Praise is due the designers of many of the houses and apartments being built today, because their great expanses of glass admit life-giving sunlight to indoor plants. While window sills are becoming narrower and narrower and are excluded from some houses, rooms are getting brighter and sunnier; architects are designing more and larger built-in planters; and, central heating, cooling, and humidifying combine to make a year-round climate that provides a congenial atmosphere for hundreds of different plants.

   The multitude of indoor gardeners who live in older houses will find that their wider window sills can accommodate an array of plants without the addition of extra planters. Lack of light need not be a problem. Install fluorescent fixtures above an indoor garden and the plants will receive all the illumination they need.

   Lack of central heating can give dividends such as more space for growing plants that require coolness in winter (see page 35).

   Highlight a coffee table, a fireplace mantel, or a piano with a single pot plant, or bedeck a bay window with a collection of them. Bring early spring to the indoor garden with the freshness and fragrance of spring-flowering bulbs. Add sparkle to your kitchen with a few geraniums, miniature roses, or herbs. Dramatize an entrance with a splash of green foliage plants.

   Use house plants as room dividers and screens. In rooms where the dining area is a part of the living room, let a planter screen one section from the other, affording a measure of privacy.

   If your home has a picture window, one that people look into as well as out of, this would be a perfect place for a collection of pot plants. They will give you pleasure as you come and go, and neighbors will appreciate the view from outdoors. Arrange plants on saucers atop a low wooden bench, or set them in a metal-lined planter box. Group potted plants on a plastic-covered window seat, display them on tiered tables, or use Lazy Susan plant stands. Any of these will provide a delightful staging for a collection of potted plants.

   Portable planters equipped with rollers are convenient and practical. Redwood boxes and large pottery pieces are frequently set on dollies (wheeled platforms) which allow them to be moved around wherever a plant decoration is indicated.

   A variation of this idea is a teacart for plants. It might be an old one you find at a secondhand store, or a bright new one. Either could become the center of attraction in an entire room when converted to a plant stand. Group plants in colored plastic pots to complement the color scheme of the room. Make a conversation piece by setting a tall plant in a large pot by a miniature in a two-inch container. Set porous clay pots inside glazed jardinieres, or make a terrarium landscape. However you use it, a teacart of house plants will be a delight. And think of the convenience at watering time! Move cart and plants to the kitchen; feed and water, wash foliage, spray if you detect signs of insect infestation, prune branches, and pick off withered flowers and leaves. Then wheel the plants, refreshed, back to the living quarters.