| I suspect few children of today would spend | | | | people's busy lives and reduce the stress people are |
| countless hours putting together the perfect indoor | | | | under today. These miniature sand gardens were |
| garden. To us, as 9 and 10 year olds, the first step | | | | inspired from Ryoan-ji, the Zen Rock Garden in |
| was begging an old biscuit tin lid from our mothers or | | | | Kyoto, Japan. If you purchase a kit, the Zen Garden |
| grandmothers. The biscuit tin lid was ideal because it | | | | comes with white sand, zen rakes and a range of |
| was just the right depth. Next, armed with our | | | | polished stones, together with a booklet explaining |
| empty tin lids, we would make our way down to the | | | | the concept of Zen. Some kits include a Tori Zen |
| end of the garden or, in my case, into the woods | | | | chime, a tea light candle, a mallet and some incense |
| that grew around my grandparents' home. Here we | | | | sticks. All of this is set in a beautiful rosewood tray |
| would find the dank conditions ideal for the sphagnum | | | | that is beautifully finished and makes an absolutely |
| moss to grow and plenty of leaf mould to use as | | | | delightful and original focal point as part of any interior |
| compost. We would fill our tins just below the rim | | | | design project. |
| with the leaf mould and then gently press the | | | | Taking the theme of interior gardening ideas further, |
| sphagnum moss into place to completely cover the | | | | there are the companies which supply various plants |
| leaf mould in the tin lid. | | | | for the interior of office buildings. There are the |
| The next stage was to obtain tiny stones or tiny | | | | palms which require levels of light up to 800 lux, |
| shells - I was lucky there because we lived within a | | | | growing from just 50cm up to 10m or more. Plants |
| few yards of the beachfront so I had access to | | | | such as the Howea forsteriana which do really well in |
| plenty of shells. We would then proceed to decorate | | | | conditions where light is reasonable. The Dracaena |
| our gardens - one year I was even able to get some | | | | family of plants is one of the most popular plants for |
| alpine plants to grow in mine: I prized some of these | | | | indoor gardens as the dark green leaves only require |
| little plants from the crevices of our garden wall. | | | | a fairly low level of light although the variegated |
| Making an indoor garden was often given to us as a | | | | Dracaena does prefer a bit more light. They can |
| homework task from school during our Easter | | | | grow from just 30cm to 5m in height. Dracaena is |
| holidays. Of course, it helped that we all enjoyed | | | | known by the delightful names of Song of India, and |
| making them. Today, sadly, it seems rather a lost art. | | | | Song of Jamaica, amongst others. Whether it is sand |
| A more modern interpretation - to the West, at least | | | | gardens or the indoor gardens of our youth, there is |
| - is the Executive Meditation Zen Garden. This is | | | | no doubt that growing plants in the house alters the |
| probably better known as a Sand Garden. I actually | | | | atmosphere of any room and brings it more alive and |
| bought one this year for my daughter at Christmas. | | | | adds attractiveness. |
| The intention of this is to create an oasis of calm in | | | | |