We write a lot about plants and gardening here at MLuxe, mostly thanks to the great contributions from regular guest writer P. Allen Smith. This morning, a piece from Elle Decor about hip houseplants caught our eye — and inspired us to pull together this collection of basic ways houseplants can jazz up a room or space easily.

Even the simplest plants can add a touch of liveliness, energy and style to a room:

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When chosen carefully, and put in the right sort of pot, plants can complement the design of the room:

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And of course, some nice flowers will add color — complementary, contrasting, subtle, bold…whatever the room needs — and fragrance:

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Sometimes a simple plant can let a stylish pot bring the style:

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If you want something that looks neat but is easy to maintain, try a jade:

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To really push things into the realm of funky and interesting, bring in a cactus — believe it or not, your friends will actually hae trouble keeping their curious hands off!

[photo "Cactus on a dark surface" courtesy of Robert Nunnally via Flickr]

There are many reasons for growing plants. One of the best for me is fragrance. If you are looking for flowers with a heavenly scent, lavender has to be right up there at the top. And there are so many different varieties to choose from. Some are more aromatic than others and the range of bloom shape and cold hardiness is broad.

From a garden design point of view, lavender can find a place in just about any garden scheme because of the silvery gray foliage is compatible with any color. However, certain growing conditions must be met. The soil should be loose and quick to drain.  On the plus side, these plants require very little water and fertilizer, which makes them ideal for growing in containers.

I suppose of all the varieties I’ve tried, lavender Provence (Lavandula x intermedia ‘Provence’) has been the most successful. This is also the lavender most widely used for making sachets because of its long-lasting aroma. So if you are just getting started with lavender you might give this one a try.

Of course the best way to learn about different varieties is to try several and see which ones work best for you.

As with so many herbs, the medicinal qualities of lavender are now being rediscovered. Its essential oil is being used as a remedy for insomnia, nervousness and other health problems.

It will be interesting to see in the future how medical science affirms many of the folk remedies and lessons from history about plants such as this one.

Lavenders to Try

• Lavandula angustifolia (English Lavender), ‘Hidcote’ – silvery grey leaves and deep purple-blue flowers, zones 5 – 9
• Lavandula angustifolia (English Lavender), ‘Munstead’ – blue-purple flowers, compat grower, long bloom time, zones 5 – 9
• Lavandula x intermedia (Lavandin), ‘Provence’ – light purple flowers borne on long wands, zones 5 – 9
• Lavandula x intermedia (Lavandin), ‘Grappenhall’ - dark violet flowers, zones 5 – 9
• Lavandula x intermedia (Lavandin), ‘Grosso’ – purple flowers, very fragrant, zones 5 – 9
• Lavandula dentata (French Lavender) – dark purple, stocky flowers, long bloom time, zones 8 -9, good choice for Southern gardens
• Lavandula stoechas (Spanish Lavender) – dark purple, stocky flowers, zones 8 -9, late spring bloom time, good choice for Southern gardens

When Americans think about adding a splash of color to their garden they frequently reach for that old fashioned favorite the geranium. There’s good reason this plant consistently ranks among the top ten annuals chosen for summer plantings. Long blooming and easy to grow, geraniums are a reliable classic for adorning porches, containers, window boxes or even using in the flower garden.

While geraniums have been red traditionally, plant breeders have done a lot of work in recent years to improve the color, size and shape of the blooms. You can now find geranium varieties in white, pink, salmon and purple.

You may have noticed a band, or zone, of color on the leaves of some geraniums. Plant breeders have also expanded the size and pattern of that zone in lots of interesting ways.

Even if you thought geraniums were a bit old-fashioned for your garden, I recommend that you take a second look at this summer beauty. You’ll find lots of exciting new varieties available in garden centers.

Over the years I’ve discovered certain methods of caring for geraniums that improve their performance. When it comes to feeding, particularly in containers, I use a liquid fertilizer that’s high in phosphorous, such as 15-30-15, to help promote blooming. (Phosphorous is the middle number on the fertilizer label.) Since constant watering leaches nutrients out of the soil, I feed my geraniums regularly, at least every 2 weeks or so during the growing season. This encourages them to set plenty of flower buds.

I’ve also found that geraniums prefer cooler temperatures, so I give mine only morning light and protection from the hot afternoon sun. Too much heat robs them of vigor and keeps them from flowering. You’ll also want to remember to remove all of the faded flowers so that your plants will continue producing a lot of showy color.

