In fact, Carter’s fervor for flora education is designed to transcend the lifecycle of transient trends.

The Baltimore-based writer-photographer behind multiple plant-based bestsellers, including Wild at Home: How to Style and Care for Beautiful Plants (his latest tome, The Propagation Handbook, drops in April), prioritizes the right kind of light for his space by balancing the amount of sunlight needed for both plant and human health. He recently installed Hunter Douglas Silhouette^® Duolite^® Window Shadings with PowerView^® Automation, which blend a translucent Silhouette shading in front, for diffusing harsh sunlight and a room-darkening roller shade at the back, in his office.

Carter sat down with Hunter Douglas to probe all questions plant, and light, related.

Q: Take us to the beginning: your start as a plant designer and stylist. How has your focus deepened over the last few years?

I got started as a plant designer and stylist by first styling my own space. I wanted to create a space for myself that felt warm and inviting, while bringing the outside in. After receiving so many compliments from friends and family about what I had done to my space, I decided I would try and create that feeling for others. Over the last few years my love for creating living spaces has only deepened due to my ability to design more complex and interesting types of spaces.

Q: Light is everything to a plant! And it’s key for humans, too. For your office space, how did you approach the lighting — from a human and a plant focus?

Light is everything to every living thing. This was top of mind when I was looking for a new studio space, so large windows were a must. I wanted to make sure I had southern exposure for my plants and that there were moments during the day that I could get sun-kissed as well. Feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin is just so relaxing and keeps me energized and creative throughout the day.

Q: There must have been some lighting challenges with the new studio. What were they, initially? 

The main challenge I had in the studio was controlling the amount of direct sun that streams in. Of course, that's a good problem to have when your studio is full of plants, but having the ability to control the harshness of light was important to me.

Q: You used Silhouette Duolite Shadings with PowerView Automation to improve the environment for your indoor plants. How can the average plant lover manipulate light in their space to improve their plants' health, either by selecting the right shades or through other light-management techniques?

With the addition of the Hunter Douglas shades, I can now turn direct sunlight into bright indirect light, which most indoor plants prefer. So if you’re someone with plants and you have them in southern or western facing windows, having sheer shades, which can diffuse the light rather than block it completely, is the way to go.

Before I had Hunter Douglas shades, pools of direct sun would flood the south facing windows in my studio space, which can be harmful to some of my tropical plants. Having the ability to open the vanes of the Silhouette shades turns that direct sun into diffused light, while still providing me with a view of the outside world.