Houseplants & Indoor Tropicals
Grow a little jungle indoors—from dependable houseplants to orchids, palms, fragrant tropicals and the unusual plants that make indoor gardening an adventure.
Indoor growing has always been part of Exotic Gardening because many of the plants I love simply cannot spend an Indiana winter outdoors. Over the years I have grown tropical plants in containers, moved plants between the garden, greenhouse and house, propagated them, experimented with growing media and learned how dramatically indoor conditions can change what a plant needs.
This growing center brings those experiences and resources together. It is intentionally starting with the strongest live material already on Exotic Gardening and will expand as more of the historical plant archives are restored.
Start Where You Are
1. Choose a Plant
Start with houseplants and tropicals that fit your light, space and experience level.
Explore Easy Exotic Houseplants →2. Learn Its Needs
Light, water, humidity, potting media and temperature all matter indoors—and every plant responds a little differently.
Learn Indoor Plant Care →3. Grow Something Unusual
Once the basics make sense, indoor gardening opens the door to orchids, cacao, plumeria and other tropical treasures.
Explore Indoor Tropicals →Easy Exotic Houseplants Are a Great Place to Begin
You do not have to start with the fussiest plant in the greenhouse. Some tropical plants adapt surprisingly well to containers and indoor life, making them a good bridge between familiar houseplants and the truly unusual plants Exotic Gardening is known for.
Indoor Plant Care
Healthy indoor plants begin with understanding the environment around the roots and leaves. These resources cover some of the problems and growing decisions that come up again and again when plants live in containers.
Grow Tropical Plants Indoors
For gardeners in cold climates, indoor growing makes it possible to keep plants that would never survive a winter outside. Some are grown for flowers or foliage; others are edible, fragrant or simply fascinating.
Start With Spider Plants
Spider plants are forgiving enough for beginners but interesting enough to teach propagation, light response, troubleshooting and creative display. Exotic Gardening has an entire collection of resources built around them.
Edible & Useful Plants Indoors
Not every indoor plant is purely ornamental. Herbs, bay, eucalyptus and tropical food plants can blur the line between houseplant gardening and edible gardening.
Houseplants Through the Seasons
Indoor gardening changes with the seasons too. Winter light, dry heated air, plants brought inside in autumn and seasonal flowering plants all create different challenges and opportunities.
Collectible & Unusual Houseplants
Some indoor plants cross from everyday houseplants into true collector plants. Philodendron 'Pink Princess' is one example already documented on Exotic Gardening, and this section will grow as more genuinely rare or unusual indoor plants are added or recovered from the archives.
Grow Lights & Overwintering Tropical Plants
Indiana winters make artificial light and overwintering strategy especially important for many tropical plants. Grow lights can supplement short winter days, while moving tender plants between outdoor spaces, greenhouses and the house can keep a collection going from year to year. Older grow-light material on Exotic Gardening is being reviewed before it is featured prominently so outdated product recommendations are not mistaken for current advice.
Learn Tropical Growing With Me
Tropical plants are also part of my teaching and speaking work. Relevant presentations include Growing Tropical Plants Indoors and Growing Tropical Plants in Pots, drawing on years of growing tropical plants in a temperate climate.
Keep Exploring Exotic Plants
Many indoor tropicals belong to more than one Exotic Gardening ecosystem. A cacao tree is both an indoor tropical and an edible crop. An orchid may be a houseplant and a rare-plant obsession. These growing centers are designed to connect those journeys instead of forcing every plant into one box.
Keep Track of Your Indoor Plant Collection
The Experimental Homesteader Mercantile has paid plant-care printables including a Printable Houseplant Journal, a Plant Mom Plant Care Journal and plant-tending trackers for recording watering, fertilizing, repotting and individual plant needs.
More of My Indoor & Tropical Plant Writing
My book catalog includes Houseplants, Cacti and Tropical Plants along with other specialized gardening titles. My Amazon author page is the best place to check the gardening books and formats that are currently available.
Amazon Associate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Learn With Me
Indoor and tropical growing are also subjects I teach. My speaking history includes presentations on growing tropical plants indoors and growing tropical plants in pots.
Decades of Tropical Plants in a Temperate Climate
Exotic Gardening was built around the idea that gardeners do not have to limit themselves to ordinary plants or to what naturally survives outside their door. Houseplants, tropical containers, greenhouses, overwintering and propagation have made it possible for me to grow plants in Indiana that belong to very different climates.
As the historical Exotic Gardening archives are restored, this growing center will connect more of those plant stories, photographs, experiments and species-specific growing guides in one place.
