Peace Lily Tabletop Garden

Indoor gardens simply make us feel good, and the secret of creating a satisfying miniature garden in your own home isn’t terribly complicated. It’s just a matter of bringing together a harmonious combination of plants in the right container and spot, then caring for them. Most tabletop gardens are very low-maintenance, and they repay us a hundredfold with their beauty.

This simple tabletop garden invites the beautiful peace lily, or white flag, into our homes. The peace lily is one of the top ten houseplants for cleaner indoor air, and its very name embodies a timely idea for all of us.

Find out the easy steps for creating your own indoor Peace Lily Garden.

The peace lily decorates indoor gardens with frequent blooms and attractive glossy foliage. Choose a form which is suited to small-scale indoor gardens, such as Spathiphyllum ‘Petite’ or S. wallisi, both of which reach a height of about 12 inches. Peace lily is a bog plant requiring a reliably moist, acidic environment, so sphagnum moss is the most important ingredient for their planting mix.

1. Find an attractive decorative container for your Peace Lily Garden: make sure it is waterproof and at least 4 inches deep.

2. In a bucket, prepare a mix of equal parts washed sand and shredded sphagnum peat moss. Moisten the mix thoroughly, allowing it to stand for several hours if the moss resists wetting. It will be thick and slushy.

3. Meanwhile, moisten your peace lily plants in their nursery pots and allow them to drain.

4. Using a trowel, fill your container to within an inch of the top, pressing out air pockets as you work. Loosen plant roots carefully and scoop out a hole that is large enough to accommodate them. Set in plants and lightly press planting mix over roots, then mulch the surface with moistened shredded sphagnum.

5. Sphagnum peat moss holds water for long periods, but you’ll need to check the planting mix at least once a week to ensure even moisture. Because the high mineral content of hard water is fatal to bog plants, use only rainwater or distilled water.

Read more: Crafts & Design, Green Home Decor

Adapted from Tabletop Gardens by Rosemary McCreary (Storey Books, 2002). Copyright (c) 2002 by Rosemary McCreary. Reprinted by permission of Storey Books.
Adapted from Tabletop Gardens by Rosemary McCreary (Storey Books, 2002).

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Joy M.

5:58PM PDT on Sep 23, 2012

Barb E is right, it's not a Peace Lily shown...A Peace Lily is a lot different from this shown...Peace Lily does not need much light in order to grow, it's an easy houseplant...

September 23
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Robert O.

12:15PM PDT on Aug 24, 2012

Thanks Annie.

August 24
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Barb E.

5:43AM PST on Feb 25, 2012

The photo posted with the article above is not a Peace Lily... it's a Water Lily. Big difference... it will not grow in the medium suggested in the article.
FYI =)

February 25
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Gita S.

2:21AM PST on Feb 25, 2012

Great! Thanks.

Rudolf A.

1:46PM PST on Feb 24, 2012

I love the idea of a Peace Lily. How beautiful.

February 24
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Teresa W.

6:48AM PST on Dec 19, 2011

beautiful

December 19
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Michael K.

5:15PM PST on Dec 15, 2011

Other than the kitchen the garden is the only thing I miss about having a house. I hope to have a nice window garden of sage, rosemary, tarragon, garlic, basil and periwinkles this year.