Don’t get Daniel Minton wrong when he says our passion for houseplants peaked in the pandemic, after first being revived more than a decade ago. Our fervour for indoor greenery is still going strong, he says, but our tastes are no longer centred on luxuriant layer upon layer of leafiness.
Today, the manager of Fitzroy Nursery’s indoor store is noticing a shift towards displays that are more stylised and less tangled tropical rainforest. Minton is also an avid houseplant grower who at one point set up a greenhouse in his bedroom.
Fiddle leaf figs are one plant that might need relocating during winter, due to its light needs.Credit: iStock
He and his partner, Kina Lin-Wilmoth, currently live in a 27th-level city apartment full of palms, orchids, ferns, peace lilies, a rubber tree, a variegated monstera (that Minton bought for $500 in 2018 after saving all his tips while working as a waiter) and many other plants.
Few indoor growers are as diehard as Minton. But just as his plants are arranged in a way that highlights their individual forms, he says he has noticed indoor growers increasingly homing in on plants with interesting shapes.
A dwarf schefflera (Heptapleurum arboricola) for instance, might be pruned to make a focal point of its negative space. Its stems could even be wired like bonsai so that they strike out at jaunty angles. An elephant’s foot (Dioscorea elephantipes) might be displayed to make a show of its sculptural woody-looking stem or a mistletoe fig (Ficus deltoidea) could be positioned to accentuate its bold leaves.
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But with such considered arrangements, there’s less room for error. Brown spots, yellowing, wilting or any other sign of malaise is hard to hide without the cover of a jungle of other greener. If you are going to pare things back what remains needs to thrive.
So what are Minton’s tips for tending healthy houseplants in the cooler months?
His central piece of advice is to remember that even though your plants are growing between four walls and under a roof, they are not static like furniture. You have to keep an eye on them and be attuned to their changing needs.
