Have you seen lush green flora popping up all over bookshelves and tables or been inspired by pictures of plant-filled homes on TikTok and Instagram (#plantstacks)? There’s good reason these leafy beauties have become so beloved; multiple studies demonstrate the healing powers of plants as a natural mood enhancer which can make people happier and more creative.
1. Plants Bring Nature Indoors
Plants bring greenery into our living spaces, and research demonstrates its ability to boost mood. Even those without outdoor space can transform their living rooms into jungle-esque paradise.
Succulents are an ideal option for anyone who’s looking to add an indoor garden but lack the time or desire to care for a traditional vegetable or flower garden. These low maintenance plants thrive in indirect light, only needing weekly waterings for best results.
Peace lily plants make an attractive indoor plant option with their delicate teardrop leaves and white blooms, low maintenance needs, and can even survive in northern exposures with ease. Just ensure it gets enough water; its leaves will let you know when more is required when they begin to droop.
2. They Relieve Stress
Studies have demonstrated the therapeutic value of spending even a short period interacting with plants to ease anxiety and boost our moods. Plants provide an easy and natural way to replenish psychological and physiological resources depleted during a busy workday, which are depleted through daily stressors like work.
If your floor space is limited, try placing potted plants on shelves, stairs or window ledges to create attractive arrangements of plants of various heights and an odd number of plants; using grouping plants of the same kind together adds interest while making care easier.
Consider including fragrant foliage or flowering plants such as lavender, gardenia, jasmine or geraniums into your collection for added fragrance in the home and to help reduce stress and anxiety. They will make life more pleasant while relieving tension.
3. They Add Beauty
Flowers may be stunning, but they’re not the only way to decorate with greenery. Leaves, branches, stems and fronds make great indoor landscape plants that add rustic simplicity as well as being more resilient than their floral counterparts.
Make an impressionful statement with elegant peace lily flowers, said to bring good luck and fortune. Easily grown under low lighting conditions and cared for with relatively little effort required – the peace lily is even known to inform its owner when its soil becomes too dry via its drooping leaves!
Large houseplants like fiddle leaf figs or Monstera plants make a statement in any room they are placed. With no additional decor needed to bring the jungle experience home, larger houseplants create an instant jungle aesthetic without breaking the bank on additional decorative pieces.
4. They Help Clean Air
Plants play an essential role in cleaning the air by converting carbon dioxide and light into oxygen through photosynthesis, thus decreasing levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde, acetone, ammonia, and benzene which may otherwise be released into the environment through paints, glues, wood products such as presses wood products or dryer exhaust.
However, plants only work to effectively absorb and reduce VOCs under laboratory conditions; they don’t impact most homes in a discernable way. To significantly decrease VOC levels in your home you would require enough plants producing oxygen and sufficient ventilation – though adding plants can still provide an easy and inexpensive way of improving its air quality – particularly fragrant varieties like rosemary, lavender and gardenia are particularly effective at doing so!
5. They Help Reduce Noise
Plants can help reduce noise in a home by deflecting, absorbing and refracting sounds. Their flexibility allows them to vibrate as needed to change vibrations of sound waves into other forms of energy or eliminate echos from entering a room.
One of the best indoor plants for reducing noise levels is Peace Lily, with its dense foliage featuring large leaves and flowers to absorb sound waves. This plant grows well when planted in containers with indirect lighting.
Ferns are an effective noise-reducing plant with wide leaves that cover large spaces. Hanging them helps capture sounds non-hanging plants may miss. Ferns require moist soil with regular watering for best results and prefer part shade over full sunlight conditions.
