If you’ve ever marvelled at friends who talk about their house plants as though they were their pets, then perhaps you’ve never had one. Indoor plants can turn a bare apartment into a botanical dream. They can make a small bedroom feel less like a place of solitary confinement and more like a garden.
Being able to care for something that is not as demanding as a pet and watch it grow and transform over time is also rewarding. Science shows indoor plants make us happy, improve concentration, and help us relax, NBC reports. This might be why many people bought more plants than their homes could hold during the pandemic.
So whether you have a small apartment, a large home, or are considering making your office space more welcoming when you return, here are plants that thrive indoors, and can help you thrive, too!
Monsteras, sometimes nicknamed the Swiss Cheese Plant, have large, heart-shaped leaves that sometimes have holes in them to help the leaf span a greater surface area without becoming too heavy. The plant grows fast and tall, with new leaves shooting out of the stems and reaching toward the light. These plants thrive in bright but indirect light, as Food52 reports, so don’t place them in your sunny window. You can water them once every 1-2 weeks, or as long as it takes the soil to dry out.
This trailing plant develops long stems that can climb walls if you want it to, but is also happy being trimmed and kept in its container, Today reports. The ivy can do well in an array of lighting situations, but not in very low light. While the plant can remove toxins from the air, ingesting the leaves can be poisonous, so this is not the best plant if you have pets or small children.
Native to East Africa and Tanzania, ZZ plants do well even when there’s low light and limited access to water, as they’ve been able to withstand droughts over the years, according to HGTV. The ZZ plant has elongated oval-shaped leaves and its stems grow around 2-3 feet tall. This plant can also be poisonous if ingested, so keep away from small children and animals.
Does your living space or office have little access to light? Snake plants are a great option for this kind of environment. While they won’t grow as quickly, they will still be healthy in your office or in a darker corner of your home, according to Farmer’s Almanac. These plants will shoot up large, green leaves with a yellow trim. This is also not a plant you should eat, as they can be mildly toxic. But don’t worry, they’re not known for hissing.
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