In case you hadn’t noticed, houseplants are hot. Again, or still, depending on where you are in your gardening life. Not only are plants more readily available, the varieties are practically limitless. For one thing, we can find them at the supermarket in the middle of a January blizzard. Alternatively, you could even order them online. Traditional sources like local garden centers are usually the best for selection, size and price, but don’t discount public gardens. Some of the healthiest and most unusual plants can be found at places like Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, or Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI. And finally, seek out local plant societies that sponsor shows or conventions during the fall and winter months.

Purchase houseplants any time

Online nurseries ship throughout the winter months, so the season won’t limit your satisfaction when the urge for green strikes you. How do they do it? Lindsy Mandeville, customer service plant and insect specialist for Josh’s Frogs in Owosso, Michigan, explains their system for determining when plants will be shipped during seasons of extreme temperatures, both hot and cold.

In winter, plants are boxed with heat packs and foam insulation on a two to three-day shipment schedule when the low in the recipient’s area remains 20° F or above, or on an overnight shipment if temperatures are above 10° F.

Houseplants need humidity, not just heat

Once the plants arrive, they must adapt to the new location. This includes recovering from the stress of being boxed up and knocked around for a couple of days. They also are typically blasted with excessively dry air. If your house’s furnace runs without a built-in humidifier at a high temperature (somewhere above 65° F), plants can suffer from lack of humidity.

The warmer you keep your house, the more humidity you will have to provide your plants. And here’s the best part, and a requirement that offers an excuse to buy more plants—you can increase humidity by grouping several plants together. There’s a downside to this, however. Lack of air circulation created by grouping plants together can contribute to disease and increase insect activity. Part of the solution to this conundrum is to get a fan and let it run at least half a day. I have two ceiling fans I run in the room with the majority of my plants.