If you want an easy way to boost the joy in your home, try adding some indoor plants to your décor.

Indoor plants can reduce stress and anxiety, boost productivity, and help you recover from illness. They may even have the power to prolong life, according to several recent studies.

We could all use a little stress reduction and increased joy right now, couldn’t we?

While it’s an accepted fact that gardening (read my post, 7 Reasons You Need to be Gardening with Kids) soothes the soul and increases joy and contentment, many may not know that even a little potted plant can positively affect your mood and mental well-being.

INDOOR PLANTS HELP COMBAT ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, LONELINESS, AND PHYSICAL ILLNESS

Much has been written about the benefits of gardening and enjoying nature with stress-reducing activities such as forest bathing.

But the humble indoor plant can also have a huge impact on mental and physical health.

There are some medical clinics in England that even ‘prescribe’ potted plants to patients with anxiety and depression.  Cornbrook Medical Practice in Hulme gives patients experiencing anxiety, depression, or loneliness a potted plant to take home and care for. The patients then bring the plants back to plant in a communal garden.

For those experiencing physical illness, just looking at greenery can help reduce their recovery time.

Some plants can even actively contribute to healing, such as aloe vera, which can be used to help heal sunburn and other skin issues.

INDOOR PLANTS INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY AND ATTENTION

Home office space has become an important element in households, as more people take advantage of the internet to work from home. Adding indoor plants to your workspace could help you achieve more and become more productive.

This 2007 study showed that people were more productive and had fewer sick days when they had more plants in their workspace.

One small study of elementary students, which used brain scans on participants, showed that students who studied with real plants, as opposed to pictures of plants or plastic plants, were more attentive than those in the other groups.

BREATHE EASY AND LIVE LONGER

Indoor plants help rid the air of common toxins and indoor pollutants. Their ability to do this depends on which kind of plant and their size. One study showed that bromeliads removed more than 80 percent of six volatile organic compounds during a 12-hour period.

A study by Harvard University, published in 2016, showed there were fewer deaths among women who lived in greener areas. Their mortality rate was 12 per cent lower than those living in homes in the least green areas.

Of course, not everyone can choose to live in areas surrounded by lots of greenery. That’s where indoor plants come into their own. You can create an indoor garden and reap all the benefits while also enjoying the plants’ beauty as home decorations.

TOP INDOOR PLANTS FOR HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

There are so many wonderful, easy-to-grow indoor plants on offer in Australia. Some of the best for clearing the air and promoting health and happiness include pothos, also known as Devil’s Ivy. Trailing Devil’s Ivy can grow with little light and can tolerate drought conditions. It removes toxins such as formaldehyde, benzene, xylene, toluene, and carbon monoxide.

Peace Lilies are beautiful low-maintenance plants that not only reduce toxins but also humidify the air and are especially good for people with asthma, hay fever, and allergies.

Spider plants are pretty and ridiculously easy to grow. They reduce several toxins and are great for decreasing carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide levels.

Bromeliads have a great success rate for removing toxins and their exquisite flowers make them a decorator’s delight.

Succulents, extremely popular now, can be grown indoors and help purify the air.

Some succulents can clean and purify 87% of the volatile organic compounds present in indoor air within 24 hours, according to NASA. They can continue to keep exhaling oxygen even after you turn off their light at night.

One of the top performers when it comes to succulents that purify the air is the Jade plant. This plant is also known as the money plant and is thought to bring good fortune to those who own them.

TOP TIPS FOR GROWING INDOOR PLANTS

• Ensure you know the plants’ individual requirements regarding light, watering, feeding, and pruning. They are all different. For instance, succulents prefer a bright sunny position while Devil’s Ivy can thrive with very little light.
• Consider different ways of displaying the plants to make the most of their decorative appearance.
• Popular now is the kokedama – a form of Japanese garden art that is centuries old.  It is the practice of taking the root ball of a plant and suspending it in a mud ball, which is then coated with soft green moss. They may be fixed to a piece of driftwood or bark, suspended from a string, or nestled in a clear, attractive container.  As moss is easier to grow in climates less hot and dry than ours, kokedamas are often covered in string rather than moss. These add a lovely sense of tranquillity to the home.
• Easy care succulents can be grown in virtually any container. They can also be put together to form beautiful shapes, such as little Christmas trees or beautiful living art frames.

FIND YOUR PERFECT INDOOR PLANT FOR JOY

If you are looking for some beautiful health-giving indoor plants and don’t know where to start, visit the Wacky Workshops Wonderland Christmas Art Exhibition and Sale at Wacky Workshops’ Glenbrook (NSW, Australia) studio on Saturday, November 19 from 9 am.

We’ll have wonderful displays of these little life savers, including Bromeliads, Devil’s Ivy, Spider plants, Jade plants, and Peace Lilies.

There will also be beautiful kokedamas, succulent Christmas trees, and living art frames as well as a range of fun and wacky Christmas decorations and gifts.

We hope to see you there.

In the meantime, have a gleeful week, Tamuria.