Growing plants and produce indoors can be tricky. You have to ensure you mimic the outdoor conditions they require as much as possible, such as giving them the correct amounts of light and water.
If you’re growing indoor plants during the winter, this can be even more difficult, but it doesn’t have to be if you choose plants that thrive during the cold season.
A variety of beautiful plants and delicious edible plants still grow when temperatures are low, such as aloe, rosemary, and camellia.
Read our guide on the best indoor plants for this winter season. We cover the plants and produce you can grow effectively in your home when temperatures take a dive, and there’s a lack of natural light available.
Aloe
If you want to grow a beautiful aloe plant in the home during winter—perhaps because you want to make use of its gel that has antibacterial properties—the good news is that you can grow it successfully without putting in much effort.
Aloe house plants require at least six hours of sunlight every day. Otherwise, they lose their beautiful appearance. However, they still do well under artificial lights.
Make sure you place a white fluorescent light about 6–12 inches away from the aloe plant so that it gets the light that it needs.
It’s recommended that you grow Aloe aristata (lace aloe) in the home, as it’s easier to care for than some other types of aloe.
Its beautiful white-speckled plants thrive in partial-shade conditions, so it’s ideal if your home doesn’t have a lot of light in the afternoons.
Aloe plants flower late in the winter or early in the spring. To prepare them for blooming, reduce their water and give them cooler temperatures.
Snake Plant
The snake plant has long green leaves that are patterned with silver streaks. It’s one of the easiest winter plants to look after because it performs well without much water and in low-light conditions.
Although when planted outside it doesn’t fare well in extremely cold conditions indoors, it becomes a plant that’s very easy to maintain.
This beginner-friendly plant can tolerate a variety of conditions, such as draughts, low humidity, and heat from a nearby radiator.
Note that the snake plant grows the most in warmer months, so its growth will slow down during winter.
To keep it healthy, make sure you don’t overwater it, stop giving it fertilizer, and try to keep its temperature stable at around 60–75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rosemary
This herb is delicious in meals, such as with roast potatoes, and you can grow it indoors. Its scent will give your home a lovely, invigorating smell. Just make sure you keep it in a sunny window over the winter months.
However, rosemary also grows well under artificial lights, which is great if your region doesn’t get much sun during the cold season. Ensure that the artificial lighting runs for about 14 hours a day to give your rosemary plants enough light.
What’s great about rosemary is that it can thrive in temperatures as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
If winters in your region are dry, you can put containers of rosemary on trays filled with pebbles and water to ensure that the humidity is high enough for the plants to survive.
Aglaonema Pink Star
This plant has beautiful bright pink leaves that might make you think it requires lots of care, but this is the perfect winter indoor plant to grow if you want to add splashes of color to your living space without much fuss.
Aglaonema Pink Star can handle very low-light conditions and cool temperatures. Ideally, you should keep this plant in an area of indirect light in the home. But, if this isn’t possible, it can still survive in a room that is completely dark!
Bear in mind that these plants are slow-growing, and they’ll have more leaves on display in the summer. They don’t usually produce new leaves in the winter.
Jasmine
Beautiful white flowers and a gorgeous fragrance; what’s not to love about jasmine plants? When planted in the garden, they’re a type of plant that can provide you with greater privacy, especially if you grow them as hedges.
Best of all, these can easily be grown during the wintertime indoors, as long as you purchase a jasmine variety called Jasminum polyanthum. This has a sweet scent and thrives indoors. It’s also easy to care for during the cold months.
Jasmine polyanthum needs cool temperatures and good air circulation to produce its white flowers.
During winter, it needs to be kept away from direct light, which means it’s particularly easy to look after if your home doesn’t get a lot of natural sunlight. It grows and blooms in partial sun and is the perfect houseplant if you want to be surrounded by flowers.
Sprouts
Sprouts are small vegetables that start as seeds. They germinate into plants and can take the form of grain, leafy, or bean sprouts.
Sprouts are easy to grow during winter. Soak the sprouts, just like sunflower seeds or mung beans, for a day, and then let them germinate in a jar. You should rinse them twice a day after that.
The great thing about sprouts is that you don’t have to put them in an area of the home where they get direct sunlight. They can grow well with regular room lighting or even with some dim, dappled light from a window.
Peace Lily
Peace lilies are beautiful plants that have creamy white flowers and shiny dark green leaves. They perform well in low-light conditions and can also grow underneath fluorescent grow lights.
Even though they don’t need a lot of light to grow, make sure you don’t put them in the path of icy cold draughts.
