While the outdoors in Philadelphia is snowy, frosty, and cold, gardening, greenery, and growing flowers are probably the furthest things from your mind. At Robertson’s Flowers, gardening is one of our florists’ favorite winter activities because nothing warms up a chilly winter day like the beauty of a blooming winter plant. We put together a list of our top five favorites to help you start your own indoor garden.

1. Amaryllis

Amaryllis flowers are stunningly beautiful. They have an exotic appearance and a bold, red color that’s perfect for the holiday season. The great thing about amaryllis is that they are bulb plants, which means they can be replanted year after year. Once your amaryllis blooms are spent, store the bulbs in a cool, dry location for the spring and summer. Replant them in the fall and expect to see flowers in six to eight weeks.

Be careful where you display amaryllis flowers if you have pets or small children. These lily cousins aren’t quite as poisonous as true lilies, but they are toxic to humans, cats, and dogs.

2. Poinsettia

There’s no way to list favorite plants that bloom in the winter without including the poinsettia. These plants make gorgeous holiday decorations and wonderful gifts, too. White and red poinsettias are the most popular, but they also grow in yellow, orange, salmon, pink, and marbled varieties.

Native to Mexico, poinsettias need plenty of sunshine to stay vibrant through the winter. Be sure yours is potted in a container that drains easily and keep its soil moist at all times.

3. Cyclamen

Cyclamen is one of the cheeriest plants you can display in the winter. They have attractive dark-green foliage with silvery markings woven throughout. Blooming in every warm shade between red and light pink, plus white and violet, a cyclamen’s shooting star-shaped flowers will make you feel like every day is summer.

Native to the Mediterranean, cyclamens naturally bloom in the cooler weather of winter. They need lots of full sunlight and soil that’s kept moist at all times. Cyclamens enter a dormant period in the spring when they look like they’ve died. Keep yours in a cool, dry place and resume watering in the fall.

4. Succulents

Succulents are a wonderful choice for an indoor gardener who doesn’t have much time to actually spend on indoor gardening because they do better when they’re pretty much left alone. Plus, there’s a wide variety of succulents in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors that look beautiful when planted together.

Native to the desert, succulents fare especially well in the warm, dry air of a home that’s being heated for the winter. Be sure to keep yours in a south-facing window and water sparingly — only after the soil has dried out completely.

5. Christmas Cactus

Another favorite for the holiday season is the Christmas cactus. This plant blooms in response to the short hours of daylight at the time of the winter solstice and Christmas, hence its holiday-inspired name. These plants have lovely tubular blooms in colors like purple, pink, red, orange, and white. Christmas cactuses are also great choices for households with pets and small children because they’re one of few plants that’s completely safe and non-toxic. Taking a bite out of one is sure to upset your stomach, but it won’t do any real harm.

Christmas cactuses are native to humid forests in Brazil, which means they’re not as tolerant of drought as a desert cactus. Keep yours in a sunny location and water when the top inch of soil is dry.

The Natural Way to Eradicate Indoor Air Pollution

With the windows and doors to your house sealed tightly for the winter, indoor air pollution can become a pretty serious health hazard, unless you take steps to purify the air in your home. Plants are actually really powerful, all-natural air purifiers that look aesthetically pleasing and help keep you healthy, too. Some of our favorite all-star air-purifying plants include dragon trees, English ivy, snake plants, spider plants, and aloe vera. Growing these in your home will help clear the air of carbon dioxide and replenish oxygen.

For more indoor gardening tips or personalized winter plant recommendations, we welcome you to stop by Robertson’s Flowers any time this winter.