Indoor plants are fantastic, we can’t get enough of them. But what do you do if you want a bit more drama and scale to your indoor garden? You need some large indoor plants and trees!
There’s no need to restrict all trees to the outdoors, as long as you choose the right ones. You can even grow large indoor plants in a way that they look like trees.
We’re going to show you the best options to get some indoor trees in your home. We’ll also tell you how to look after them.
Let’s plant a few trees (indoors)!
Calamondin Orange Tree
Citrus Mitis
Ha! You thought we’d start with a Fiddle Leaf Fig didn’t you? Well, we will get to that later, but first, the fantastic Calamondin Orange Tree that will not only look (and smell) great in a sunny spot in your home, it will also give you fruit!
The best way to help this tree thrive is to keep it indoors for most of the year but put it outside in a sunny position in the summer. This is not essential though and you can keep it indoors all year.
Water weekly and give it a misting regularly too. When watering, take the inner pot over to a sink and water until it comes out of the bottom, then put it back.
Umbrella Tree
Schefflera Arboricola
We love the look of the Umbrella Tree with its spray of beautifully arranged leaves.
It grows fairly quickly, so you can have a decent sized specimen in your room in no time. This does, however, mean you will need to be careful with feeding to keep to your desired size. Fertilise every 2-3 weeks while growing, then cut back to once or twice a year after you have got it to the right height.
You can also prune it to get a better shape. It will grow back stronger so don’t worry about pruning too much!
Water when the top of the soil is dry, usually every week. Indirect sunlight is best for Umbrella Trees.
European Olive Tree
Olea Europea
Olive trees are great for growing indoors because their natural environment is warm and dry! The small, elongated grey-green leaves are gorgeous and the tree can be trained into whatever shape you want.
Growing them in a container will prevent them from getting too big, but you are in control if you want them to fill a space. They are, however, quite slow growing which is why mature olive trees are very expensive!
Make sure it is situated in a sunny location and that the soil is allowed to drain freely by adding some gravel or styrofoam to the bottom of the pot. Water when the top inch of soil has dried out.
Fiddle Leaf Fig
Ficus Lyrata
Right, I couldn’t hold it off any longer. The fiddle leaf fig is a very popular plant at the moment. It won’t start off looking much like a tree unless you spend a lot of money on a mature one. You can, however, grow it fairly quickly indoors into a stunning specimen.
Everybody loves the large, thick, fiddle-shaped leaves on this plant and it does make a big statement in a room.
It can be quite picky about its surroundings, but as long as it is in a bright location with no drafts or heating sources nearby you should be OK.
Water it when the top of the soil feels dry, roughly weekly. If it looks a little poorly then you could try cutting off the top part (two or three leaves down, just above a leaf) to promote new growth and a new branch of your tree!
Dwarf Woolly Tree Fern
Cyathea Tomentosissima
Ferns are generally a little tricky to grow indoors, they do need a lot of moisture. However, this tree fern is quite adaptable and will do well indoors as long as it’s not too warm.
As mentioned, you will need to keep this wet though. Make sure the soil never dries out and give it a good misting daily.
This tree fern will reward you will a gorgeous display of structural leaves and you will be able to enjoy the unfurling of them throughout the year.
Candelabra Cactus
Euphoria Ingens
For the classic cactus look, try this fantastic succulent (not actually a cactus) that will grow up to 6 feet indoors. It can actually grow to 40 feet in the right conditions outdoors so be careful!
This plant is being used a lot for those stylish magazine interior shoots and will give you a gorgeous bit of green structure to a room.
You will need to water only when the soil is completely dry. Make sure it is not continually sitting in wet soil. Sit it somewhere bright, but not in direct sunlight all day. Given the right conditions it will grow relatively quickly so go for a cheaper, small cutting and exercise a little patience!
Weeping Fig
Ficus Benjamina
In it’s natural, tropical, habitat the weeping fig will grow into a sizeable tree. But indoors it forms a gorgeous, small canopy of leaves around twisting trunks.
This is a great option for an instant impact and will give you a good amount of greenery in a small space.
The weeping fig can be problematic for asthma sufferers though, so be mindful of this.
It is otherwise a fairly low maintenance tree that will tolerate low light levels, but will need a little more watering than some of the other plants in this list.
Rubber Tree Plant
Ficus Elastica
Whoops, there goes another… etc.
The rubber tree plant was a hugely popular choice in the last century and is making a bit of a comeback now.
It’s a great little plant that can turn into a gorgeous, broad-leafed tree in the right conditions.
They can grow quite quickly so, with careful propagation, you could have a forest of rubber tree plants in no time!
This is quite a hardy plant that will only require a bright position, out of direct sunlight. Watering is fairly easy, keeping it moist in the growing season while letting it dry out between watering in the winter.
As it grows quite quickly, you will need to consider pruning to keep it manageable, but keep those cuttings for new plants!
Lady Palm
Rhapis Excelsa
The lady palm is a great plant for creating the indoor tree effect. It will only grow to about 6 feet so you don’t have to worry about it getting out of control.
It will produce a glorious fan of palm leaves from a thin trunk and will give you a fantastic tropical feel all year round, if you like that kind of look!
The needs of this plant are similar to others, requiring a bit more watering in the summer than the winter. But keep the lady palm away from draughts.
Dwarf Banana Tree
Musa Dwarf Cavendish
If you love the look of a banana plant with it’s huge, grey-green leaves, but don’t have a garden to fit one in (they grow like nobody’s business!) then the dwarf banana tree is perfect for you.
It will only grow to about 6 feet which, I’ll admit, is still big but nowhere near the 25 feet the bigger plant will get to!
You will pay for your eagerness in having a banana plant indoors with a bit more of a maintenance schedule than other plants. It will need a lot of watering, feeding and misting in the summer and some aggressive pruning in the winter to prevent rot.
I still think it’s worth it though, for the impressive results you can achieve.
Norfolk Island Pine
Araucaria Heterophylla
I love a pine tree. I like nothing more than wandering around a pine forest, walking over pine-needle covered paths and drawing in great gulps of pine-scented air.
And don’t get me started on the smell of a tree at Christmas.
But having a pine tree indoors is a bit tricky.
So we can turn to the Norfolk Island pine, which isn’t really a pine tree, but does a good imitation.
It is fairly similar in its needs to other tropical houseplants except that it loves direct sunlight or at least very bright light for several hours a day.
You won’t get the smell of a pine tree, but you can nuture the Norfolk Island pine into quite a realistic looking miniature pine tree with the right care. Maybe you can plug in a pine scent to enhance the effect!
Growing trees indoors doesn’t have to be a difficult dream to achieve. Many houseplants can grow into large, tree-like plants with the right care and a bit of time.
If you want some large houseplants and trees in your home, check out some of the plants and trees on this list and see if you have the right spot for one or two of them.
We’re always encouraging you to bring a bit of nature into your home, so why not increase the scale of it a bit and get yourself a tree!