Group indoor plants for bigger eye appeal

[ad_left]

Group indoor plants for bigger eye appeal

The mass effect of a handsome group of plants satisfies a universal love of the spectacular. Any one plant in the group may be attractive in its own right, though possible to overlook if alone. But put several together, in the right setting and you just can’t ignore their presence. There’s more than one way to group indoor plants, of course. A well-chosen pair is often just what you want. An assortment of many varieties gives the same pleasurable thrill as looking into a florist’s shop. On the following pages you’ll see these and more ideas for achieving the mass effect.

Choose plants according to their setting

To show off a group of plants effectively, you need enough space to keep it from appearing crowded. And if the plants contain a sharp color contrast, like the red-green scheme pictured, you also need a neutral setting. Against a vivid background, substitute plants with lots of white in foliage and flowers. Or try the wide range of greens only which foliage plants offer.

[ad_right]

Look for contrasts of color, texture, form

Some indoor plants have shiny foliage. Others have a furry or velvety finish to their leaves. There are big, pointed shapes as well as rounded, pierced, or lacelike leaves to choose from. And greens go from palest chartreuse to almost black tones. Get variety in size, too. Choose some tall, some short plants to combine. Place the taller ones toward the back, shorter ones in front, so that all can be seen to best advantage. For a starter, try a few of these plant combinations: yellow, bunch-flowered chrysanthemums made to look even more flowery when backed by a good dieffenbachia; African-violets that will appear still daintier with a rugged jadcplant for background ; ferns that look like green lace when contrasted with the solid foliage of big-leaved philodendrons or rubber plants.