Indoor plants and flowers: the apartment-dweller's easiest method of bringing the outside in. Even if you have no outdoor space to speak of, you can always accessorize with flora on a small scale indoors. Whether it's potted plants or cut flowers that float your boat, there are pros and cons to each choice.
Potted Plants...
• Are cost-effective. Plants are generally cheaper than flowers, especially considering how much longer they can last. If you can keep them alive, they're a fantastic way of decorating on the cheap.
• Are low-maintenance. Apart from remembering to water them and maybe occasionally trim some dead leaves, potted plants are easy. In comparison, choosing, trimming and artfully arranging a bunch of flowers, only to throw them out and clean the vase a week later, can seem like rather a lot of work.
Cut Flowers...
• Offer color. The bright hues of fresh flowers can accent a room in a way that most green plants, lovely as they are, just can't do. Whether they're a panacea for the winter blues or a celebration of summer, colorful blooms just tend to make us happy.
• Give you options. This makes me feel strangely guilty to admit, but sometimes I get bored of my potted plants. When you've been staring at the same miniature shrub for months or even years, it can lose a bit of its allure. Fresh flowers, on the other hand, die long before you can tire of them, and changing the type, color and vase is as easy as buying a new bunch.
Of course, there's no real reason to choose between the two, and I'll wager that many homes sport a mix of plants and flowers. But just for fun, where do you stand here? Plants or flowers?
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You're right, why does it have to be either/or? I have a mix of both. There are plenty of flowering plants that can be potted indoors!
The best of both worlds - a flowering plant. We have an orchid that was in bloom for several months, then sent out new shoots and bloomed for several more months.
Actually, I only like cut flowers if they came from my own garden., especially peonies, which are beautiful and have a wonderful scent.
I rarely have either. I prefer my plant life in my landscape, and there I have flowering perennials, shrubs, trees... Indoors I gave up on potted plants (little space for them, pets that munch on them, no time for proper maintenance) and cut flowers are so ephemeral, they depress me -- when they wilt I feel bad. Odd, I know!
Both. Plants because they're definitely more economical. I tend to only have fresh flowers every other week, but definitely when people are coming over. They're too expensive to buy all the time. I love fresh flowers, but there are just too many places where I'd put them to justify buying them all the time. Ideally, I'd have flowers all over the place, but flowering plants or colorful plants help do the job just as well.
I use also both - Nice to have your garden / terrasse plants inside during cold winter.They give flowers and atmosphere. To collect in a table is nice : create your own botanical garden - some under glass - House - Succolenter need not much water - they can look like a sculptur / green design.
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I like to keep the plants and flowers outdoors now that I have ample garden views. I preferred potted plants when I lived in apartments. I rotated them from outdoors when I had a balcony or patio.
my place has poor natural lighting and my attempts with potted plants were not successful. So I have been going with cut flowers. a bit expensive yes- but I really enjoy them. Especially when they are fragrant.
I'm definitely a plant person indoors. I have tons of plants, but rarely keep cut flowers around. I do like flowers, but I only rarely buy them.
Part of it is budget. A small green plant can cost less than a bouquet of flowers, and lasts a lot longer. I also find them easier to maintain. Fresh flowers require trips to the store, changing of water, and tossing when they are done. Potted plants require maintenance too, of course, but it's not so frequent and they rarely need immediate attention.
Outside though, I'm a total flower girl. If it doesn't have flowers (preferably large and showy), I probably won't plant it in my yard.
@Square_feet - get a peace lily. They're best for indirect light or very little light, so they're practically indestructible for homes without a lot of sun. I have one in my office cubicle, which gets absolutely NO natural light, and it's fine. It's not as lively as the one in my house, which does get light, but it's not dead :)
Indoors I have potted plants (and the veranda is full of potted herbs and vegetables...).
That said, the exceptions I do make is cut tulips in spring and cut sunflowers in late summer - I'm not a fan of flowers, but tulips and sunflowers just make me so happy!
@ROS - I know what you mean about sunflowers. I don't DARE plant them in a yard though. They can get way too big.
Coming next week: Which is better -- chairs or tables?
both.
Plants have a much more permanent home in my space. I tend to build relationships with them as I care for my many plants over the years. Flowers are bi-weekly or monthly visitors. I don't care for nor have the time to always keep fresh flowers in my house on a weekly basis, but def. are included in my 'housescape' when I can.
If you need some color among your green plants, get an oxalis triangularis (purple shamrock). I inherited mine from a friend. The leaves are like flowers.
Plants. They last.
@PI: there's no such thing as a sunflower that gets too big
adding: WHERE do you plant them?
I'm down the middle with orchids, but flowers for me.
100% plants. I have a wicked pollen allergy, so the choice is made for me. I dont't think I'd like flowers anyways. They're the divas of decorating: way too high maintenance!
Chuckling @ CHERROW414's comment: I dont't think I'd like flowers anyways. They're the divas of decorating: way too high maintenance!
Less maintenace than a potted plant actually but I can empathize w/the pollen allergy, yes I can. That said, a mixture of cut greenery can make a lovely display. Try taking a walk around your yard or neighborhood, scissors in hand (um...or hidden in pocket). Snip a variety of stems, then trim the cuts underwater in a bowl & plop in a vase after your foray. Remove individual stems as they are spent leaving the remainder. The arrangement will last for weeks.