The popularity of the BBC’s ‘The Green Planet’ should demonstrate a widespread appreciation of the natural world that doesn’t just stop at cute, fuzzy creatures, but to plants and trees, too. Greenery is essential to human wellbeing – we tend to be happier and healthier when we spend regular time in green spaces, and less so when we don’t.
For this reason, bringing plants into the home can help to make that home subtly more pleasant to inhabit. They confer several distinct benefits, especially when they’re paired with sustainable furniture and planters. Let’s take a look!
Why House Plants?
House plants are proven to help reduce stress levels. One study suggested that the reduction could be as much as 37%. For this reason alone, they’re worth bringing into your life.
They improve our mood, they help to dehumidify the room and provide pleasant scents, and they boost our productivity, too – which can be critical in an age where many of us are working from home. While some benefits, like their air-scrubbing power, have been exaggerated, they’re still a worthwhile addition to just about every home.
How can we get plants into the home?
Now that we’ve established that house plants are beneficial, we’re still left with the challenge of how to bring them into the home.
Create a Terrarium
A terrarium is an enclosed, transparent container, which allows you to look at plants as they grow. They’re low-maintenance, and they look great wherever they’re installed. If you’re caring for tropical plants, then you’ll need a lid to ensure that the moisture is trapped in there. Open terraria tend to work better for cacti and succulents.
You can get started with the process of creating your own terrarium with the help of online instructions.
Add Plants to outdoor pots
The addition of a few plant pots to your patio can help you to inject a little bit of colour into your outdoor living space. Plant pots are highly mobile and flexible, meaning that you’ll be able to easily tweak the arrangement to your tastes.
Hang Plants in Smaller Spaces
Hanging plants in baskets work great when you don’t have the space at ground level to accommodate them. Just make sure that they’re not hanging in a space where you might walk into them!
Embrace Long Vines
Long vines can be positioned on-high and allowed to droop down, taking up a lot of your field-of-view with just a small footprint. They’re great in sterile spaces like bookshelves and desks, and they need minimal care and attention. Just make sure they can’t be yanked off the shelf by any small children you might be sharing your living space with.
