Loren Best’s garden feature: Creating an indoor jungle

You get indoor plant enthusiasts… and then you get Loren Best. 

Loren has transformed her Durbanville home into a covetable indoor jungle. Every corner of her delightful sunroom is filled with plants: creeping plants, hanging plants, windowsill plants and more. The greenery is complemented by accents of blush pink, nudes, whites and gold, and the more you look around, the more plant-related trinkets and accessories you discover. Ornate misters, watering cans and scissors are purposefully placed throughout the space, and only add to the lush, bohemian feel. 

Loren’s passion for gardening runs in her blood. Her earliest memories are of her granny’s beautiful garden and playing beneath a flowering jasmine arch in her mom’s garden. She cites her mom as her greatest inspiration and hopes that her four-year-old daughter, Lottie, continues the family tradition. 

Loren started collecting indoor plants around three years ago. Her first indoor plant was the ever-popular fiddle leaf fig bought from none other than Stodels! From there her passion grew and it took her three years to get the sunroom to the point that it’s at today. Adorned with an impressive collection of plants – each one named after a female music artist – the sunroom is an Instagram-worthy space you’d dream of relaxing in! Creeping ivy with trailing vines of over two metres (named Dolores O’Riordan), Chinese money plant (Rihanna), prayer plant (Madonna), peace lily (Tay Tay, after Taylor Swift); delicious monster (Lady Gaga), string of bananas and pothos are just a few of the plants that fill the room. 

The plants are watered twice a week in summer and once a week in winter – but not before Loren checks the moisture level of each plant’s soil. Every weekend time is dedicated to giving them some TLC: checking for pests, misting and cutting off dead leaves. They are fed with plant food every two weeks and their leaves are wiped and sprayed with Pokon Leafshine every few weeks. 

The Best home has a grey water system, which is supplemented by a number of rain tanks. Loren’s domain is the indoor plants and her mom is the master of the outside space, which includes two herb-and-veggie gardens. Little Lottie happily gets involved in caring for both the indoor and outdoor plants. 

Loren is currently well on her way to converting her light, airy bathroom into another jungle-inspired space, and is building up a collection of coffee table books on indoor plants. 

Loren Best is a Cape Town-based lifestyle, motherhood and beauty content creator and influencer. Follow her on Instagram (@her.scattered.petals) to catch more glimpses of her gloriously green life.