The best indoor plants for fall are those that either feed your family and/or look attractive at this time of the year. You might be tempted to look for the easiest options but experienced indoor growers will find that the end of summer does not mean the end of a beautiful and productive indoor garden.
Edible Indoor Plants for Fall
There are numerous indoor plants that you might be growing for food at this time of year. Some are summer crops whose harvests can still be in full flow through fall. Others are quick crops to sow and grow before the coldest part of the year.
Leafy Greens
Quick lettuce crops, Asian greens, spinach, chard… there are many different leafy greens that you sow on a sunny windowsill indoors year-round. Leafy greens should be grown in your home throughout the year, and these can be harvested and successionally sown throughout the season. There is no excuse not to have some leafy greens growing indoors throughout fall, and throughout the winter too.
Chilli Peppers (Capsicum annuum)
Chilli peppers outdoors will stop producing as chillier weather arrives. Those grown indoors can continue to produce and have their fruits ripen long into fall, and perhaps even beyond. Basket of fire type chili peppers, which produce an abundance of fruits on small, compact plants, truly are a particularly good choice for a bright indoor location.
Eggplant (Solanum melongena)
Eggplants, or aubergines, can be challenging to grow outdoors in cooler climates. If you live in a cooler temperate climate region you may find it easier to grow this crop indoors, where the season can be longer than it is outdoors. You could be harvesting the fruits (which are of course used as a vegetable) well into fall. And the plant will look good on a sunny windowsill too.
Peas (Pisum sativum)
Peas are another top pick to grow indoors in fall. Peas can be sown in the fall for overwintering for a crop in the spring as long as the right varieties are chosen. As well as simply starting peas indoors, though, you can also sow and grow peas in the fall for a quick and easy harvest of pea shoots for the salads of the season. These also look good and don’t take up too much space in an indoor garden.
Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)
Last but not least, keeping tomato plants indoors means that you could still be enjoying and harvesting tomatoes well beyond the time when the plants will be done in your outside garden. On a sunny windowsill, you can certainly often harvest tomatoes throughout fall, and give green tomatoes more time to ripen on the vine.
Ornamental Houseplants for Fall
Keen indoor gardeners will often wish to grow beautiful plants, not only those that are productive. So this opens up many more options as we consider which ornamental houseplants to grow for fall interest.
Abutilon (Flowering Maple)
A large houseplant to grow if you have the space, and typically blooming in summer and into fall, flowering maple is a great choice for fall interest. This is a large shrubby houseplant, which will flower well with vivid blooms in red, pink, or orange as long as it gets enough light and a rich, moist yet well-drained growing medium.
Brugmansia (Angel’s Trumpet)
If you want a dramatic and tropical houseplant for a sunny conservatory or another suitable spot indoors, Brugmansia, or Angel’s Trumpet, is one other option to consider. These large evergreen shrubs produce their fragrant, large, trumpet-shaped flowers throughout summer and well into fall when they are provided with the right growing conditions. So they are a great way to bring interest to your home during this season.
Croton (Codiaeum variegatum)
Croton’s leaves in vivid green, orange, and yellow hues can bring a hint of fall foliage seen outside at this time of year into your home. Different croton plants can differ greatly in saturation and hue, but all are attractive foliage plants to have in your home at this time of year. Just remember to make sure they get plenty of light to show off their foliage at its best.
Hippeastrum (Amaryllis)
Hippeastrum, commonly known as Amaryllis, will typically bloom around 7 or 8 weeks after planting. You can encourage them to bloom in the late fall if you are looking for great color at this time of the year. They offer huge, showy blooms in a range of shades from green to white, to pink, to red when you keep them in bright but indirect light, in a well-draining growing medium.
Hoya (Wax Plant)
Hoya, wax plant, or wax flower is a climber that can be grown in a sunny conservatory or other bright location indoors. It produces its well-known waxy blooms through the summer and often also well into fall. When given the warmth they need, these plants can really bring exotic flare to your home in the fall, before they enter into dormancy over the coldest part of the year.
Of course, the options listed above are just a few of the many plants that can provide a lot when grown as houseplants indoors over the fall months. Just because summer is coming to an end, that does not mean that you have to give up on an indoor garden. There are many plants, both edible and ornamental, that will thrive in your home even once colder weather and shorter days arrive.
