RHS Chelsea Flower Show: Create your own green oasis with the best indoor plants
Embrace the rapidly growing houseplants trend and freshen up your home with gorgeous greenery

Malvern Garden Buildings have teamed up with indoor garden designer Ian Drummond to show you how to make a relaxing ‘green room’ bursting with the best indoor plants.
THE BEST INDOOR PLANTS
Ian Drummond shares his top pick of houseplants, plus how to care for them and where in your home they will grow best.
1. MONEY PLANT (CRASSULA)
Succulents (as the family that includes aeoniums, crassulas, sempervivums and echeverias is called) are undergoing a well-deserved transformation in the popularity stakes. Their bold, architectural shapes, glossy foliage and exciting colours, their drought- tolerant nature and love of free-draining soil has turned these plants, natives of the Canary Islands, South Africa, Madagasgar and Asia, from the ugly ducklings of the gardening and floristry world into the must- have ingredient for anyone bent on creating a living planting full of drama and eco-credentials.
This succulent is a plant that retains water in its leaves, allowing it to go for long periods without water, making it ideal for a low-maintenance scheme.
SeeRHS Chelsea Flower Show 2020: The best performing plants for urban gardens
2. DEVIL’S IVY (SCINDAPSUS AUREUM)
For the shadier corners of a house, we turn to plants whose natural habitat is the gloomy, humid floor of a tropical rainforest. This generous, climbing creeper doesn’t need much upkeep and will quickly take over your home. It likes a lot of light. It grows quickly, and its expansive personality combines beauty and air purifying power.
Devil’s Ivy is said to be poisonous to cats, so keep plants well away from their usually play, feeding and prowling areas.
Sign up to the Homes & Gardens newsletter
Design expertise in your inbox – from inspiring decorating ideas and beautiful celebrity homes to practical gardening advice and shopping round-ups.
3. ZEBRAPLANT (CALATHEA)
Their luxuriant, colourful and beautifully patterned leaves are hard to resist and they have great character, too. Keep the plant moderately well watered in summer.
Calatheas love high humidity so mist the plant daily, ideally with rainwater, or stand the pot on a tray of permanently damp pebbles. If the leaf tips go brown it shows the humidity is too low.
SeeRHS Chelsea Flower Show 2020: Sarah Eberle shares her top summer gardening tips
4. MOTHER-IN-LAW'S TONGUE (SANSEVIERIA)
Sansevierias thrive in dark, dry environments. Be sure to water sparingly and don’t place in bright sun or in dry-air conditions. As this is a tough, air-purifying plant, it would well in a bedroom or bathroom.
The Victorians loved sansevierias because they were durable and tolerant of coal fires and gas lamps. In those days, they were known as ‘rattlesnake plants’.

Jennifer is the Digital Editor at Homes & Gardens. Having worked in the interiors industry for several years in both the US and UK, spanning many publications, she now hones her digital prowess on the 'best interiors website' in the world. Multi-skilled, Jennifer has worked in PR and marketing and occasionally dabbles in the social media, commercial, and the e-commerce space. Over the years, she has written about every area of the home, from compiling houses designed by some of the best interior designers in the world to sourcing celebrity homes, reviewing appliances, and even writing a few news stories or two.
-
Is it wrong to clean before a professional cleaner comes over? Plus, the 6 things you should always do before they arrive
Many of us are guilty of doing a pre-clean, but is it really necessary?
-
This 100-year-old Tudor-revival style Minneapolis home has been thoughtfully remodeled to honor both its history and the demands of modern family life
'We wanted to give this family a home with everything they want for the future, but that still honors the bones and beauty of the home’s past'
-
How to design a minimalist garden – 7 beautiful ideas to transform your backyard into a calming retreat
Garden designers share their top tips for a dreamy, stripped back outdoor space
-
5 houseplants you should never place in your bedroom, according to Feng Shui and interior design experts – plus which plants to choose instead
These plants are thought to bring feelings of disruption to the most relaxing space in your home
-
How to master the art of growing dwarf jade bonsai trees – the low-maintenance houseplant believed to bring good luck
Growing dwarf jade plants will elevate your indoor jungle
-
3 air plant mistakes a plant expert says are likely killing yours – plus tips on how to avoid them
You may be surprised by how easy it is to grow these unique houseplants
-
New NASA technology is making it possible to grow plants using fog – it could bring faster harvests with less waste
This indoor garden set-up uses smart tech and fine mist to provide plants with water and nutrients
-
How to grow Stella d'Oro daylily – for easygoing, sunny blooms in borders and pots
Plant-care professionals share top tips for these pretty perennials, including advice on watering, pruning, and more
-
Are snake plants cold-tolerant? Houseplant expert reveals the ideal temperature for growing these desert plants at home
This explains why snake plants are versatile to work with indoors and out
-
11 plants to propagate in winter – we show how simple it is to get more of your best-loved shrubs from cuttings
Why not start propagating in winter and get more plants for free? It can be done with hardwood cuttings from these popular shrubs