In the winter my dining room doubles as a conservatory, with the built-in bench that runs along the bowed wall on the south end serving as home to most of my houseplant collection.  I am fond of them, but they have always played second fiddle in my affections to the plants that live outside.  Lately I have been trying to find ways to make the dining room plant collection look less like a mishmash of unrelated specimens and more like an indoor garden. 

For starters I have put everything in attractive containers, with all the plastic nursery pots camouflaged by decorative bowls and vessels.  I have also added height, placing some specimens on two-foot tall plant stands.  Short plants go in front of taller ones, with sun lovers grouped directly in front of the windows and shade lovers positioned a bit farther from the light.

There is still more that I can do.  All the saucers should match the pots, which is not the case at the moment.  Every plant should be in peak condition and I'll start paying more attention to that.  I am not happy yet with the plant groupings, so I will do a little more experimenting.  In the meantime I'll deck the lemon tree with a string of twinkling holiday lights.  The indoor garden won't be perfect, but it will be festive.