Some houseplants need compost, and peace lilies are one of them. Top them up with a potting medium with a 2:2:1 ratio of houseplant compost, sand, and perlite.
Although a peace lily’s white flowers are on display in the spring, some of these plants bloom in the fall. They can also start to bloom in winter as they prepare for a full blooming season when the weather gets warmer.
Peace lilies are NASA-approved plants that purify indoor air by removing ammonia and other household toxins from it , so they’re not only beautiful to have around but healthy for you.
Camellia
These are evergreen shrubs that bloom in gorgeous red, pink, and white flowers. Best of all, they bloom during fall and right through to winter. This will liven up your interior space, adding a feeling of summer even on cold, overcast days.
Camellia plants bloom well in partial shade and prefer shelter from the sun in the afternoons. Even young plants will want to be in the shade, which is beneficial for winter gardening.
Some camellia plant species produce hybrids that can handle temperatures that are as low as -15 degrees Fahrenheit, such as “Polar Ice,” “Winter’s Charm,” and “Snow Flurry.”
These are worth considering if you live in a region that experiences icy winters.
Mahonia
This is another evergreen shrub that blooms in bright yellow clusters of flowers. These appear on the shrub in late fall and early winter, so planting mahonia is a great idea for the colder months.
It does well in full-sun, partial-sun, and shady conditions. Mahonia requires cool soil. A good tip when caring for it is to apply mulch around the plant to preserve moisture.
Mahonia also grows berries! These are usually edible, as well as pet-friendly. You should cook them instead of eating them raw as this removes their unpleasant acidic taste.
Hellebore
Part of the buttercup family, hellebore plants bloom in gorgeous colors, such as white, green, and pink. Some of their cultivars flower during the winter, such as Helleborus niger—this plant produces beautiful white flowers.
To encourage it to flower, keep it in cold temperatures around 40 degrees Fahrenheit for about four to six weeks. You should place it in a sheltered area, such as the garage or basement.
This tip is also effective when growing other types of plants that require protection in the winter, such as strawberries.
After that period of time, keep your hellebore plant in an area that gets some sun but protects it from harsh afternoon light. This will ensure that it can bloom early in the spring and during winter when few other plants are flowering.
Kale
If you want to eat healthier foods that you’ve grown yourself, you should plant an edible plant such as kale.
This leafy green is a cool-season vegetable that grows during the spring and fall. It can thrive in snow and frost conditions, so it’s the ideal crop to grow indoors in winter.
Kale does especially well in regions such as the Pacific Northwest and Southwest, as it thrives in mild winter conditions. It can be grown under cover during winter, so keeping it indoors is ideal.
Kale is filled with nutrients, such as vitamins A, B6, C, and K. It’s also rich in calcium, copper, and potassium. Health benefits aside, kale is an ornamental plant, as it comes in bright green and dark purple varieties or crinkled leaves.
English Primrose
The English primrose produces beautiful flowers with yellow centers that release a light spicy fragrance. It’s a frost-hardy plant that develops dark green foliage.
Although many primrose plants will flower in the summer and spring, the English primrose is the one you want to purchase if you’re looking for winter blooms to brighten up your home.
It comes in a variety of beautiful colors, such as blue, red, pink, yellow, white, and orange.
It’s a type of flowering plant that does well in the shade, so keep it in a cool area. Make sure the plant doesn’t get direct sunlight, as this can cause it to wilt. Indirect light is sufficient for it to thrive.
Gooseberry
If you grow gooseberries in containers, they will grow throughout the year. However, they will bloom in pink, green-white, and yellow flowers in the spring.
There are several ways to enjoy the berries, which will appear on the plant within three years. The green berries that haven’t ripened yet can be used in desserts or jams because they taste a bit tart.
If you want to eat a sweeter gooseberry, look for them when they’re a bit pink in color, which happens around July.
Gooseberries are ideal winter plants because they thrive in icy conditions that freeze the top layers of soil. They grow in both full sun and partial shade conditions.
They also need to be in a cool climate that experiences a minimum of 40 days of winter temperatures that are between 35 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
When growing gooseberries indoors, you need a container that’s at least 18 inches deep to accommodate the plant’s roots.
Conclusion
Winter doesn’t have to cause your gardening efforts to stop. To grow delicious produce and beautiful flowers indoors during colder times, you just have to know what types can tolerate the conditions, such as low-light levels.
In this article, we’ve featured 13 of the best indoor plants for winter. We hope that you’ll find your next favorite plant among them.
Resources:
