The 23 Best Indoor Garden Ideas for Bringing the Great Outdoors Inside

Flower beds, patio gardens , and planters undoubtedly add appeal to any home and make for some really fun hobbies. But sometimes you just don’t have the space, or you might prefer to spend your time inside where the elements (and bugs!) can’t really get to you. In these instances, you can never go wrong with adding a few indoor garden ideas to your home.

Lucky for you, the options for indoor gardens are never ending. You can cultivate your own indoor lemon tree, start a delicious herb garden, grow a living wall—or, if you’d rather start simple, try nurturing a small collection of succulents. What makes the indoor version of a garden so fun is how easy it is to mix and match the most random and diverse group of plants and the ability for you to keep your garden blooming and sprouting year-round.

To bring some greenery into your home and experience all the benefits different indoor plants and flowers have to offer, see the indoor garden ideas below to get started. You’ll wonder why you never started your own indoor garden earlier.

If you’re going for a minimalist vibe in your abode, you may not want tons of plants cluttering your floors and surfaces. Instead, try just one piece of greenery: situated in just the right place, it can add a touch of beauty to any room without looking overdone. We love the choice of eucalyptus in this rustic modern living room. 

Looking for indoor garden ideas for a pared-down space? Try adding just one tree. In this airy living room, @hurryhometoyou’s expertly placed ficus tree adds a pop of color against a neutral palette. Exposed beams and beautifully stacked firewood adds to the natural appeal of this room. 

The homeowners in this funky Maryland abode chose to incorporate colorful decor that matches their plants, like a brightly colored Monstera plant pillow. It’s a cute way to bring together the different elements they’ve chosen to fill their space with. 

You don’t have to think big or spend hundreds of dollars to create a lovely indoor garden. This plant-filled sitting room in a Savannah home is made even more inviting and interesting with an eclectic collection of greenery at different levels throughout. 

There’s always room to improve our WFH spaces, whether it’s a creative cloffice or a grand study. We love how graphic designer Sophie Elinor has filled the office inside her Australian abode with plants in all sorts of quirky placement. And we need that disco ball planter ASAP.

Forget furniture! Plants can be an equally effective (and much less expensive) tool for filling in an empty nook. Here, Sophie brilliantly transforms an otherwise awkward blank space in her living room into a lively indoor garden.

Short on space? No problems here. We love how this homeowner makes the most of her 450 square-foot U.K. home by turning a countertop into a lush garden for small houseplants. Plus, this means your plants are close to a sink which makes for easy watering.

If you don’t want to sacrifice precious countertop space, take a page from this San Francisco apartment’s playbook. A gorgeous bay window breakfast nook is made even more welcoming with the addition of light-loving plant life. You can always add sheer curtains if you want to bring in plants that don’t thrive on as much direct sun light. 

Use a small cluster of mid-sized plants, like the ones in this Oakland home, to help take up awkward blank space. Their medium size makes a bigger impact than a small succulent display, but these plants aren’t as high maintenance—or difficult to move around—as large indoor trees.

A half-and-half garden helps blend the inside and out, making your home feel even bigger. This colorful Mexican home is the perfect example of how to make both an indoor and outdoor garden work with your style.

Mixing and matching plants and pots, like the residents of this vintage-filled Australian home did, makes for a visually interesting display for anywhere in your home. Old canisters, handmade pots, and antique finds all work well together.

Your dinners will seem even tastier with a fresh herb garden at your fingertips. A hanging setup like this means you don’t even have to sacrifice any counter space to grow a small collection of herbs. Even better, it will save you money!

 If you already have enough storage space for clothes, what better way to deck out an empty nook than with plants? Commandeer a set of shelves or closet for your indoor garden, as seen in this plant-laden Brooklyn apartment.

An indoor garden doesn’t need to be over-the-top or take up ample space, as proven by this terrarium in an Austin home. A few glass display cases and a handful of your favorite air plants or succulents is all it takes to form a mini plant world.

One bonus to indoor planting? The ease of mounting planters from the ceiling to create a hanging garden. This Chicago home shows how colorful plant hammocks and a variety of leafy friends can make a fun statement in any room.

If you have a tiny empty corner, you have room for an indoor garden. The owners of this Scandinavian-inspired Airstream trailer created a mini succulent collection that still adds a boost of greenery but takes up little room in their small home.

Floating shelves allow you to display plants from floor to ceiling, as seen in this Brooklyn apartment. You can organize plants based on their light preferences, or even rotate them as needed so they stay in tip-top shape.

For a splash of personality and color, arrange your plants around and inside your non-working or faux fireplace like the tenants of this San Francisco apartment did. You can do this with working fireplaces, too, as long as they’re not getting used—so it’s a great display for warm spring and summer months, when the fireplace won’t be lit.

As seen in this Nashville home, adding a few fronds and leaves to a mudroom or laundry room space instantly gives it greenhouse vibes. The plants help enliven these utilitarian spaces, adding interest to a room that doesn’t always get a lot of love.

While herbs are popular for kitchen gardens, they’re by no means the only plants that can thrive in your cook space. The residents from the same San Fransisco home mentioned above also allowed plants to take up room in their kitchen for a lively, fresh display.

Convinced you have, like, zero room for an indoor garden? This Philadelphia row home will make you think twice. Your bathroom can be a glorious location for plants, whether you stack a few on a shelf, hang one from the ceiling, or drape one from the shower head (or all the above).

Terracotta pots and cacti are a simple but striking display when wall-mounted in cutout shelves, like in this lively RV home. You could DIY your own version with wood boards and a jigsaw for a rewarding weekend project.

If you’re in full plant parent mode and have started to amass cuttings of your favorite plants, take a cue from this Charleston home and hang them in a chic wall display until they’re ready to be repotted.