Diacono Mark - My tiny indoor garden: houseplant heroes and terrific terrariums in small spaces

There is nothing lovelier than gazing upon greenery; it rests the eyes and soothes the soul. It does this just as well indoors as out. Put a group of houseplants in the corner of a room and that room comes alive; you feel you can really breathe fresh air when there are plants around you.

Indoor plants have never gone away, but they are currently enjoying a particularly enthusiastic revival among city-dwellers and those living in temporary or small accommodation, with little or no outdoor space. Its perfectly logical: if you have a home that you cannot make any permanent changes to, you can personalise it by filling its windowsills and alcoves with your own plants. When you have to move, you can pack up your little indoor garden in a box and take it with you to make your next house feel instantly like your home. If you dont have floor space you can fit indoor plants along shelves, or even hang them in baskets from walls or ceilings. There is no home so small and so short-term that you cannot create an indoor garden within it.

Houseplants have a wonderful presence and they win out over pieces of art and even the best-loved furniture because they change over time. The pony-tail palm cared for since it was bought for small change at a flea market, the aspidistra passed on by a grandfather which has seen out two world wars and the cheese plant bought to cheer up a first bedsit which now looms, triffid-like, from a corner we become attached to these plants because they have lived, breathed and grown alongside us. And they dont have to be tricky; there is a houseplant for everyone, from the slow-growing and undemanding cacti and succulents to the high-maintenance green and glossy tropical plants. Indoor plants will keep your green fingers occupied all winter if you are a gardener longing for spring, but if their decorative value is your main interest they will simply sit prettily on your mantelpiece asking for nothing but the occasional dusting.

Within this book there are examples of many types of indoor garden some colourful, some green, some demanding, some easy. All of them enhance the homes and lives of the people who care for them. If you have ever considered starting your own tiny indoor garden, you will find all the inspiration you need from these indoor gardeners.

I grow plants for many reasons: to please my eye or to please my soul, to challenge the elements or to challenge my patience, for novelty or for nostalgia, but mostly for the joy in seeing them grow.

David Hobson

Little succulents contain a world of colours and textures.

Create a tropical, leafy atmosphere in your home using big green houseplants.

When we think of houseplants, a certain set of plants comes to mind: they are generally green, lush and tropical in look and feel. But some gardeners prefer to look closer to home for their indoor plants and create displays that have more in common with miniature gardens, or with tiny corners of woodland, than they do with any jungle. These gardeners are turning to the outdoors and finding ways to bring it indoors: as flowering bulb displays, in tiny verdant terrariums of fern and moss, or just as garden plants potted up and arranged so that their delicate natural beauty can be truly appreciated.

A rainbow of antique glass vases is arrayed across Jeroens windowsill, each filled with a deliciously scented, pure white-flowered hyacinth.

I am an eBay obsessive, says Jeroen Bergmans, and in the kitchen of his London flat the spoils are all around him: bright red 1960s Danish cooking pots; a wall of Victorian fern prints; 1950s furniture and lamps. The beautiful collection of hyacinth vases filling his kitchen windowsill comes mainly from the same source, and from the same magpie instinct.

Jeroen has a strong design aesthetic and his love of modern furniture is evident throughout his London flat. I like to fill a space and make a statement, he says. I wasnt particularly interested in growing a few hyacinths here and there around the place; I wanted to create a feature that would become a part of the architecture of the house.

The first vase, a chunky 1950s piece in salmon-coloured glass, was a present from his father. I loved the shape and colour of it, so I started looking out for more, says Jeroen. He was first inspired in his choice of colour by a table he had coveted when working on an interiors magazine. At first I bought shades of amber, and then I added greens and pinks. I wanted a simple and muted palette of colours, and I prefer them arranged within their colours like a rainbow, rather than all jumbled up. It makes more of an impact.

Jeroen is originally from Amsterdam. The Dutch are famous for their love of bulbs, of course, but they also have a great passion for houseplants. No one in Amsterdam has curtains, says Jeroen. Everyones windows are filled with houseplants instead, so it seems quite natural to me that my front window should be filled with growing plants. His 30 jostling hyacinth spires create a visual barrier between the kitchen and the road, and are prettier and certainly more fragrant than a pair of net curtains.

With a great interest in interior design, Jeroen has collected antique Delft tiles, old trunks and 1960s furniture. Plants and collections are carefully placed together to show each off to its best.

Although it would be possible for him to force hyacinths from chilled bulbs, Jeroen prefers the more fail-safe route of buying them as plants when they are just ready to flower. I have bought and grown them as bulbs before but it is a tricky job and lots of them failed. Now I buy them at Columbia Road Flower Market, where they are sold grown on in soil. I carefully wash the soil off the roots and feed the roots into the base of the vase. He always chooses white-flowered bulbs: I dont want any colours that are going to clash with the colours of the vases, and it is important to me that they all look the same.

Jeroen has many other houseplants that fill his flat all year round and he loves to collect interesting containers that show them off