By Sarah Jackson
Herald Writer
Jon Carloftis was never a houseplant person.
"I wasn't one of those people," said the renowned garden designer. "I thought of 'The Golden Girls.' I just thought of them as 1970s. It wasn't very cool to me."
These days, however, Carloftis is a changed man.
His new book, "Beyond the Windowsill," explains not just how to grow beautiful houseplants successfully, but how to use them effectively and dramatically as home accents.
New houseplant introductions and a yearning for year-round gardening started Carloftis down the indoor gardening path, and he's never looked back.
"There's something about a living thing in a room," he said. "Put a living, beautiful plant on your dining room table that's gorgeous and see what it does to that room."
Now a garden designer for celebrities such as Julianne Moore and Edward Norton as well as the family of Estee Lauder and Sotheby's auction house, Carloftis has been featured in numerous magazines, including Martha Stewart Living, for his way with indoor and outdoor garden design.
"I just really wanted to show people they don't have to be things, these ugly piles of dried-up stuff on your windowsill," said Carloftis, who lives in Pennsylvania but specializes in rooftop gardens in New York. "Use style when you do it."
Houseplants, which exchange air and water with indoor air, can help combat indoor pollutants such as formaldehyde and benzene, released by the off-gassing from common household building materials.
And now, in the Northwest, as a wet, interminable winter creeps ever closer, it only makes sense to turn your gardening sensibilities inward.
"I love gardening outside, but I would die without my houseplants in the winter," said Pamela Rundle, the houseplant buyer at Emery's Garden in Lynnwood.
Now is the time nurseries and big-box stores ramp up their houseplant selections, including everything from bonsai to poinsettias, with prices ranging from $2 for 4-inch starters to more than $299 for large interior accent plants.
"Everybody's getting back to the inside, and all the holidays lend toward that sprucing up of the interior," said Joe McNally, who also works at Emery's.
But it's not just holiday plants you can add to your home now. There's a variety of versatile, easy-care plants that can add permanent greenery to your living spaces.
You offer proper light, water and feeding, and in return, you'll enjoy the look and feel of green, dynamic accessories that can last many years if you're paying attention.
"Once you figure out the light conditions you have and a place you want to put it, then you figure out what kind of plant choices you have," Carloftis said, adding that plant lovers should avoid clutter when it comes to houseplants.
Treat them like statuary or art in your outdoor garden. Use them sparingly and with purpose and flair.
"Less is more," Carloftis said. "Do fewer. Go bigger."
What kind of pot you choose is just as important as the type of plant you select.
During a recent dinner party for 10 people, Carloftis created a centerpiece using a live fern from outside, pine needles and an antique crystal bowl passed down from his grandmother.
"It was the most beautiful, simple, sophisticated, elegant thing you could ever put on the table, and it didn't hurt the crystal bowl," he said. "It kind of sparked the whole night in a real positive way."
Perhaps the best thing about houseplants is you can make an impact by purchasing a single plant and placing it in an elegant pot. You don't have to make over your entire yard or house to make it work.
"It's an unexplainable thing that will change," Carloftis said. "I have to have something growing in every room."
Reporter Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@heraldnet.comHow to water plants and keep them healthy
