Ideas for an Indoor Summer Garden

If you love nature and spending time outdoors, you probably dread when the summer heat hits, forcing you to retreat back inside. Luckily, you can still enjoy the beauty of nature from the nice, cool comfort of your home with these ideas for how to cultivate an indoor garden and decorate with plants throughout your indoor environment.

Create a Hanging Oasis

Using a shelf, window box or jars secured to a decorative board, add herbs to one of the walls in your kitchen. Bulthaup has some stunning shelving options. This idea also allows you to perpetually have fresh basil, oregano, thyme and cilantro for all your culinary needs. Other good herbs to grow indoors? Bay, chives, parsley, rosemary, lavender, sage, dill, spearmint and tarragon.

Design a Terrarium

If you'd like something easy and low maintenance, a terrarium is your new indoor garden best friend. They’re simple and fun to make and only require watering once a week. Start with a clear glass, open-topped container such as the vases from Bernadette Schaeffler. Cover the bottom with rocks or shells to help with drainage. For the next layer, you'll want to include activated carbon to keep everything filtered and clean. Top the carbon with potting soil followed by moss. Finally, find succulents in a variety of types and colors to plant.

Repurpose Old Furniture

If you have an old dresser or desk whose drawers creak and groan with daily use, retire it to a new, more decorative purpose. Line the drawers with potting soil and plant a variety of greenery. Include a few plants that do well in low light and offer good air quality, such as a Chinese evergreen, spider plant, English ivy or peace lily. Don't have a piece of furniture whose utility you can part with? Check out Again and Again for a vintage find that would make for an unconventional planter.

Find a Permanent Solution

Why not keep your guests guessing with a gorgeously designed arrangement of plants, florals or succulents from SJ Silk Designs. Made from wax and silk, these forever-fresh florals look incredibly real and require zero maintenance. They even offer trees and wall art, so you can decorate your entire home with greenery without having to worry about asking someone to water your plants while you're out of town.

Having an outdoor space for entertaining is definitely a summer must, but it doesn't obligate you to spend all day outside. When you want to enjoy nature's living gifts, surround your indoor space with plants and you'll have fresh air and beautiful surroundings all year round, regardless of the weather.