Cactuses are popular houseplants because they can tolerate a variety of indoor growing conditions and require less maintenance than many other indoor plants. In their natural environment, most cactuses can survive long dry spells, and some varieties can endure extremes of heat and cold. However, there are relatively few regions where cactuses can grow outdoors and survive year round. A good indoor environment will allow cactus houseplants to receive the light and moisture they require while keeping the surrounding temperature stable.
Designing With Cactus Houseplants
Once you have decided to add cactus houseplants to your indoor environment, you have a choice of many different varieties depending on the appearance you wish to create. The first decision you will need to make is how close to any windows you wish to place your cactuses. If you intend to set your cactus houseplants close to a window that admits a lot of sunlight, be sure that you get cactuses that have a high tolerance for direct light.
In case you decide that you absolutely must have a type of cactus houseplant that prefers low light, you can still place the cactus near a window as long as the sunlight is filtered through a curtain.
However, it will probably not be possible to successfully manage an arrangement of cactus house plants that have different light tolerances, and you should look up the different light and moisture needs of different cactuses before planting different varieties in a single container. If you are not able to find out the specific growing needs of your cactus house plants right away, consider keeping each cactus in an individual container so that you can experiment with different placements until you find the best fit.
Combining Cactus Houseplants
As soon as you find out which cactus house plants will thrive in a similar environment, you can try out different arrangements of height, color and texture. If you purchase cactus house plants while they are flowering, keep in mind that cactuses flower only periodically and that two flowering cactus houseplants might not flower at the same time again for many years, if ever.
In addition, two flowering cactus houseplants might have different requirements for fertilization. You would be wise to consult either a gardening book or the staff at your local gardening store before potting two flowering cactuses in the same container. On the other hand, many non-flowering varieties of cactus house plants can be very tolerant of a range of light, watering and fertilizing situations.
Planting two or three non-flowering cactuses and other succulents alongside a flowering cactus can ensure that you have a beautiful, hardy display of cactus house plants regardless of whether your flowering cactus is in bloom or not.
One final consideration about cactus houseplants is safety. Since some types of cactuses have long, sharp spines that could break the skin of people and pets, make sure that cactuses with spines are in a place where they cannot easily tip over and where no one will trip over them or walk into them. With these tips, it should be easy to create wonderful arrangements of cactus house plants to brighten up your indoor environment.
