Being in touch with nature is a necessity! And do you know a good way to bring a touch of green into the house? With a small winter garden.
That’s right, you don’t need to have a mega space to grow plants indoors. With a simple project, it is possible to embrace this idea and gain a little peace when contemplating your greens.
We help you with several tips and ideas for a small winter garden, come see.
How to make a small winter garden
Choose a good place
The most important thing you need to do even before you buy your first potted plant is to define where the winter garden will be.
By tradition, these spaces used to be under the light of a skylight, usually close to openings and stairwells. However, nowadays, the winter garden concept is much freer and any space can be used.
The same goes for home environments. Until recently, the winter garden was limited to social areas, especially the living room or dining room.
But nowadays it is possible to plan the winter garden in any room, even in the bathroom. Look for a space where the garden can be admired and serve as a haven of peace and tranquillity indoors.
Just an important tip: avoid making the winter garden in passageways, especially in the case of narrow corridors and paths. Prefer places where the garden does not interfere with the movement of people.
A lot of light
Another key point in defining the space where the winter garden will be made is natural lighting. Without light, plants do not live and, consequently, neither does the garden.
Therefore, observe how the light behaves in the place where you intend to set up the small winter garden. You need to find out if the location receives direct sun, indirect light, or is shaded.
This makes all the difference in the cultivation of plants and the choice of species. Some plants need direct light on their leaves, while others only require diffused lighting. Did you have any doubts? So let’s clarify better.
Environments with direct light or full sun are those that receive the sun’s rays directly, without a filter. That corner of the house is made to warm up on a winter day, for example.
In these spaces, the ideal is to grow plants that like this type of lighting, as is the case with small fruit species, most species with flowers, cacti and herbs, such as lavender and rosemary.
An environment of indirect light or semi-shade receives only lighting, without the sun’s rays directly hitting it. In some cases, it may even be that the sun reaches the environment only in the early hours of the morning.
These spaces are ideal for growing plants that like lots of light but not the sun. This is the case, for example, of boa constrictors, ficus and begonias.
Finally, there are shadow environments, which are those in which light passes diffused, or filtered, as in a dense forest. Tropical plants are the ones that most appreciate this type of lighting, such as ferns, for example.
If you don’t respect this natural need of the species, your small conservatory simply won’t be able to survive.
Make the project
Now comes the coolest part: time to get your hands dirty! You already know where to make the small winter garden and what types of plants you can use.
Then sketch a sketch of what that space will look like. Those who have a little more free area can choose to dig the soil and plant the species directly on the floor. But if your space is very small or you live in an apartment, make a winter garden with pots. It looks beautiful too.
Also, plan if you will use hanging plants or in a vertical garden format. This is even a good tip for those who cannot compromise the floor area.
Select the plants
With the project in hand, the next step is to define exactly which plants will be used from the three lighting categories you already know: full sun, partial shade and shade.
Based on that, here are some ideas for plants that can be used in a small winter garden:
Full sun
- cacti;
- Some types of succulents;
- Desert Rose;
- Flowers of different species, including roses;
- Eleven o’clock;
- Perfect love;
- croton;
Half shade
- Lilies;
- Boa constrictor ;
- Sword of Saint George ;
- Begonia;
- Maranta;
- succulents ;
- Little fish;
- Ficus Lyrata ;
- Dracaena;
Shadow
- Cowpea;
- Fern ;
- Zamioculca ;
- Lucky bamboo ;
- Pacová ;
- bromeliad;
One more important tip when choosing plants for a small winter garden: prefer tall and slender species that take up less space, such as ficus, dracaena and Saint George’s sword, for example.
If you want to use bulkier plants, such as Adam’s Rib, make sure it won’t get in the way of circulation.
