or outdoor garden, one must consider the above principles. From the choice of plants or seeds to the kind of materials, one uses in the garden, determines the sustainability factor in it.

In our Introduction to Sustainable Gardening series, we will talk about the three principles in detail. Watch out this space.
Next in this series: How home gardening can support local biodiversity and ecosystems