Easy Care for Houseplants

Houseplants as we know, are bang on trend and you cannot fail to notice the volume of trendy plants in funky containers on sale in every store from home interiors to supermarkets. Unfortunately, this is not always a cause of joy to those of us who are plant lovers as we cannot get on board with the volume of plastic plants on sale!

Indoor plastic plants are wrong on so many levels from looking cheap to not being environmentally friendly. They contribute nothing to a drive for sustainability and worst of all, they do not do what a houseplant should do which is to absorb toxins and cleanse the air!

Houseplants in your home or workplace can reduce indoor pollutants, dust mites and smoke. In fact, one plant placed per 100 square feet is enough to see measurable reductions in formaldehyde and carbon monoxide according to experiments by NASA. Plants increase humidity indoors which helps especially in winter, to counteract the side effects of dry air caused by central heating. 

Aloe Vera plants, Spider Plants, Mother-in-law’s Tongue and Peace Lilies are great plants to have in your home or office as they increase oxygen by absorbing harmful toxins.

So what on earth would make someone spend money on a fake, plastic houseplant when for the same price, you could actually buy the real thing? If it is the fear of killing it or of not being able to care for a houseplant correctly?

Fear not, indoor plants are so easy to care for with just a few basic pieces of knowledge:

• Don’t let houseplants stand in water. One way to judge is to pick up the pot: dry compost feels light.
• Don’t water more than once a week.
• If you buy a succulent plant, then you’ll find they need watering even less.
• Indoor plants benefit from regular leaf misting with water using a trigger sprayer which clears dust from leaves and helps to increase the humidity.
• Remove dead, brown leaves – they will not recover.
• Give an occasional liquid feed between April-September. Plants in pots rely on you for their nutrients. Use a general purpose liquid feed following the instructions on the bottle, do not overfeed.
• Turn plants occasionally so they grow evenly rather than leaning towards the light. 

And to be honest, there’s not much more to it than that. Houseplants will reward you with colour, form, structure and air purifying qualities in your home and you can guarantee that wherever you choose to style them, they will be bang on trend!