7 indoor plants you’ll love

Indoor plants are an ideal way of bringing a love of nature into the comfort of your home. But apart from adding green to the favourite areas in your interior, there are some very real benefits that you can access when you add indoor house plants to your environment.

What are Indoor Plants?

Indoor plants can be grown in your home, office or other indoor environments. Most need at least low light to thrive, and there are some that will live comfortably in artificial light.

If you have an area that you would like to be greener, but it has minimal or no natural light, you can also consider artificial indoor plants that look as real as their organic counterparts.

Indoor plants help you to:
· Merge the indoors with the outdoors
· Brighten up spaces with nature
· Improve the quality of living in a work or home environment

Improve your quality of life with indoor plants

Easier to breathe:

How clean is the air in your home? You may not realise it, but you could be breathing in pollutants that love to hang around inside. These can originate from cleaning products, bacteria, furnishings, pets and even from the outdoors. No matter how good your ventilation is, an indoor house plant or two can help improve your air quality.

The best indoor house plants for improving the air that you and your family breathe include:

Aloe Vera

Cleans formaldehyde out of the air. It’s easy to grow, and the bonus is that inside the leaves is a gel like liquid that can aid in wound healing and has natural antibacterial properties. It also emits oxygen and is said to help improve the quality of sleep in the bedroom.

Garden Mum

Removes ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, and xylene and is a hard hitter when it comes to purifying the air.

Spider plant

Cleans formaldehyde and xylene. Very easy to grow and hard to kill. They are perfect for areas with indirect sunlight.

Boston Fern

Cleans formaldehyde and xylene. Suited to cool areas that have a high level of humidity and indirect sunlight.

Ease your mind:

Apart from filtering air, house plants are ideal for relaxing the mind. According to the Plant Life Balance research, if you have at least five indoor plants, you can significantly improve your mental as well as physical health.

Primarily this is because it reconnects us to nature and this is what helps us to destress when greenery surrounds us. If you are notoriously brown thumbed, these are some of the best house plants to start with:

Moth Orchid

Do’s: Loves indirect sunlight, loves a bathroom for a bit of steam and will keep rewarding you with flowers with the occasional prune. Add pebbles to the base to improve drainage.

Don’ts: Water too often – only every 7-10 days, it won’t thrive if overwatered.

Fake plants

Do’s: Fake plants and faux greenery can be placed in most spaces around the home or office.

Don’ts: No need to water these plants. Be sure to keep away from sunlight unless you use a UV protection spray.

Jade or Money plant

Do’s: Loves areas that have a lot of ventilation. These plants are tough and can live in sunlight, low light or even artificial light.

Don’ts: Being exposed to the cold or too much water are killers for this plant.

Mother-in-laws tongue or Snake plant

Do’s: Loves moderately bright or low light. Make sure it is in warm, dry air (so not in the bathroom) and wipe the leaves occasionally for better growth. Less watering is better.

Don’ts: Too much water can cause the roots to rot and never water the leaves, just the soil.

Peace lily

Do’s: A great air purifier, place in a low sunlight area. Keep the soil moist and prune brown foliage for better growth.

Don’ts: Over water or expose to extremes of temperature.

Working with low light:

One of the key factors, when you are looking for the best indoor plants for your environment, is the type of light. It is essential to pick plants that will flourish where they will live. If your area is sunny, you will have a broader range to choose from than if you have low light or artificially lit places for your greenery.

Here are some indoor plants suited to low light:

Lucky Bamboo

Easy to grow and it doesn’t need soil. It prefers low light but is extremely sensitive to chemicals. Ideally, place in filtered water with some pebbles in the base. Change the water once a week.

Chinese Evergreen

Grows well in both bright and low light, and even though its ideal is a humid environment, it will really grow anywhere.

Cast-iron plant

Pot in porous soil and place in an area that doesn’t get too warm. Keep the soil moist and make sure you don’t over water.

Dragon tree

Ideally, place in indirect sunlight, it can tolerate lower light, but the growth will be slower. Keep moist but not too wet.

Fake plants with no UV protection

Most plastic or silk plants can be damaged by the sun unless they have UV protection. Several days of exposure (even for a few hours) for fake plants could lead to your greenery discolouring or fading. Be sure to look for UV stable options or purchase a protection spray.

Pet friendly indoor house plants

Not all house plants are safe for your beloved pets or children. Cats and dogs are curious and, especially if they spend most of their life indoors, will often have a chew on an indoor plant in your home.

To avoid a potentially heartbreaking trip to the vet, check your preferred plants on this list here if you have pets and are adding indoor plants to your décor.

Find a zero maintenance fake plant

Of course, if maintaining a plant does not suit you, or you want something that is green all-year-around you can also look at green plant alternatives of the faux nature. A no maintenance fake plant may be the perfect greenery item to add to your space, with no fuss, watering or messy soil to worry about.