It’s no secret that people spend most of their time inside. So, regardless of the time of year, an indoor garden adds beauty, scent, and mood-lifting magic when you need it most. But it is extra special when the winter doldrums kick in, and your outdoor landscape is withering and fading to gray.

If you want to turn your home into a plant-filled haven, it’s a good idea to start simple and kick it up a notch as you go. Read on for 12 tried-and-true tips to help you to do just that.

Create a Colorful Indoorscape

Colorful Houseplants Indoor Garden

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Sometimes an indoor garden can become a monotonous sea of green. Add plants in bold or subtle colors to stimulate the eyes and for extra cheer and warmth.

A few houseplants with colorful foliage to consider are coleus, croton, inch plant, and polka dot. Also include vibrant, flowering houseplants like gerbera daisy, hyacinth, cyclamen, orchid, and azalea.

Group Your Greenery

Indoor Garden Group of Green Plants

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A solitary plant might not make enough of a statement, especially if it’s small. However, growing several plants together creates a mini forest effect that craves attention.

Make the most of grouping by including plants with various heights, colors, leaf shapes, and sizes. Throw in a few that are more upright and some that like to sprawl.

Include Detoxifying Darlings

Peace lily plant in a bright home

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While it's unknown exactly how much they do it, all plants help clean indoor air, and some have attained detox superstar status. They include peace lily, English ivy, snake plant, spider plant, dragon tree, corn plant, and philodendron.

Moisture-lovers, such as ferns and philodendrons, are great for bathrooms. Peperomia and aloe vera are active dehumidifiers, earning them their detoxifying stripes.

By your bedside, place sleep-aiding peace lily or golden pothos. With their height, bamboo palm and Dracaena 'warneckii' can masterfully fill in floor spaces around your home.

Go High, Let Plants Hang Low

Six jute twine macrame plant hangers are hanging from a driftwood branch.

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Ceilings are woefully underused, but for gardeners, they can become prime spots for growing plants, especially if you live in a small space. Create spectacular displays with plants that take draping to the limit — string of pearls, string of rubies, and string of hearts tick this box.

Vines, such as golden pothos and English ivy, are also heavenly hanging plants. For an edible option, try mistletoe cactus, which produces berries that taste like grapes.

Think Vertical

Plants on Shelves for Vertical Indoor Gardening

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Maximize growing space with this popular indoor gardening method. Grow house plants on shelves, stands, or tiered or stackable planters. Or create a simple living wall using pocket planters or trellises with hanging pots. As plants grow, they create a dense, rich feast for the eyes along any wall.

If you are creating a living wall, choose plants with shallow root systems and protect the wall with a membrane or plastic. 

Deck Out Your Workspace

Green Plants for Office or Desk

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House plants might help to maximize brain power, including boosting memory and productivity, science suggests. Plus, they can help alleviate anxiety.

So, with so many of us working and studying from home, it makes sense to surround your workstation with a bevy of botanical beauties.

Add Seasonal Sweethearts

Hyacinth Flowers in Vase with Baby's Breath for Indoor Garden

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Seasonal annuals heighten your garden’s beauty and diversity and challenge your gardening skills. In spring, grow hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips, which are often treated as annuals when grown indoors.

Add a line of potted sunflowers in summer along a window sill or at a glass door. For an even more significant impact, grow varieties such as dwarf sunspot, teddy bear, goldy honey bear, and dwarf incredible. Come fall and winter, it’s time to bring mums, poinsettia, bromeliad, and mistletoe into your indoor garden haven.

Start an Indoor Cactus Collection

Powder Puff Cactus with Pink Flowers for Indoor Garden

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Don’t let prickly pines or a lack of showy foliage deter you from adding these sculptural beauties to your indoor garden. They come in a wide range of sizes, colors, and extraordinary shapes. They will survive a bit of neglect when many other indoor plants won’t.

Some cacti — like spider, rosy pincushion, powder puff, and mammillaria — bloom beautiful flowers that boost their charm and rugged beauty.

Delight in Dried Plants

Dried Plants and Flowers in Vase for Indoor Garden

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Not every member of your indoor garden haven has to be living. Dried flowers and grasses can take pride of place in vases, tabletop arrangements, pots, or hanging installations.

Some favored dried flora include lavender, celosia, roses, chrysanthemums, violas, strawflowers, and peonies. Grasses make sweet companions in arrangements or stand out beautifully all on their own.

Grow a Kitchen Herb Garden

three potted herbs on windowsill

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Herbs are a treat for the senses. They add glorious green in a mix of shapes and sizes to your kitchen, fill the air with heady scents and ultimately tantalize your tastebuds.

The easiest way to get started is with small plants from the nursery. Choose herbs you know you will eat, and house them in several spots — window sills, walls, shelves, the ceiling, or vertical planters. Remember that good lighting and moisture are essential for them to thrive.

Grow an Indoor Fruit Tree

Dwarf orange tree

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Some fruit trees can flourish in your indoor garden. They need lots of light — natural or artificial — and some extra effort from you, including assisting pollination.

Consider citrus trees, including kumquats, lemon, and clementine. Species that do particularly well indoors are tangerines (Citrus reticulata), calamondin orange (Citrofortunella mitis), and otaheite orange (Citrus limonia).

Put Pots on Parade

Mettalic Pots with Cacti Houseplants

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Plants take center stage in your indoor garden haven, but pots are indispensable supporting actors. They add color, textures, designs, and character. Mix and match, or go with a theme — whites or creams, pastels, bold colors, metallic, or DIY, blinged-out pots.

Whatever theme you choose, make sure you choose the right-sized pot for each plant. Roots need enough space so the plants can flourish.

TLC for Your Indoor Garden

An indoor garden chockfull of plants, pots, and planters listed here will delight and reward you for years to come. But every haven needs care and attention. Brush up on how much water, light, humidity, fertilizer, and pruning your plants need. Tackle pest problems quickly, so they don’t get out of hand, and if you have children or animals, make sure you read up on your plants before bringing them home.

What tips do you have for creating an indoor garden haven? Share your ideas in the comments.