Monty Don on gardening without a garden | House & Garden

Without doubt the biggest change to gardening over the past decade or so has been the rise in interest and love for plants that can be grown and nurtured indoors.

A generation of gardeners has emerged that has less access to a garden than any in living memory and yet has creatively made green spaces indoors that are every bit as beautiful, inspiring and, perhaps most critically, good for mind and body as any outdoor garden. This has certainly made me reassess my own relationship with houseplants and rekindled what was a distinctly fading interest.

Houseplants need designing as much as any other component of a living space. The way that you display and use them will depend upon a mixture of aesthetic and horticultural imperatives. Whilst the former is always subjective, the horticultural needs of a plant will determine its health and thus how it looks.

Whilst it is certainly true to say that there are houseplants that you can grow indoors in any conceivable living situation, one of the basic rules of gardening still applies, which is choosing the right plant for the right place. So position plants where they grow best. As soon as you start collecting more than a handful of plants they will become a strong determinate of how any room looks and feels – after all that is their main virtue – so as well as exercising your own design aesthetic, let them dictate a little how you arrange things, by giving them the very best opportunity and situation to thrive in.

Plants that originate from tropical jungles will need year-round warmth, surprisingly high levels of humidity and be happy with shade. However, cacti and most succulents, although needing much less watering coping well with central heating and dry air and also managing with