Indoor Plant Seeds: Houseplant Seeds for Windowsills

The big myth about houseplants is that you have to buy them half-grown from a garden centre. You don't. Almost everything in this category goes from seed to a plant you'd actually put on show, and you get to watch the whole thing happen. Growing from seed takes longer, that's the honest trade-off. A Californian Desert Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera) won't look like a palm for a year or two. If you want instant greenery, buy a plant. If you want a project that costs almost nothing per plant, sow seeds.

How to Germinate Indoor Plant Seeds Without Any Kit

Most of these seeds want the same three things: warmth around 20-25C, damp compost, and light. Fill a small pot with seed compost, water it, sow shallow, then cover with a clear bag or a sheet of clingfilm to hold the humidity. A radiator shelf or a south-facing windowsill does the job of a heated propagator for the easy lines like Coleus and Cigar Plant. Cacti, palms and Coffee Plant are slower and fussier about steady warmth, so those are the ones where a propagator earns its keep. Hard, tough-coated seeds such as the palms benefit from pre-soaking in warm water for 24 hours before you sow, which softens the shell and wakes the embryo up; pre-soaking Coffee Plant seed for a day helps too.

Choosing Seeds for Low Light Rooms

North-facing flat? Skip the desert stuff. Neanthe Bella Palm (Chamaedorea elegans), Asparagus Fern and Philodendron all cope with bright shade, which is what most British living rooms actually offer between October and March. Cacti Mix and the Aloe Mixture want the brightest spot you have and will stretch and go pale without it. Watch out for the winter stretch on Coleus too: it holds its pink and lime leaf colour only in strong light, and fades to plain green in a dim corner.

Palms, Cacti, Foliage and Edible Indoor Crops

Four rough groups here. Palms, meaning Neanthe Bella (Chamaedorea elegans) and Californian Desert Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera), for height and that slow architectural look. Cacti and succulents (Cacti Mix, Aloe Mixture) for spiny, low-water windowsills. Foliage and flowering plants for colour, including Coleus Rainbow Mixed (Coleus blumei), Cigar Plant with its little orange tubular flowers, and the Sensitive Plant, whose leaves fold shut the second you touch them. Then the edible and aromatic end: Dwarf Pepper Mixed (Capsicum annuum), Coffee Plant, and Lemon-Scented Gum, whose crushed leaves smell like sherbet lemons and citronella at once. Chamaedorea elegans, Washingtonia filifera, Coleus blumei and Capsicum annuum are all stocked here as seed.

The Two Outdoor Crops in This Category

Pumpkin Jack O' Lantern and the Small Ornamental Gourds Seed Mixture live here because plenty of people start them indoors in spring, but they need a balcony, patio or bed by June. A pumpkin vine will run three metres and won't fruit on a windowsill. Start them inside in April, harden them off, then move them out. If you only have indoor space, the dwarf pepper is the crop to grow instead.

Seed Freshness and UK Delivery

Seeds are stored cool and dry and rotated, so packets go out with plenty of viability left rather than sitting in a warehouse for years. Keep unsown seed in a sealed bag in the fridge and it'll hold for the next season. Orders ship fast and discreetly across the UK. If you're new to this, sow Coleus and Sensitive Plant first, they germinate in days and they'll teach you the routine before you gamble a slow palm sowing on it.