Indoor gardening, the practice of cultivating plants within a controlled structure, takes on many names depending on the method, scale, and technology involved. The purpose of bringing plants indoors is generally to regulate environmental factors like temperature and light or simply to add aesthetic appeal to a living space. Because this activity ranges from a single potted plant to a fully automated commercial farm, there is no single, universal term to describe the entire concept. The specific name used depends entirely on the design of the system, whether it uses soil, and how much technology is incorporated to sustain the plants.
Traditional Indoor Methods: Container and Dish Gardens
The most straightforward forms of indoor plant cultivation fall under the broad category of container gardening. This term refers to the practice of growing plants exclusively in a portable vessel rather than planting them directly into the ground. The container can be any object, such as a traditional clay pot or a plastic tub, and the growing medium is typically a soil or potting mix. A collection of these individual pots is often described simply as a houseplant collection.
A more specific arrangement is the dish garden, which involves grouping multiple, compatible plants into a single, shallow container or bowl. The plants chosen for a dish garden must have similar requirements for light and moisture, such as pairing drought-tolerant succulents together. These arrangements usually focus on creating a miniature landscape effect using soil, gravel, and sometimes decorative elements. The dish garden maintains a traditional soil-based environment but groups the plants for a singular aesthetic presentation.
Self-Contained Indoor Environments
A distinct form of indoor garden involves creating a closed or semi-closed glass environment that mimics a miniature ecosystem. The most common name for this is a terrarium, which is a transparent container holding soil and plants. The container is often sealed or has a narrow opening, allowing the moisture the plants release through transpiration to condense on the glass and return to the soil, effectively recycling the water. This self-sustaining cycle means the plants require very infrequent watering, sometimes thriving for years with minimal intervention.
The terrarium has a historical precursor known as the Wardian Case, named after its inventor, Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, in the 1830s. This glazed wooden and glass structure was originally designed to transport live plants across long sea voyages without them dying from salt spray. The Wardian Case successfully created the first practical closed system for plants, which allowed delicate tropical species to be reliably introduced to new regions. Today, a Wardian Case is considered a specialized, often decorative, form of a terrarium.
Soilless Systems and Their Nomenclature
A completely different class of indoor garden includes methods that eliminate soil in favor of delivering nutrients directly to the plant roots using water. The overarching term for this practice is hydroponics, which specifically involves growing plants with their roots directly suspended in a nutrient-rich water solution. This method allows growers to precisely control the mineral composition and pH of the solution, optimizing nutrient uptake for faster growth. Hydroponics typically uses significantly less water than traditional soil gardening, as the water is captured and recirculated within the system.
A variation on this method is aeroponics, where the plant roots are suspended in the air within an opaque chamber and periodically misted with a fine spray of the nutrient solution. Because the roots are exposed to more oxygen in the air, this method can often lead to faster growth rates compared to water-submerged systems. Aquaponics creates a symbiotic loop by combining aquaculture, or raising fish, with hydroponics. In aquaponics, the fish waste provides the necessary nutrients for the plants, which in turn filter and purify the water before it is returned to the fish tank.
Automation and Commercial Terms
Modern indoor gardening increasingly incorporates technology, leading to the development of highly automated systems known commercially as a Smart Garden. These systems are typically pre-packaged, appliance-like units that integrate technology like LED grow lights, sensors, and automated watering or dosing mechanisms. A Smart Garden simplifies the process by monitoring environmental conditions and alerting the user when a resource, such as water, needs replenishing.
On a larger scale, the industry term for technology-based plant cultivation is Controlled Environment Agriculture, or CEA. CEA encompasses a range of structures, from high-tech greenhouses to multi-tiered indoor vertical farms, where all environmental factors are precisely manipulated. In these settings, automation is used to control temperature, humidity, lighting, and nutrient delivery with the goal of achieving optimal yields and consistency.