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| With proper care houseplants will enrich your home. |
Indoor plants make attractive and inexpensive accessories, but you may not realize they also help create a healthier environment inside your home. Plants absorb gases such as carbon dioxide and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including benzene and formaldehyde. Pollutants like these are linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
All plants are capable of neutralizing environmental pollutants, but some are more adept at the process than others. Choose English ivy, golden pothos, snake plant, peace lily, Boston fern, aloe vera and purple waffle plant if your air needs an extra thorough scrubbing. Place one plant per every 100 square feet for optimal results.
Basic Plant Care
Most houseplants are surprisingly easy to care for. One of the most common mistakes is in providing the right amount of light—a problem made worse by care tags which often provide little or confusing instructions. The following descriptions should help:
- Bright light (also referred to as direct light) is light that comes from a south-facing window with no curtain or drapery to interfere. Corn plant (Dracaena Fragrans) is a plant that does best in bright light.
- Plants that prefer indirect light do best when placed near but not directly in front of a sunny window. Both Pothos and English Ivy do well in indirect light.
- The term “high light” means a plant needs five or more hours of bright unfiltered light. The spider plant (Chlorophytum Comosum) can tolerate most environments but prefers high light.
- Medium-light houseplants can make do with direct or indirect light. However, you may have to adjust the length of exposure depending on how strong the light is. Peace lilies (Spathiphyllum Wallisii) are easy-care plants that perform well in medium light.
- Low-light plants may thrive with nothing more than the light provided by light bulbs, but if artificial lights are off most of the time, they must have some natural light coming in from a window. Try growing a cast iron plant (Aspidistra elatior) if you have a low-light space that needs perking up.
Would it surprise you to learn that more plants die from overwatering than from neglect? It's true, too much water can cause roots to become soggy and rotten. As a general rule, keep houseplants evenly moist but not drenched. Check to see if the top inch of the soil is dried out before watering. If you’re a forgetful waterer, try the nearly indestructible ZZ plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia).
With all houseplants can do for us, the small amount of care they require is well worth the effort. The next time you get that urge to freshen up your living space do it with houseplants. Your home and health will thank you.
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