Bring the green from the outside to your indoors, (minus the dirt). Just plain beautiful verdant green decorating those interiors with colour and clean air. But how do you start taking care of your pot babies? First-time plant parents may think it’s tricky when all you have to do is smother your indoor house plants and put in plenty of love and labour.
Save your time. Learn this in as little as 1 minute.
We’ve got 500+ bite-sized content to help you learn the smarter way.
Download the app
It's FREE
The biggest secret of houseplant whisperers is “imitation of the indigenous environment of the plant.” This means that the bamboo with its Asian, African and Latin American “roots” will bloom best when given a similar subtropical ambience. Of course, you don’t have to go overboard. As a beginner, knowing the basics of planting and placing is enough to get you started as a plant parent. This guide will help you begin your journey and reveal some concealed tips that help your green buddies thrive.
Indoor Plants- A Brief Introduction
By the simplest definition, an indoor plant or a houseplant is a plant that grows indoors. It serves both decorative and therapeutic purposes. These plants are adapted to grow indoors. Those exotic plants domestic to warm and frost-free regions which can thrive in cold internal atmospheres are indoor houseplants. Ergo, those plant species found in tropical and subtropical areas make the best indoor plants. As per the tropics’ climatic conditions, a warm, dry setup is the perfect indoor plant environment. Many of the most popular and commonly heard houseplant groups include succulents, palms, begonias, aroids, ferns and bromeliads. This group is relatively low maintenance compared to the indoor plants with flowers- orchids, African violets, zebra plants, azalea, monstera, gardenias, and camellias.
Indoor Plants- Types
A plethora of tropical and subtropical plant species make the best houseplants. They are habitual growing indoors. The low-maintenance ones thrive in low light and dry heat, while others demand a glass terrarium or unique humid settings. Interestingly, all indoor plants are categorised into- foliage plants and flowering plants.
Foliage Plants
Foliage means “leaves”. Hence, these are the plants that have attractive, colourful and decorative leaves. The most popular foliage plants for aspirational interior designing include:
- Caladiums
- Rex Begonia
- Canna
- Coral bells
- Persian Shield
- Dusty Miller
- Croton
Flowering Plants
Unlike foliage plants, flowering plants demand intensive care and maintenance. As a necessary prerequisite, they require high light intensity, selective day-night temperatures, and careful watering. All those efforts are worth it because nothing compares to the colour and freshness indoor flowering plants bring. If you also want an accent of colour for your house or office interiors, here is a list of beautiful blooming indoor plants to get:
- Christmas cactus
- Cyclamen
- Orchids
- African violet
- Poinsettia
- Hibiscus
- Peace lily
- Clivia
- Geranium
- Bromeliad
- Ixora
Since they are a more tedious preserve, here are some flowering houseplants easy care:
- Give them the right time in the sun.
- Keep up a regular watering or misting schedule.
- Maintain humidity levels in the room.
- Regularly prune them by removing dead or yellow leaves.
- Feed them special fertilisers
You can choose flowers or foliage as per your liking. But there are many other factors to consider, especially when you have a pet. This section throws light on the right indoor plant to get when you have a cat or a dog.
