Interior Plants And Why You Need Them

            Alright my lovely readers. Last week, I wrote a blog about how to grow food from fruit in your own kitchen from your kitchen and how to start gardening in your backyards amidst this corona virus madness. It’s the perfect way to find solitude in your social distancing practices. This week, I want to show you guys some plants you can keep and grow inside your homes. These plants are not edible, but they have their benefits.

Since most are working from home, your house can become a place of a lot of stress. Of course, if you’re a parent or a part of a complicated relationship, it already is. Plants can help with that. Thanks to studies, plants have been proven to lower stress, lower perceived amount of pain, raise overall job satisfaction, raise humidity in surrounding areas which reduces eye, nose, and throat irritation, and lowers illness. Houseplants filter the air and lower the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are chemicals that are released into the air from machines kept in buildings.

VOCs:

Formaldehyde which results from paints, resins, and carpets

Printer and photocopier emissions

Trichloroethylene which results from printing ink, paints, and adhesives

Freon 113 which comes from refrigerators, and electronic cleaning products

Toluene which results from cleaners, wood sealers, and floor polish

Benzene which comes from solvent, inks, and paints

Believe it or not, sick building syndrome is a thing. It is when people spend large amounts of time inside and hardly get fresh air, and it’s not just when people forget to change their air filters. Symptoms include eye irritation, throat irritation, coughing, headaches, fatigue, lack of concentration, shortness of breath, rashes, dry skin, and wheezing. Of course, sick building syndrome isn’t life threatening, but is does cause lost work time, reduced productivity, disability, and added stress on more serious health risks. This typically happens in new or newly remodeled buildings with heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system, or older buildings with dirty carpets and outdated HVAC systems.

There are plenty of houseplants to choose from. To begin with, there are air plants (Tillandsia spp.). These can grow anywhere, and they are the only plants in the world that can do this. You can literally super glue them to your refrigerator and they will grow just fine. They don’t even require water. 

If you’re into palms, there are countless palms that would grow great in your home. There is the ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata), the fishtail palm (Caryota mitis), the parlor palm (Chamaedorea elegans), the bamboo palm (Chamaedorea erumpens), and the lady palm (Rhapis excelsa).

I will continue with orchids. There are Ground Orchids (Spathoglottis spp.), Cattleya Orchids (Cattleya spp.), Cymbidium Orchids (Cymbidium spp.), Dendrobium orchid (Dendrobium spp.), Oncidium Orchids (Oncidium spp.), Paphiopedilum Orchids (Paphiopedilum spp.), and Vanda Orchids (Vanda spp.).

If you like succulents and cactuses, there are plenty of choices. There is the Candelabra Tree (Euphorbia candelabrum), the Pencil Tree (Euphorbia tirucalli), Echeveria (Echeveria spp.), a Yucca (Yucca elephantipes), the Madagascar Palm (Pachypodium iamerei), the Prickly Pear (Opuntia spp.), Agave (Agave spp.) (this is the plant where tequila originates from), the Jade Plant (Crassula ovata), a Pineapple plant (Ananas comosus), and the Zebra Plant (Haworthia fascista).

Other houseplants include Anthurium andraeanum, Blue Arrow Rush (Juncus inflexus ‘blue arrow,’ Twisted Arrow Rush (Juncus effuses ‘Spiralis’), Horse Tail (Equisetum hyemale), Taro (Colocasia esculenta), Kris Plant (Alocasia sanderiana), Split Leaf Philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum), Xanadu Philodendron (Philodendron x ‘xandau’), Homalomena which is also called the King of Hearts (Homalomena spp.) and my personal favorite, the Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera deliciosa).

 

Leafier plants include Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia seguine), Corn Plant (Dracaena fragrans), Dragon Palm (Draceana marginata), Rainbow Tree (Dracaena marginata ‘tricolor’), Venus Fly Trap (Dionaea muscipula), Nerve Plant (Fittonia verschaffeltii), and Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya). Bigger leafier plants include crotons (Codiaeum variegatum), Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema commutatum), Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica), Mother in Law’s Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata), Fiddle Leaf Fig (Ficus lyrate), Mistletoe Fig (Ficus deltoidea).

There are even inside smaller trees, there are even options there. These include Ficus Alli (Ficus maclellandii ‘Alli’), Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina), Umbrella Tree (Schefflera actinophylla), and Dwarf Umbrella Tree (Schlefflera arboricola).

If you’re looking for something to hang from a hanging basket, there is the Heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron scandens), the famous Pothos Ivy (Epipremnum aureum), Prayer Plant (Maranta leuconeura), Nephthytis, also called the Arrow Head Plant (Synganium podophyllum), White Velvet Wandering Jew (Tradescantia sillamontana), Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida ‘purple heart’), Wandering Jew (Tradescantia zebrina), Swedish Ivy (Plectranthus australis), Emerald Ripple (Peperomia caperata), False Philodendron (Peperomia scandens), Variegated Peperomia (Peperomia obtusifolia ‘variegata’), Peperomia (Perperomia abtusifolia), and Hindu Rope (Hoya carnosa ‘Hindu rope’).

Here are some plants to keep in your bathroom. Aloe Vera loves humidity and it’s a great houseplant because when the branches snap, the goop inside is a catalyst to heal broken, wounded or burned skin. Lucky bamboo can handle a low-lit space. Cast iron plants are great with temperature changes. Chinese evergreen thrives on humidity. Dieffenbachia prefers low light. Any kind of ivy does okay with low light. Orchids thrive in wet and warm conditions. Peace lilies are happy with low light. Pothos also love low light and humity. Snake plants are virtually unkillable and flexible in water and light. Spider plants prefer low light. Lastly, ZZ plants adores water and low light.

Alright now that you know what plants to get or at lease your options, let’s talk about how to take care of them! Since plants are living things, that also mean they are dying things. Some of their leaves and in some cases, flowers, are going to go brown and die. That doesn’t mean that the plant as a whole dying, it means the plant needs to be deadheaded or trimmed. Kitchen scissors can do the job but it’s best for a plant if you can just cleanly rip off brown leaves. You can even clean the dirt off leaves with baby wipes. Besides that, put plants next to windows so they get plenty of indirect light and water them enough to keep the soil slightly moist.

I hope this post helps you know what indoor plants you might want and how to take care of them to ensure you have a higher quality of life. Thanks for tuning in!