Houseplants are often better off outside than in

British gardeners are in an enviable position, but we make some weird category errors

As a child growing up in the tropics I used to envy British gardeners. They got to grow all the amazing temperate plants outside that were impossible to keep happy in the relentless equatorial heat. They would also grow species indoors from the world’s rainforests, giving them the best of both worlds. Thirty years later, my opinion hasn’t really changed, but there is something odd about this indoor/outdoor divide. Many plants sold in the UK as houseplants are happier outside.

This is partly due to our perception of the plants’ “exoticness”. When camellias first arrived on these shores, British aristocrats constructed elaborate glasshouses to grow them, assuming their Far Eastern origins must also make them vulnerable to frost. It was only when some of these glasshouses fell into disrepair and the plants still thrived, that they realised the error of their ways.

Continue reading...

* This article was originally published here