I've installed indoor plants for clients, but it didn't usually entail much more than choosing the best-shaped plant for the space, the right plant in concerns to light, and the planter that complemented the interior décor. This client is a principal at Deep Green Living, a consulting business that helps homes and businesses go green. She's originally from the sweaty, beautiful tropical chaos of fruit, flowers and foilage that is Coconut Grove in Miami, was feeling a little homesick. She didn't want an accent plant--she wanted a mini-jungle.

So when recently at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, I wandered through their greenhouses; while looking at the tropical and desert micro-climates, I realized this would be a lot like creating a perennial border. Start with a tall center, and work down in a triangle, and try to have different textures and hues of foliage.