When it comes to choosing the right houseplants, it's easy to assume that if a plant is categorized as "low light" then it can survive anywhere indoors. This is not always the case, as everyone's home...and different areas throughout the home...have very different light levels. Even low-light plants, such as ferns, may need supplemental grow lighting once you retreat to darker corners of your home.

This modern LED growing fixture, that doubles as a decorative lamp, works perfect for some small ferns I keep against a windowless wall in my living room. Complete growing units like these allow you to grow types of plants you wouldn't normally be able to grow in darker areas indoors.

New BOOK! Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers

If you want to harvest young lettuce leaves, or baby greens, then you don't have to grow just one type of lettuce at a time. You can mix together different types in the same container to grow them indoors. I like to mix multiple types of lettuce to create a nice 'salad bowl'. Try ‘Lollo Rossa’, ‘Oak Leaf’, ‘Black Seeded Simpson’, and ‘Buttercrunch’ for different colors and flavors.

Grow lettuce indoors using LEDs, HOT5 Fluorescent, or CFL grow lamps, with 12-13 hour photoperiods.

For continual leaf harvesting, snip leaves from outside the central growing point, which allows new leaves to emerge from the center. If you plan to harvest an entire head, you can grow under longer photoperiods, but be sure to harvest the plant as soon as it fills out, before it bolts.

New BOOK! Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers

There are many things to take into consideration when choosing & setting up your grow tent. The size of the grow tent will dictate the amount of lighting you’ll need to provide. The entire inner surface of grow tents is highly reflective, so you will not lose light to diffusion.

Note the temperature rating of the grow tent, both for cold temperature protection and heat ventilation. You also need to look for weight ratings for the support structure. You’ll be hanging gear from the frame, so it must be able to safely hold the equipment you plan to use.

Want to grow mint indoors? If so, you're in luck. Mint is relatively easy to grow in moderate light levels. If your mint gets leggy on your windowsill, that means it needs a grow light. There are hundreds of mint varieties, but popular types include chocolate mint, orange mint, lavender mint, apple mint, and pineapple mint.

Mint grows more vigorously and produces more foliage and essential oils with longer days - but it also flowers more. You can grow under 12 to 13 hours of light from grow lights to slow flowering, or keep flowers pinched and harvest regularly under longer photoperiods of 14 to 16 hours.

You can start citrus from seeds you kept from fruit you purchased. If you start a seed from a hybrid variety of citrus, your seedlings won’t come true to variety.

You can also propagate citrus from cuttings, air-layering, and grafting. Otherwise, pick up young or mature specimens at your local nursery and pot them.

Gardening Under Lights Book

Each fall, I am excited to receive the latest list of new English rose releases from David Austin roses. I am a HUGE fan of English hybrid roses – their lovely smell, their stacked petals, and their dreamy colors – each one make me so excited for the following spring.

2019’s new releases do not disappoint. A pale yellow, a stunning fuchsia, and lastly a gorgeous apricot named after Dame Judi Dench – yes, please!

Spring 2019: U.S. & Canada Three Beautiful New English Roses

News Brief

In Spring 2019, David Austin Roses introduces three beautiful new English Roses to U.S. and Canadian gardeners: soft yellow ‘Vanessa Bell’, rich apricot ‘Dame Judi Dench’ and fuchsia/cerise ‘James L. Austin’. “All three are top-performing English Roses, each with distinctive fragrance, beauty and appeal,” according to Michael Marriott, technical director and senior rosarian of David Austin Roses Ltd in Albrighton, England.

Austin’s English Roses are known for combining the classic flower forms and perfume of antique roses with the expanded color range, repeat flowering and disease resistance of modern roses. They can be grown in full sun or partial shade.

In ‘Vanessa Bell’ gardeners gain an exceedingly floriferous English Rose that is, unusually, pale yellow and also compact in its growth habit. “Austin’s breeding team considers ‘Vanessa Bell’ one of the most free-flowering varieties it has ever bred,” says Marriott, putting its level of quick-repeat bloom on par with recent Austin introductions, ‘Roald Dahl’ and ‘Olivia Rose Austin’. Robert Calkin, the acclaimed British floral fragrance expert who serves as Austin’s “rose nose," describes its fragrance as, "green tea with aspects of lemon and, at times, honey.”

David Austin Rose 'Vanessa Bell'

Also new are English Roses ‘Dame Judi Dench’ and ‘James L. Austin’.

‘Dame Judi Dench’ has large flowers in a glorious, sun-kissed shade of apricot that pales prettily towards the edges, where the ruffled petals catch the light in a halo effect. Its fragrance combines a lovely tea scent with notes of cucumber and a hint of kiwi.

David Austin Rose 'Dame Judi Dench'

Dame Judi Dench and her English rose

'James L. Austin’ has densely-petalled flowers in an unusual shade of reddish-pink. The large flowers have a fruity fragrance that evokes a mixture of blackcurrant, blackberry, raspberry and cherry, with hints of lemon zest and almond.

David Austin Rose 'James L. Austin'

With the new introductions, a total of 114 Austin-bred English Rose varieties are now available bare root to North American gardeners at www.davidaustinroses.com. Starting in Spring 2020, the three new varieties also will be available in nursery pots at fine garden centers across the U.S. and Canada where David Austin roses are sold.

Orders Shipped in Spring When Time to Plant While orders are taken year-round, David Austin ships bare root stock only January through mid-May, with delivery coordinated to match the correct time for planting in the recipient’s area. The roses are sold on a first-come basis. New introductions typically sell out early.

To order, visit www.davidaustinroses.com, call 800-328-8893, or write to David Austin Roses Limited, 15059 State Highway 64 West, Tyler, TX 75704. All David Austin roses sold in North America are specially selected for North American growing conditions and climate zones. All are grown and shipped within North America.

Grow citrus indoors with 12 to 16 hours of supplemental light. You can get good growth and vigor from citrus using MH/CMH, CFL, or intense HO T5 lamps, but you’ll need a full-size grow lamp.

You can also place citrus plants inside grow tents with HID lamps for best production. If you have very bright south-facing windows, you may be able to combine that natural light with a few spotlight CFLs to keep a group of citrus happy in your living room.

Gardening Under Lights Book

Your setup will depend on your level of interest and commitment, space, and budget. You might use a combination of equipment and setups. Shelving, closets, and countertops all hold plants in my house.

Young seedlings, houseplant cuttings, African violets, medium-temperature orchids, and cooler-season vegetable crops occupy indoor areas at any given time year-round. I also have a couple of previously unused indoor closets that work nicely for tucking away crops that like a bright spot in the 65°F to 85ºF (18–29°C) range without exposure to very hot or cold temperatures.

Gardening Under Lights Book