Indoor Gardening Planters

Indoor plants have been increasingly popular for a number of years. After a long, wet winter and now that people are staying home during the pandemic, many people find houseplants beneficial for mental health. Indoor greenery can boost your mood, whether you enjoy having something to care for or just like beautiful foliage in your living space. Plants have also become a interior design statement, from a few key plants, a huge statement tree or a whole living wall. Our planters can be used indoors and you can paint them to fit your colour palate. Here are five tips on using cast stone for your indoor gardening habit.

A home for BIG plants

We love Monstera Deliciosa (Swiss Cheese Plant)and Philodendron Bipinnatifidum (Lacy Tree)  but these plants get big, really big. It can be tricky to find a pot large enough to house them.

Huge Monstera plant

Fear not! We have lots of large planters (even though we sometimes call them urns, they are really big feature pots!) Use them as pot covers and order them without a drainage hole or as the actual planting vessel, with drainage holes, but if you opt for drainage remember to pop something underneath so you don’t damage your flooring. Let your plant babies flourish and reach the ceiling! Remember our pots are made of stone and when they are filled with soil they will be heavy, so think carefully about where you put them. It will make an amazing feature in your home, but it’s probably best on the ground floor of your property.

Bonus tip – If your plants get too big you can always take cuttings and start again with a smaller plant!

Trees and plants for conservatories and orangeries

Larger planters are also great for indoor trees! If you have a conservatory, sun room or orangery you can get a bit tropical. Cast stone is porous allowing water to evaporate from the soil, unlike plastic pots that can encourage root rot and fungus in warm conservatories. Cast stone doesn’t dry out as quickly at terracotta so you can keep moisture loving plants happy for a longer period of time while minimising pests and disease.

Try fast growers like Mimosa (Acacia Dealbata) with their evergreen fronds look elegant all year round and the yellow pom-pom flowers smell divine in mid-winter. 

Mimosa flowers

Avocado plants grown from stones can reach the ceiling within two summers. These are really easy to grow from an Avocado bought in a supermarket, but they get brown leaf tips from chlorine and salt build up in the soil, so make sure you use rain water instead of tap. Why don’t you give it a go and try growing one at home? 

Banana plants (Musa) look fantastic, but also grow really large. Or for the ultimate statement plant try the enormous Strelitzia Nicolai, growing up to 20 feet tall in full sun! If you like the look of the tropical leaves but have a smaller space go for a Philodendron Imperial Green. These are low maintenance and look good all year round.

Big plants need big containers to grow in. Our handmade planters and urns come in a wide range of shapes and sizes to suit your space and style. Or if you want a big planter for maximum impact you can add lots of smaller plants into a statement planter.

Ctenanthe Burle-Marxii, Hibiscus and Yucca plants

Pots you love for years

Why not invest in some planters as a feature in your home decor to last for years to come? We currently have a 20% discount across our range in our Stay at Home sale. Many indoor plants will happily live in the same pot for a very long time. Strelitzia Reginae (Bird of Paradise plant) make great houseplants and are much smaller than the Strelitzia Nicolai. These plants like to have their roots pot bound and thrive in a well lit room. If you have a north facing window don’t fret they will grow well close to the window so they can access the maximum amount of light. In the right conditions they flower with striking orange blooms that look like a bird’s head – hence the name. They are indigenous to South Africa and like it hot! These make a real statement so choose a planter that can show it off. Why not contrast the simple elegance of the large leaves with a highly decorative urn?

If you like flowers more than grand foliage Gardenia are both beautiful and fragrant, try a pair of standard Gardenia in matching pots, like our regal Kensington Planters. These plants do have a reputation for being a little temperamental. Bougainvillea look spectacular indoors and are surprisingly easy to grow as an alternative. Or try different plants in matching pots, see what looks good in your home.

Alocasia Zebrina and Stromanthe Triostar in matching Kensington planters

Hoya (wax plants) also have interesting blooms, vine and thrive in conservatories. Hoya like to be tightly pot bound and can live in the same pot for many years, so it is worth investing in a container that you really love. They have are semi succulent leaves and need little water. Hoya produce sweet clusters of wax-like flowers, and some smell like cinnamon.

Experiment with colour

We created a special edition of our royal classic the Kensington planter  in a yellow mix and planted it with a orange flowering Clivia to compliment the shade. Our Kensington planters were originally commissioned as bespoke features in the gardens of Prince William’s official residence. We can make bespoke pieces on request.

Clivia in special edition yellow Kensington planter

You can even use them in pairs to get the look you want. Or why not use a simple planter in a neutral shade, like our Hadlow Trough and use colorful plants like Stromanthe Triostar to add some vibrant colour to your indoor planting scheme? Stromanthe like humid conditions in dappled or low light so don’t let them dry out and mist the leaves regularly.

Stromanthe Triostar and Ficus Everest in Chilstone’s small Hadlow trough

Alocasia  plants are really popular right now. These plants are sometimes called Elephant Ears and come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. These plants need humidity and dislike tap water. Alocasia Zebrina has striking patterns on its stems and looks great in a simple pot big enough to allow for growing room.

Or why not mix the materials you use for your pots. Cast stone looks great with galvanized steel pots for an urban look or experiment with striking blocks of colour around your stone to make them pop!

Raise them up!

Throughout history, from Roman Villas to the French Palace of Versaille and our very own Victorians loved to raise their pots on pedestals indoors.  You don’t need a huge space and a grand urns, (although that does create an impressive, opulent look!). You can use smaller pots on a pretty pedestal like our fluted pedestal which can be painted to the colour you want. Why not try Farrow and Ball French Grey? Your pedestal can display trailing plants. Try the beautifully stripy Transcendia Zebrina (Spiderwort) for medium light, its silver and purple colouration is really striking.

Or Syngonium (Arrow Head Plant) for medium to bright light. You could even display a prized Pilea Peperomioides (Chinese Money Plant) on a pedestal to admire the unusual stem structure in all its glory!

Or why nor try creating an impressive focal point with a wide planter to on a simple neck to raise up a collection of plants for that wow factor!

Chilstone’s Buckland Urn

Bonus tip – Easy Houseplants

The Ficus family are easy to grow and diverse in appearance. From the 1970’s favourite Ficus Elastica (Indian Rubber Plant) to the currently in vogue Ficus Lyrata (Fiddle Leaf Fig) to the more unusual but airy leafed Ficus Everest these plants are easy to care for and look fantastic. They can grow large over time, but these laid back plants are not in a hurry.

Ficus Everest in Chilstone Hadlow Trough

ZZ plants (Zamioculca Zamiifolia)are even easier to grow, needing little water, plus it has an interesting arching stem and semi-succulent leaves that makes it work well in interior design.

ZZ plant in Chilstone Hadlow Trough

20% discount in our Stay at Home Sale

Remember we are currently offering a 20% discount across our range of handcrafted planters and garden ornaments, both for indoors and outside for customers who #StayHomeSaveLives and order via phone or email. Our team are available 7 days a week 01892 740866 or office@chilstone.com. We would love to see your gardening pics, whether that’s houseplants or garden growing. Please tag us on social media and use #Gardeningtogether. We maybe locked down as a nation but we are so happy to be part of such a vibrant gardening community.