One of my favorite summer flowers is the old-fashioned, pompom shaped Hydrangea macrophylla. I can remember as a child being drawn to the cool shaded area on the north side of the house where my mother had a bank of blue hydrangeas planted. The giant blooms were as big as my head and such a clear, deep blue they seemed to belong in a velvet-lined jewel box rather than casually hanging about the garden.

Old-fashioned hydrangeas are easy to grow if you follow a few simple guidelines. Most varieties are cold hardy to zone 5, which means they will tolerate minimum winter temperatures between -10 and -20 degrees F.

Hydrangeas are traditionally known as shade garden plants, but too much shade can result in reduced bloom production. Ideally they should be situated in areas of light shade to partial sun. If you live in a cool climate you can even plant them in full sun.

Hydrangeas are woodland plants so they prefer to be in consistently moist, well-drained, humus rich soil. A generous application of mulch will help keep the roots cool and retain moisture. Little pruning is required with old-fashioned hydrangeas. In fact, improperly pruned bushes can result in bushes not producing any blooms. Old-fashioned hydrangeas set their flowers on previous year’s growth, or what is referred to as old wood. So, in late summer and early fall, your shrub is preparing blooms for next year.

In early spring you can tidy up the plant by removing any dead wood and old flowerheads.

Any severe cutting back should be done immediately after the flowers fade in the summer.

Other causes for lack of bloom include harsh winter temperatures, warm spells followed by cold weather, and late freezes. All can damage or kill tender flower buds. If you site your plants in a north or east facing area of your garden, you can reduce the chances of the buds opening during aberrant warm winter weather. These areas of the garden warm up slower than south or western exposures. Northern gardeners who know that they are in it for a long cold spell can wrap their hydrangeas in burlap for winter protection. Planting the shrubs near house foundations also offers some refuge from cold temperatures.

In my Mid-south garden I fertilize my hydrangeas twice during the summer with a slow release fertilizer, usually in June and then again in August. In cooler climates this can be done once, usually in June. Follow the directions indicated on the fertilizer package. Just remember that too much nitrogen will result in an abundance of lovely leaves at the expense of blooms.

Over the years I have broadened my selection of hydranges to include H. paniculata ‘Tardiva’, H. arborescens ‘Annabelle’, H. quercifolia (oakleaf), and H. paniculata ‘Limelight’, but I still treasure the old-fashion varieties for their ease of care and colorful long lasting flowers.

You know the garden is about a lot more than just beautiful flowers and plants, it’s really about life. I’m always trying to attract different forms of life to my garden. Now, we’re all familiar with attracting butterflies and birds. They add so much grace and color.

Over the years I’ve discovered that the garden can become even more alive by employing the help of some little garden helpers like my Bantam chickens. They are the pintsize members of the chicken family. Since they’re so small, they really can’t do much damage to the garden. They also provide benefits, like eliminating insects and, well, their droppings can certainly make my plants grow. And they’re just a lot of fun to have around to watch.

Goldfish are another garden helper that are just as colorful as chickens. They are some of the easiest garden pets to care for. It’s much more convenient for me to keep them in my garden pool rather than an aquarium or fish bowl. And what a service they provide! They eat mosquito larva and their waste fertilizes my water plants.

And of course, who could forget the honeybee. I don’t guess you could really call them pets, but what a benefit they provide to my garden in the way of pollination. And, of course, the delicious honey.

[Editor's note: Yes, we're still (or already) talking about gardening. Just think of this has early prep to inform your gardening this spring.]

Being able to grow anything has always given me such satisfaction, particularly when it’s something I can eat. The early spring offers so many opportunities to grow vegetables without a lot of space. This is the time of year I start what I call my salad garden.

Early spring’s cool temperatures are ideal for growing some of my favorites. Green onions, radishes, English peas and broccoli will spice up any meal. And since I’m such a salad person, I grow plenty of arugula and a wide range of leafy salad greens, such as my favorite: Buttercrunch lettuce.

I like to start my first crop with young plants and then sow seed for those that follow. In no time my vegetable bed will be full of delicious, tender, fresh lettuce. There’s just something about homegrown that is hard to beat.

The seed of many cool weather crops will germinate as soon as the soil begins to warm a bit. I coax the seedlings along with little plastic covers that I’ve made for my raised beds and they have the added benefit of protecting them if the temperature drops suddenly.

Many salad greens grow so quickly I can harvest several crops before it is time to plant the warm season vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and squash.

