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[Michaelangelica]

It's time to bring the dirt inside as indoor plants become the latest retro fashion.
Consider the fiddler's fig, named because its cabbage-sized leaves are shaped vaguely like a violin. It grows to a towering six metres. "They are a design feature in themselves," Unsworth says.

Wollemi pines, he says, work well in bright areas and their towering size and prehistoric, round leaves make for a striking room feature. Such singular, oversized statement plants are ideal for light wells and atriums.

The best way to use indoor plants, he says, is by "keeping it simple and, if you are using more than one plant, using just one species". Unsworth suggests a row of identical miniature ponytail palms on a window sill or giant mondo grass massed in a long trough-shaped vase or dish for a "lush and grassy" effect.

The indoor gardener must always pay attention. Plants should be kept inside "for no more than two weeks then give them a bit of sun outside. But be careful when you put [plants] outside that you don't shock them by putting them in bright sunshine."

Garden designer Peter Fudge also has advice. "I suggest you double up on chosen plants and swap them over, giving each some time outside."

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