Welcome to my garden. Come in and have a seat. I realize it's not exactly the garden you were expecting, but it is winter, and snowing outside. And, knowing as I do (all too well) that gardeners really hate that moment in fall when the last tool has been cleaned and put away, the last mulch spread, and it's time to come in for winter, I've done my best to make the indoors seem as much like a garden as possible.

The room in this photo was a natural for a garden room, as it came with two walls of windows and a floor tiled in a deep forest green. Unfortunately, it also has a northern exposure, which doesn't make it ideal for many plants. Right now, it holds three huge brugmansias, two crinum, a freesia and assorted houseplants anyway, as my house doesn't have all that many good windows. With the rattan furniture and a concrete garden bench used as a coffee table it does feel a bit like being in a garden.

Any room can be a garden. Take my dining room. When we moved in, it looked a lot like a cave. Gorgeous wallpaper, but magnolias floating on a charcoal gray background don't help the lighting situation when the room is 25 feet long with only one widow at the far end. The solution? Make it a gazebo! We started with a nice picture of a garden and an overhead projector. I projected that picture onto the lower walls, penciled it in, then painted a garden of spring flowers.

Next we made a shallow lattice railing in front of it, all around the room. Uprights go to almost to the ceiling, and are decorated with some beautiful cast iron brackets we found in a shop in New Orleans. At the end of the room with the window we have a New Orleans park bench (I wonder why we're never attracted to small souvenirs?) flanked by huge potted plants and a garden statue on a pedestal. Tucked in another corner is a small fountain (which my cats think of as their own private drinking bowl) and a lamp we found in Paris, which looks like a 5' tall cattail plant. (See what I mean about small souvenirs? We had to buy that lamp a ticket on the Metro!) Any day now I'm planning on painting clouds in the area above the lattice -- as soon as I learn to paint convincing looking clouds. Sometimes I wish I could do my walls using Photoshop instead of my trusty sea sponge.

Because my husband is frugal, we are still using my old wooden dining room table, but I am praying that it falls apart soon so that I can bring the cast iron table and chairs in from the terrace. A few plant lights, and few more plants and you'll hardly realize you're indoors. We'll be tiling that floor in white (it still needs brightening!); that and some fake skylights (see picture) complete the garden atmosphere.

Outdoor furniture works beautifully in many interiors and is usually more economical than its interior counterpart. Wicker and rattan ranges from the extremely inexpensive to some beautiful and solid pieces capable of withstanding a lot of wear and tear -- and they are quite comfortable. Cast or wrought iron tables also lend a nice outdoor ambiance, although it is really only good for dining room seating -- or a quick stop to take off your garden boots.

If metal is a less-than-ideal choice for seating it's a wonderful choice for accessories. Cast or wrought iron tables are solid enough that you don't have to worry about knocking into them and scattering everything on top. Iron birdcages really make light, airy accessories suspended from the ceiling or topping a table; they also look good filled with plants.

Old iron gates and fence pieces can often be found at salvage yards and auctions; they look terrific as headboards for a bed. They also make unusual wall ornaments or screens. Put a vining plant in a pot at the base and let it twine its way through the ironwork.

Fountains are a wonderful way to bring the outdoors in. Although I do know a man who has a 6' high fountain and equally large basin taking up a lot of their living room, most of us will be well contented with something more modest. If your fountain basin is large enough and you have good lighting, you could even try growing a small tropical water lily in it.

If you're artistic, try your hand at painting a mural on the wall to make it seem like you're looking at the garden. If you lack that talent, you can get amazing results with an overhead projector. Or simply cluster container plants and add a gazing ball or statue to simulate a garden. Many of us bring in our garden ornaments for the winter anyway, to prevent frost damage. Instead of storing them away, use them to create a garden atmosphere. I've liked some of mine so much that they never found their way back outside.

Just because you've become accustomed to dividing the world into indoor things and outdoor things doesn't mean you have to continue along this road. You've seen those pictures of dining room tables carted out to the orchard and set with lace and fine china, haven't you? Well, do the same thing, in reverse. Bring the outdoor things in.

They may not be a garden, but they do a creditable stand-in, atmosphere-wise, until you can get back to the real thing.

For a look at a faux garden that really looks real, check Just Beyond the Garden Gate. It fooled me.

Home Hardware's Decorating Tips can help you to paint a floor that looks like brick or quarry tile.

Stencils can help you to create ever blooming flowering walls, even if you're not artistic.

And, if you have blank walls and fences that need a touch of something while you're waiting for your plants to grow, you can use these outside, too. How about stenciling ivy on a porch pillar while you wait for the real vines to grow up?