Indoor Winter Gardens
With the shortest month of the year feeling like the longest, we’re all wishing for springtime right about now. What better way to dream of greenery and flowers than to grow them in your home? Even if you don’t have a green thumb, you can find success with these indoor gardens!
Grow Your Own Herbs
If you’ve ever scrolled through the pages of a culinary website, you’ll inevitably find an exquisite indoor herb garden in the background of the photos. You, too, can grow your own herb garden in your kitchen, with surprising ease!
Herb garden planters come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. House Beautiful describes several ways to grow herbs for your recipes, from vertical planters to hanging pots to wall-mounted herb gardens. You’re sure to find something that perfectly fits your space!
One of the more unique ways to grow herbs on your kitchen windowsill is also one of the easiest. The hydroponic mason jar method is a self-watering option since you grow the plants without soil—instead, the plant grows directly in a jar of water together with nutrients and a medium on which the plants grow. Mini Garden Guide gives you the full list of supplies you’ll need and instructions for growing scallions, basil and other herbs, and even lettuce and tomatoes! 
If you’d rather have all the components of a mason jar hydroponic garden shipped to you without tracking down all the needed supplies, Uncommon Goods has a kit to get you started! They even offer a Mason Jar Indoor Flower Garden!
Orchids Light Up Your Life
Looking for more exotic flowers to brighten your winter days? You can’t beat the intense color and extravagant beauty of an orchid! Don’t be put off by the reputation of this blossoming plant—caring for an orchid only requires that you think like an orchid!
To have long-term success with orchids, you need to replicate their natural conditions as closely as possible,The Spruce says. In nature, this plant grows on other objects, clinging to rough bark or even stone. It also gets plenty of light—but not direct, harsh sunlight. Most importantly, the plant needs airflow around the roots, with regular periods of drying alternated with heavy watering. For ongoing success, repot the plant after the blooms have faded!
The Charm of Succulents
Who can resist those adorable miniature cactus plants or the zen-like majesty of a jade plant? They’re all the rage in interior design and even Instagram—we’re talking about succulents! Especially in our dry, sunny climate, these desert plants thrive. While they require less regular watering than regular houseplants, Good Housekeeping points out they still need their own kind of care.
You need to re-create the desert environment to have success with these charming plants. Remember, in the desert it’s not that there’s no water—just long periods of time where things dry out, followed by torrential downpours. So give your succulents similar conditions. Let them dry out out completely before soaking them with water.
Lighten Up!
Your indoor succulents require the same amount of sunlight they’d get in the desert—that’s a full 12 hours in the hot sun! So put them on the sunniest south-facing window you’ve got and watch them thrive!
Everyone’s favorite cactus is the brightly-blooming Christmas cactus, but what about other types of these fleshy-stemmed plants? Better Homes and Gardens mentions some of the more popular varieties, including Hens-and-Chicks, Aloe, Burro’s Tail, Jade, Snake Plant, and more!
Plant and Grow in Crystal Valley!
An indoor garden is the perfect antidote for winter, and the master-planned community of Crystal Valley is the the perfect place to plant it! Surrounded by nature, stop in and explore the beautiful new homes from D.R. Horton, Richmond American Homes, and Kauffman Homes, and Century Communities, priced from the $300s.