If you don’t have room for raised beds, you might try growing some salad greens in containers. It’s a great way to make the transition into spring even more enjoyable and you may find that what you grow is too beautiful to eat.

Over the years I have really come to appreciate the value of hedges. They can be an effective way to create privacy. And from a design standpoint, they are a great way to divide your garden into separate garden rooms or interesting spaces. Now if you’re willing to have patience and put in a little sweat equity, they can be an inexpensive alternative to brick or stone walls or even fences.

You just can’t believe the number of plants, both deciduous and evergreen, that are suitable for growing as hedges. In the North, you might try hemlock; in the West, escallonia or even bay; and down South, hollies are popular.

No matter where you live or what kind of shrub you grow there are certain principles you can always follow to make sure your hedge is lush and beautiful. And one of the first things I always do to promote fullness from top to bottom is to cut my hedges on a slight bevel so the bottom is out just a little further than the top. This will insure plenty of sunlight on the lower foliage. If I let the top grow out too far it would shade the lower limbs and they would become leggy and spindly.

Also, it’s important not to let other plants grow too close to the base of your hedge. They too can block the light, causing the foliage to become thin and weak creating holes in the form.

Over the years I’ve learned that the best designed gardens, whether they are expansive tracts of land, simple flowerbeds or even just containers on your patio, all benefit from some thoughtful planning. Having a plan to follow can save you time, money and energy when you go to the nursery as well as help make your garden more beautiful.

It’s best to plan ahead and prepare for your visits to the garden center and nursery before the spring rush. One way to do this is to follow that old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words.” A few snapshots will go a long way in describing your particular situation. A plot plan of your property can also be very helpful to the professional assisting you. These plans can be done by a surveyor or you can even prepare one yourself. Accurate measurements are the key.

Another suggestion you might consider is to make lists of plants that you like and take photographs of some of your favorite gardens. These can help you describe and illustrate your tastes and preferences. Keep this information in a file so that you will know where to find it when you have the urge to plant.

Garden centers and nurseries are full of well-trained professionals. So, remember if you’re prepared, they can help you make the best choices.

Every time I come to a garden center or nursery in the spring, I’m always dazzled by all those beautiful flowers and varied colors. I find myself wanting to take them all home, but that’s really not the best approach for the well-designed garden.

To help me focus, I let color be my guide. A simple rule of thumb I follow is to choose plants that either have blooms or foliage in the same color family. The good news is that there are lots of different color families.

Just take the primary colors. Consider all of the variety just in the color red. And when it comes to blue, it can range from sky blue all the way to purple. And among the yellows, you can go from chartreuse to orange. And then there are the flowers that bloom white and the plants that have gray foliage, they are the amiable sort of relatives that get along with every color family.

Color can evoke certain moods. Reds and oranges can make are energetic, while pale blues and pale lavenders can evoke a restful, cool feeling.

The other thing these hot and cool colors seem to do is play with our sense of space. You see, hot reds jump forward and make a space seem smaller, where as subtle colors like pale blue make a space feel much more expansive.

Another thing to consider when putting color combinations together is the individual growing requirements for each plant. You can get that off the tags or through the nursery.

Oh yeah, one other thing. Don’t forget. Green is a color, too.

I can’t imagine my garden without roses — their fragrance and beauty are hard to beat. You know, I grow more than 30 different varieties of roses in my garden, and I’m often asked, “How do you take care of them all?”

Well, it’s all in how you choose them. You see some rose varieties are just easier to care for than others.

Many of the roses I grow are old-fashioned shrub roses. You can find these old-fashioned roses from a variety of sources these days but in the past they were actually handed from one gardener to the next from stem cuttings.

The ideal time to make stem cuttings is later in the summer once the flowers have faded and the new growth has matured just a bit. To help you prepare for this technique, let me tell you how the process works.

It all begins with selecting just the right stems, ones that are just under the diameter of a pencil. I make my cuts at an angle just above a leaf node, making sure the cutting is at least 4 to 5 inches long and has a couple sets of leaves. With your cuttings selected, you’ll want to treat them just as you would fresh cut flowers. Get them in water immediately before moving to the next step. Now make sure you moisten the medium your planting in, and I always make my holes first before slipping the cuttings in. To encourage those roots to develop stick the ends of the cuttings into a rooting powder or hormone before putting them into the planting medium.

Set the planted cuttings in a location where they will receive bright, indirect light and keep them consistently moist. Root systems should develop in 3 to 6 weeks. Once they are rooted, they can be transplanted into larger pots or directly into the garden.