Houseplants Must Have Purpose, Designer Says
When interior designer Sheldon Harte looks at a room from the standpoint of adding houseplants, he asks himself three questions:
“What will work with the style of the room? What will thrive in the location? And what role do I want the plant to play?”
It’s the last question that tends to separate the amateurs from the pros. Most of us buy a houseplant the way we might a puppy; it just happened to be the one we fell in love with. But for a designer a plant must have a purpose--just like every other object in a room.
Plan your plant purchases by studying the entire room, defining the spaces that could benefit by the addition of plants, and then deciding on what shape plant would best complement each space, advises Harte, of Harte-Brownlee in Newport Beach.
Do you want a fan-shaped plant, like a Queen Sago palm, to fill a corner or serve as a backdrop to a handsome piece of furniture? Do you want a columnar-shaped plant to complement a vertical architectural feature or to fill an awkward narrow space? Or do you want something weeping and graceful, like the Ficus nuda tree, to soften hard edges? Determine what you need before you shop, he says.
Harte’s next piece of advice is to invest in big plants. “Most people buy undersized plants,” he says. “Big plants provide more punch.”
Don’t use too many varieties either, he suggests. Staying within a few plant families--palms in every room, but different cultivars, for example--provides continuity just as staying with a certain color palette throughout an entire house does. Since plants within the same family tend to have the same cultural requirements, it simplifies upkeep as well.
If you don’t have a green thumb, consider hiring a plant service to maintain your houseplants, Harte advises. “Plants are an investment; maintenance is insurance.”
Either way, Harte says, don’t pass up the opportunity to make plants part of your indoor environment.
“Californians tend to use more neutrals in our interiors because you can see so much more of the outdoors from our rooms, and we don’t want to compete with the views,” he says.
“Houseplants--especially the exotic ones only possible out here--emphasize that fusion of indoor/outdoor living. They’re part of what makes our decor unique. They’re a celebration of the California lifestyle.”
