Charlie Nardozzi, a horticulturist with the National Gardening Association, explains how to choose the proper lighting system for your plants. The easiest way to provide supplemental light is to position an incandescent lightbulb about 1' or so above a plant or two. Providing an incandescent bulb prevents plants from stretching and becoming leggy in an attempt to get more light. You'll need a different method for more than one or two plants. If you want to start seeds indoors or have a collection of plants that need more light than an incandescent bulb can supply, set up a shop light with 40-watt fluorescent tubes.
Fluorescent bulbs provide light from the blue spectrum, which helps keep plants short and bushy.
Flowering plants need additional light in the form of high-intensity discharge lamps or halogen lamps, which provide a light source much like the sun. Under such lights you'll be able to grow anthurium, zebra plants, hibiscus, gardenias and others that require bright direct light. High-intensity discharge lamps require a ballast box to regulate the source of electricity going to the lamp. Replacement bulbs are inexpensive. These high-end systems don't require a ballast.