Here's a Garden Calendar compiled specifically for the Indoor Gardener to help you maintain healthy, happy houseplants year-round.
The information has been divided into seasons because plants, even indoors, have needs that change throughout the year.
As Susan Lammers said in her 1982 book, All About Houseplants, "Houseplants are wild plants that have been domesticated." They've adapted to their indoor situation, but they haven't lost their original genetic makeup.
While you can trick a few houseplants with grow lights, force some bulbs to flower early, and shape a topiary, you can't fool Mother Nature with most of your indoor garden.
The length of a plant's life is hardwired into its roots; winter dormancy is needed for many flowering plants; and no matter what you do, your plants will respond to the cycles and rhythms of light, humidity, temperature, and soil conditions.
Cacti will always hoard food. Leaves will always grow toward light. Roots will always drown if over-watered.
If you need to keep track of when you've watered, re-potted, and fertilized, the 2012 Calendar from Indoor-Gardener.com provides lots of space for notes in addition to monthly to-do lists, beautiful houseplant photos by Mike Brodie, and identification.
Part of the joy of indoor gardening is to bring a bit of the natural world indoors, especially for urban and apartment dwellers who otherwise don't have a personal outdoor space. You can also use houseplants in your office. And of course, many Indoor Gardeners have gardens outside as well, but the same applies: it's peaceful and enjoyable to be surrounded by at least a few plants in the home.
The Indoor Garden Calendar is here on these pages to help houseplants and their Indoor Gardener tenders get along throughout the changing seasons of the year. Click on the links below to read about each season.
Note: The Indoor Garden Calendar is based on houseplant needs in the Northern Hemisphere - if you're South of the Equator, please adjust accordingly. It's also geared to those climates where the seasons change at least somewhat, so if you're in a tropical area, you'll also need to adjust some of the recommended activities.
Also, please note that in most locations, a month begins around the 20th-22nd of the previous month. So "Winter" really starts the week of the U.S. Thanksgiving; Spring toward the end of February; Summer on the third week in May; and Fall the tail end of August.
If you have any questions or comments about the Indoor Garden Calendar, feel free to
click here and use the Ask Batya form.
Learn more about the
seasonal needs of your houseplants:
Fall - September thru November
Winter - December thru February
Spring - March thru May
Summer - June thru August