Photo courtesy of Cynthia Phoung

Who likes wordplay in their article titles? Unfortunately, no, this article is not for those of you who aspire to be like Bran Stark. It’s about growing indoor trees. But you can pretend the trees whisper to you if you want…

Why would you want to grow trees indoors? They add a lot of greenery to your home and cleanse the air, and frankly, it’s cool to have a tree growing in your house.

Check out these 5 varieties that are tolerant to indoor growing conditions.

Ficus

Ficus trees do best in brightly lit rooms. Putting them near a window or in a room with grow lights is a good idea. They don’t need a lot of water and are actually fine if the top of their soil gets a bit dry. This makes them fairly easy to care for, even if you don’t have a lot of time for indoor gardening. Ficus trees are also known as fig trees.

Palm

There are several varieties of palm trees that grow well indoors, such as fishtail palms and majestic palms. They’ll need access to sun or grow lights and a relatively warm environment of 70 to 80 degrees during the day, so if you want them as decorative trees in your house, you’d better like it on the warm side.

Unlike the ficus, palm trees require a decent amount of humidity and do well when they are in a humid room such as a bathroom with lots of natural light. Or you can mist the leaves or run a humidifier near them.

Spineless yucca

Some yucca trees have really sharp leaves, but the spineless yucca is friendlier to sharing an indoor environment. Again, provide lots of lighting, whether natural or from grow lights. The nice thing about this yucca is that it grows well with average indoor temperature and humidity, so you don’t have to fuss over it.

Lemon

Citrus trees, like lemon, are fun to grow indoors. They produce flowers (and sometimes fruit), and they leave their pleasant aroma on the air. The difficult thing about keeping them inside is that they do require lots of light (8 to 12 hours) and moisture. So they are easiest to grow if you have a room that provides ample sunlight and has a humidifier. During seasons when your home doesn’t get a lot of sun, you will need artificial lights to keep these trees healthy.

Lemon trees also prefer a warm environment with a breeze. That doesn’t mean you have to keep your windows open, though. You can run a fan gently to help stimulate growth.

Banana

Banana trees have big, beautiful leaves, and they sprout purple buds with white flowers. They really make a nice decorative plant. Like lemon trees, they require up to 12 hours of full light, whether natural or artificial. Ditto for humidity and temperature requirements. They are, after all, tropical plants.

Any tree you grow indoors needs good drainage and a large, deep pot to accommodate its roots. Find all your indoor plant supplies at Indoor Cultivator.