Nontoxic Dog-safe Houseplants
If you have a furry friend and are new to home gardening, you have to go for safe indoor plants for dogs. Similarly, if you are a proud plant parent, and are thinking of getting a dog, you must avoid getting these toxic houseplants:
- Lilies: Peace lily, Calla lily, Kafir lily, flame lily
- Dracaena Fragrans or Cornstalk Plant
- Aloe
- Arrowhead Plant
- Poison Ivy or Regular ivy
- Jade plant
- Cyclamen
- Cactus
- Weeping fig
- Gardenia
- Desert Rose (Adenium)
- Kalanchoe
- Eucalyptus
- Dieffenbachia or Dumb Cane
- Elephant Ear (Caladium)
- Sago Palm
- ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas)
- Satin or Silk Pothos/Devil’s Ivy
- Sowbread
- Asparagus Fern
- Alocasia
- Begonia
Don’t worry! There are still many dog-safe houseplants you can get. Here is a list of the non-toxic dog-safe indoor plants:
- Spider plant
- Air plant or Tillandsia
- Boston Fern
- Staghorn fern
- Maranta Plant or Prayer Plant
- Pet grass/cat grass/wheatgrass
- Rosemary
- Elephant’s Foot or Ponytail Palm
- Blue Bird
Nontoxic Cat-safe Houseplants
Now your feline companion and indoor plants can survive together. Here is a list of all the cat-friendly houseplants, released by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Animals (ASPCA):
- Elephant’s Foot or Ponytail Palm
- Tillandsia or Air plant
- Prayer Plant
- Rattlesnake plant
- Calathea zebra
- Hibiscus
- Bromeliad
- Peperomia Ginny
- Impatiens
- Staghorn fern
- Boston Fern
- Bird’s nest fern
- Kimberly Queen Fern
- Echeveria
- Haworthia Zebra
- Spider plant
- Bamboo Palm
- Parlor Palm
- Majesty Palm
- Money tree
- Footed Blue Star Fern
- Purple velvet plant
- Cast Iron Plant
While you decorate your interiors with those cat-friendly houseplants, here are the indoor plants toxic to cats. As a cat owner, you ought to know the verdure to avoid.
- Castor oil plant
- Aloe Vera
- Jade
- Dahlia
- Daffodil
- Weeping fig
- Florida beauty
- Gladiola
- Indian hemp
- Arrowhead Plant
- Poinsettia
- Orange
- Primrose
- Kalanchoe
- Codiaeum
- Croton (also see Codiaeum)
- Cyclamen
- Amaryllis
- Aphelandra
- Azalea
- Tomato
- Ivy and Devil’s Ivy
- Dumb Cane
- Elephant’s Ear
- Zebra Plant
- Mistletoe
- Chrysanthemum
- Cheese plant
If you are indecisive about which plant baby to bring home, get in touch with fellow plant parents and ask your queries related to gardening tips & tricks. On the other hand, you can also learn new skills like graphic designing to improve your entire aesthetic vision and your little garden. It only takes 15 minutes to learn a new skill on our micro learning app. Start now!
Numerous Benefits of Indoor Plants
There is different magic of living/working in green spaces. Besides their ornamental values, here are all the benefits of having indoor plants:
- They purify the air. Extensive research by NASA studying the relationship between plants and space travellers suggest that “Both plant leaves and roots are utilised in removing trace levels of toxic vapours from inside tightly sealed buildings. Low levels of chemicals such as carbon monoxide and formaldehyde can be removed from indoor environments by plant leaves alone.” Houseplants purify the air by absorbing volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These notorious air pollutants trigger allergies, asthma, and irritation to the eyes and skin. With dragon tree, English Ivy or asparagus fern, you can have access to clean air anytime.
- Cures issues and ailments like dry skin, dry coughs, sore throat and cold. Excess use of air conditioners or generally dry air can cause your skin to lose moisture. In this case, having a spider plant indoors will drastically impact your air quality.
- Reduces your allergies. Rooms without indoor plants have mould and dust. Since indoor plants purify the air by removing dust and pollens, your allergies will stay in control.
- Improves healing by reducing stress. Several studies indicate that being surrounded by indoor plants like a heart-leaf philodendron or snake plant helps cope with stress. It lowers your hormone cortisol level, heart rate, and blood pressure.
- Increase your attention span. Do you know the logic of why office spaces are adorned with indoor plants? Apart from serving an ornamental purpose, they sharpen your focus. Get a bamboo plant or a golden pothos for better concentration.
- Fastens your recovery rate. A bouquet is a thoughtful gesture, but there is more to it. Research and science say that patients recovered faster post-surgery with plants in their rooms. Their pain tolerance increased with foliage. The presence of a peace lily or an orchid is perfect.
With that introduction, now you know how to handpick the best indoor plants. Put them in an attractive pot and place them in an appealing spot to maximise their impact. Nurture your plant babies and watch them bloom with love. If your outdoor plants need some loving too, this is how you begin with organic gardening.
References
- Wolverton, B. “Foliage Plants for Improving Indoor Air Quality” The National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
){kind=link}