There is one simple cure to having a your bonsi in this office. First build a small wooden ledge just outside your window. This will be the mid spring through late fall resting place for your tropical tree. When the night time temperatures drop below 50 degrees F you should move the tree/trees indoors in close proximity to the windows they were outside of. this will provide them with the winter version of the light they were recieving. There will not be as much growth during the winter monthes, but they should survive sufficiently. although some people keep their trees alive without humidity trays i would suggest having one year around as the tropical regions which these types of trees come from are very humid this will provide the best growing environment. In this manner i am able to keep my two types of ficus,my serrisa and my bougainvillea alive and well. I hope I could be of some assistance. Tim

Janice, we have to try to give to our houseplants the same kind of environment they would normally get in their natural surroundings. As most houseplants are tropicals, we have to be aware they cant take some conditions that our winters thrust at us. One of them is cold outside.....and because glass is a good conductor of heat and cold, we try not to let our plants touch the window glass. Windows, with the sun's rays, can increase the amount of heat by tunnelling such rays onto our plants. Your wish to grow a plant on the windowsill has merits. Some plants do very well in such direct light. Others do well by being drawn back some from such direct light. It depends on the plant. Your wish to grow "basil" should be no problem. Basil does well growing in such light you can give it....but...you are correct, it doesn't like being touched by cold....so don't let it touch the cold window glass. Basil should not be put outside until well into spring. Also, as with all plants, they don't like being hit by air currents that can abruptly change their soil's moisture level. The window should not be ever opened with them in direct line. Nor should the plant be hit with air from a heating vent, a door that is constantly opened and closed. Try to get to know your chosen plants likes and dislikes. As far as cats...have they shown to be lickers or chewers of plants. I'd say most plants wont hurt them...some will though. You can also choose to avoid such plants that might tickle their throats. Poinsettia is not one of them. Up on a window sill, I cant see a cat wanting to go there but you can ask at the nursery or garden center about such problem. Just be sure wherever you place your plants, they can drain properly. Let their water sit overnight to gain room temperature. Tap water is usually much too cold to be used directly. (don't use taps on a softening system)

Hi Leafie and welcome to GardenWeb, In regard to your question, for me at least, it's kind of hard to give you a good answer. I've never grown those plants but I know they require very little light. I've read that most house plants do well with 50 to 100 foot-candles for 16 hours a day. Some shade loving foliage plants require less than that. Your CFL bulbs are daylight bulbs, which is good. However they're only rated at 800 lumens (luminous flux output). In order to get 50 foot-candles of light intensity from one of those bulbs, it would have to be only about 15 or 16 inches away from the plant. And that's with no shade blocking the bare bulb, such as a desk lamp might do. Of course, if the room has some natural light then you wouldn't have to supply near as much artificial lighting. How large are the plants, would one light be enough to adequately cover all parts of the plants? How far from the plants will your light be? How many hours a day will the light be left on? Just too many questions to give you a good answer :-) Hopefully something here might be helpful or at least give you some ideas. Art

SunCoat max (i.e. Cardinal Low-e 366) will cut down on the SHGC to the extent that it will certainly impact any passive solar heating ability of the sun. If you rely on passive solar, you need to re-examine your choices. Where is the home located? Read the article linked below.... Here is a link that might be useful: Zero Energy Article