It’s 2019 and we are all obsessed with indoor plants. And, well, if you aren’t, where have you been hiding?! But why are we all of a sudden so obsessed with them and why should we be?
The 2018 US National Garden Survey found that 30% of all households own at least one indoor pant and the UK flower and indoor plant market is worth £2.2bn according to the Flowers & Plants Association. This sudden surge in ‘green furniture’ could be the result of current buzzwords and focus topics like wellbeing and mental health amalgamated with the decreasing ability to own and decorate a property or fill it with pets.
We too are seeing a shift in the way we build homes in urbanised areas to fit and reduce the strain of growing populations meaning more high rises and less gardens. With pressure on businesses to reduce their carbon footprint, the property and construction industry are doing their best to ‘build greener’ with living walls and rooftop gardens forming part of designs for flashy new corporate headquarters.
We highlight 4 main benefits of houseplants and we reckon you’re going to be just as plant crazy as us after reading them!
Air purifying
Indoor plants are famous for keeping air temperatures down, increasing humidity, reducing airborne dust, removing mould and eliminating indoor furniture chemicals such as benzene, nitrogen dioxide and the famous formaldehyde commonly found in beds, lounges and cleaning products!
Help you sleep better!
We’d be lying to ourselves if we said we get enough sleep. Who does these days?! Plants like Aloe Vera and Snake Plant are known to absorb CO2 and release oxygen at night, with the Valerian known for inducing sleep. *puts several in basket*. The smell of lavender and jasmine also help reduce anxiety and calm you as you fall asleep. Need we convince you more?
Healing
The Aloe heals burns and cuts, lemon balm reduces anxiety, chillies relieve pain they say, mint unblocks sinuses, peace-lily soothes eyes through its acetone-ridding properties and the humidifying Boston fern that prevents dry-skin, what does your beauty regime look like?
Free Therapy!
Gardening has long been used as a form of therapy; the responsibility in nurturing and caring for something whilst helping it grow healthily is part of the human psyche. Don’t be surprised (or feel abnormal!) when you find yourself naming and talking to each plant as if it could hear you…
Let’s face it, indoor plants are affordable, integral elements both aesthetically and restoratively that suit the frantic lifestyles of 2019. Time to ‘green up’ your homes!
