Indoor flowers

[duckduckmooses]

Well.. Hi! I'm new here. Just looking for a little advice.

I have a 10 gallon glass tank that's sitting empty. I have a Home Depot, a Lowes, and a grocery store with a decent selection of seed packets and occasionally potted plants.

As a beginner I'm looking for easy plants. I'd LOVE to have some plants that flower. The downside is that I'm not particularly interested in having to repot plants, or buying a plant that will only flower for 8 weeks before I have to throw it away and get a new one. I would like something that keeps coming back.

I'm open to all kinds of plants that will stay somewhat small/okay in a ten gallon tank. I'd like to get some flowers in it, maybe something with pretty leaves or something for ground cover. I'm not sure how far you can go with a small flower garden indoors.

The light level the pot would be under is somewhat low-- but I do have a tank top I can put artificial lighting in. Right now I've got some extra perlite and vermiculite sitting around, so if there's anything that can be planted in those mediums it's a bonus.

[rainbowgardener]

You are talking about something like a fish tank/ terrarium? The problem with something like that is it has no drainage. And then unless you fill it up to nearly the top with soil, your plants are down IN the tank and have no air circulation. That makes it a very tricky environment for growing things. I would suggest read up on terrariums, because that is what you are talking about doing and it is very different from regular containers/ flowerpots or gardens.

There are very few plants that flower in terrarium conditions, you would do better to look for interesting and colorful foliage, of which there is plenty. A couple of flowering terrarium plants I have seen mentioned are flame violets and miniature sinningias.

Let me know if I don't have the right picture of what you are talking about.

[bullthistle]

You may want to try marigold and petunia because they will flower all summer. Don't use the tank. Sell it. Get either a paper or plastic empty milk container and cut it half. You might want to go to a real garden center and purchase a soil with either perlite or vermiculite, they displace moisture and prevent the soil from balling up. Speak to someone there and tell them what you want not what they want to sell you, brandnames. Better yet go to a greenhouse and tell them you won't put them out of business. In the fall collect the marigold seed heads, store in freezer and start over again the following spring.

[rainbowgardener]

Even if duckduck didn't mind getting rid of the fish tank that he/she wrote in asking about, the question was about indoor plants in low light conditions and preferably perennials: " I would like something that keeps coming back. " Petunias and marigolds don't satisfy any of those requirements.

Duckduck, really you should have posted your question in the Container Gardening section; it would have been more clear what you were asking about. Garden Design is really outdoor landscaping.

If you are willing to not use the fish tank, we can give you some suggestions for indoor, low light flowering plants. One of the best is peace lily, which might even survive in terrarium conditions, but probably gets a little too big for what you want.

[applestar]

I agreed with rainbowgardener and I've moved the thread to Container Gardening

I think with sufficiently high intensity light in the fixture -- a fluorescent T-5 or T-8 daylight (65K) fixture -- don't get the heat intensive ones which can "cook" your plants. The cover should be vented and not tight fitting.

If you are new to plant culture, I recommend African violets. Miniature would be better since standard size would get to be 10-12" across.

Fill the bottom 2"-3" of the aquarium with well washed aquarium gravel.

Keep the plants in their original pots and snuggle the bottoms in the gravel, then fill the remaining space with either more gravel or I think you can use the perlite but not vermiculite. If you overwater, excess will drain down into the bottom gravel. Too much water pooling in the bottom will eventually grow mold and mildew and start to smell, and the water in the gravel should NEVER reach the bottom of the pots.

The sources you mentioned are not known for better plant material, and I'm not even sure they would have miniature African violet. If you can find a better greenhouse, you could go there and ask about miniature, slow-growing terrarium plants. There are several I can think of with colorful foliage.