Houseplants, like anything else, go in and out of fashion. For many years, orchids were the firm favourites, enlivening many an interior with their sculptural blooms. Then there was a time, peaking towards the end of the 2010s, when retro houseplants seemed to be sprouting up everywhere you looked. Pinterest burgeoned with sleek urban interiors featuring the obligatory monstera, peace lilies abounded, and every self-respecting millennial hipster was purchasing miniature succulents to cultivate in little glass terrariums. But tastes change, even in the world of houseplants, and a very different aesthetic is starting to flourish. Here are some of the top plants to spruce up your home this coming year, and there’s not a peace lily in sight.
Pelargoniums
Pelargoniums can be found in many of the interiors featured in House & Garden and for good reason – this enduringly popular perennial comes in a vast array of varieties and hues, and has a fantastically long flowering time. ‘Pelargoniums are my favourite houseplant – I couldn’t imagine the cottage without them,’ says the landscape designer Sean Pritchard, whose Somerset home is a joyous riot of greenery. ‘I tend to grow decorative varieties in attractive terracotta pots throughout the house. Through winter they sit dormant but largely in leaf, which is really cheery when not much else is green in the landscape outside. You can cut back the whole plant by about a third each year if you want to keep it a manageable size, however, I am quite fond of leggy specimens that grow on winding stems, so I rarely do this.’
Jasmine
If you have a sunny spot, jasmine is a fantastic houseplant to cultivate, as it has such an intoxicating scent. The florist Willow Crossley is a fan, often bringing pots of jasminium polyanthum into her house in the colder months, where their white star-like flowers shine through the winter gloom. ‘Jasmine looks so pretty trained into circles, and you can make kokedamas with them,’ she says. Kokedama is the Japanese art of growing plants in a moss-covered ball of soil – Willow has a complete step by step instruction guide on her popular Create Academy course on floristry.
Aeoniums
While succulents in general appear to have fallen out of favour, aeoniums seem to be a notable exception, with their popularity increasing of late. ‘I grew up going to Tresco on the Scilly Isles where aeoniums grow everywhere,’ says Willow Crossley. ‘I’ve become obsessed with them as a result. Some of them are really beautiful – my favourite is a vibrant apple green with a deep Ribena trim – and I’ve noticed them more and more in the last couple of years.’ Aeoniums are notable for their fleshy, rosette-shaped leaves, and range from a few centimetres high to up to a metre tall. They have the distinct advantage of being extremely low maintenance – they thrive on neglect, which is helpful if regular watering is not your forte.
Sparrmannia Africana
If you’re searching for a large houseplant but want an alternative to the more common varieties, then why not try Sparrmannia africana? This vigorous evergreen shrub, also known as African hemp or house lime, will easily fill an empty corner, and produces clusters of white flowers with red and yellow stamens in spring and summer. ‘It’s a wonderful houseplant,’ enthuses Sean. ‘If you have a large, bright spot at home, this plant is perfect – they grow tall and bushy and look very attractive (and exotic!) spilling out of an old terracotta pot.’
Citrus trees
There’s something pleasing about a citrus tree – their pointed green leaves paired with their wonderfully sculptural (and edible) fruits make them particularly charming to have as a houseplant, especially as they are perfectly happy to spend their lives in pots. Larger specimens would do better in an orangery or a conservatory, if you’re lucky enough to have one, otherwise there are miniature varieties that can be put on a sunny window, or pressed into service as a table decoration – a tablescape dotted with citrus trees is perfect for a summer celebration.
Bulbs
Not strictly a houseplant, as their season is so short, but bulbs are an easy way to bring some cheer into an interior during the dark months of winter, filling a room with delicious scent and acting as a reminder that spring is on its way. Clare Foster, House & Garden's garden editor, is a fan of having pots of paperwhites at Christmas – they are reassuringly easy to grow, flower within about three weeks of planting, and also make excellent gifts. They sit well in any style of interior and can be grown in a wide variety of vessels, from modern glassware to vintage china.
Bonsais
Seasonal living has become something of a buzzword recently, with dozens of books suggesting ways to live more in tune with the passing year, such as Lia Leendertz’s bestselling annual Almanac. Bonsai trees are the perfect way of seeing the seasons change in miniature, even if you live in the middle of a city – the deciduous varieties will go from full leaf in summer to bare branches in mid-winter, in correlation with their full-sized counterparts. At Chelsea Flower Show last year, bonsais seemed to be gaining in popularity, with exhibitors such as the Federation of British Bonsai Societies and Derbyshire Bonsai being awarded gold medals for their eye-catching displays. Just be prepared to keep on top of trimming them, otherwise you might end up with a somewhat larger tree to contend with.
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