Sanservieria trisfasciata (Mother-in-law's tongue) is usually grown on its own in a pot. Here at the Milennium Glasshouse, Wisley, it grows in a naturalistic landscape alongside agaves and other succulents.

November is often a dark, cold miserable month when you really do not feel inclined to brave the elements in your garden. Why not consider instead some plants for indoors?

Orchids are flamboyant, complex and desirable plants. They can be expensive to buy but some go on for many years and have much to recommend them.

The easiest of all to grow are the Cymbidium orchids. Many years ago, I inherited a load of these which had belonged to my husband's grandmother.

They are still going strong and produce their long-lasting flower heads every winter in a range of white, green, yellow and deep crimson. The great thing about Cymbidiums is that they are really easy. They need a minimum temperature in winter of ten degrees centigrade (about 50F) and they require feeding with a liquid fertiliser every other time you water. Stick them in a shady spot outside in the summer and bring them in towards the end of September. If they catch an early frost, they will withstand it no problem. However, if, when the flower spikes appear, you let them get too cold, the flowers turn to mush - hence the minimum temperature. The pansy orchid (Miltoniopsis) is another cool temperature species. However, others require much warmer temperatures such as the widely available moth orchid (Phalaenopsis).

There are thousands of species and cultivars of orchid and I love visiting the vibrant displays at the RHS shows.

Orchids make great Christmas presents as many flower at this time of year onwards. Some are also scented. A friend generously sent me an Odontoglossum laeve - a rather miserable looking thing with brown flowers but within a day, the entire house was filled with spicy, exotic perfume. There are two really good orchid suppliers that I can recommend - www.mcbeansorchids.co.uk (01273 400228) or Burnham Nursery on www.orchids.uk.com (01626 352233). Both send plants and associated products by mail order and Burnham have a really informative website packed with information.

The first plant I ever bought was a cactus.

I saved up my big brown old pennies and bought a Chamaecereus silvestrii which a year or more later produced lots of vermilion, funnel-shaped flowers.

Below left: Paphiopedium 'Yellow Tiger' is an attractive stripey slipper orchid.

I was triumphant!

Now, I am caring for the cacti and succulents my own children have bought for themselves, and I must confess, I still find these plants fascinating. They are so diverse and all have adapted to their natural environments so brilliantly.

Consider the giant Saguaro of the deserts of the USA that can reach 12m in height or the Welwitschia from Namibia that only grows two leaves but can live for 1,000 years, or indeed the tiny Lithops that disguise themselves as pebbles.

Well, you can certainly grow the latter in your greenhouse, even if the former two are less easy to purchase!

There are some really excellent displays in the new glasshouse at the RHS gardens at Wisley of cacti and succulents. I intend to plant up some domestic-scale versions of these naturalistic desert landscapes in a wide container using gritty compost, a selection of different plants, spaced amongst stones and topped with a layer of fine grit. These will thrive on a sunny windowsill.

There are a couple of larger plants I would not be without.

The first is called Epiphyllum oxipetalum.

It looks rather like a jumbo-leaved Christmas Cactus and indeed its flowers are a similar shape. However, the flowers are snow white, about four to five centimetres across and open at night, exuding a magnificent scent.

This is a real gem for the conservatory where you can sit and enjoy it before you retire to bed!

I suppose, in the wild, it is pollinated by moths or bats that are attracted by these nocturnal blooms.

The second is a succulent and I grow two types. Agaves are the most wonderfully shaped plants with thick, leathery, sword-shaped leaves, lined with spines up both sides and with a truly vicious terminal spike at the point of the leaf.

I have the plain green Agave americana, and a yellow-striped variegated version.

I keep them in the greenhouse over the winter and plant them out into pots and borders for the summer. I just love their architectural shape although they are brutes to move. I usually cut off the end spikes but nevertheless, they always seem to inflict injuries of some sort!

I have recently come to appreciate the third type of indoor plants I wished to mention. They are exquisite miniatures, perfect in every way - Bonsai literally means potted plant' in Japanese, although this method of container growing, pruning and growth restricting originated in China (penjing') many centuries ago. There are, it seems, outdoor hardy bonsais and those that need to be given warmer temperatures and shelter. There is certainly not enough space to give you too many details of this ancient form of horticulture but I have learned to enjoy the extraordinary shapes and ages of these wonderful trees. I have also found a large bonsai nursery right here in Southampton.

For obvious reasons, they do not despatch their plants by mail order but it would not be too far away to go and collect. I should have thought that a bonsai tree would make a really nice Christmas present for a friend or family member and might start a whole new interest in this ancient art!

2:30pm Monday 12th November 2007

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