If you haven’t noticed, plants are having a moment right now. City dwellers are realizing all the benefits of filling their shoebox studios with lots of greenery. A whole new vocabulary has built up around the plant craze, with plant moms and dads becoming an entirely new marketing group. The many benefits of plant parent life are convincing everyone to become a green thumb.
At this point, you might be wondering what plants have to do with cleaning your space. If anything, don’t they make it more cluttered? At the end of this article we want to change your mind on that. Plants aren’t just sitting pretty. If you fill your space with the right kind of plants, they can clean your air of certain toxins. And when arranged correctly, they can give your space a more open feel.
Today, we’re sharing a list of some of our favorite plants that can revitalize your home with cleaner air and a fresher feel. We’ll also share how you can arrange your plants to enhance your space instead of cluttering it. If you aren’t one already, we might just turn you into a plant parent by the end of this.
Isn’t my air clean already?
Before we get deep in the weeds (sorry for the pun), let’s address a common question that comes up when there’s a discussion about air quality. The air in your home seems fine. Isn’t it? First, let’s address what contributes to poor air quality in homes. You can have pollutants in your home due to a wide range of sources, from excessive moisture to burning firewood. Even outdoor sources can seep into your home.
The particularly alarming aspect of having indoor pollutants is that they are invisible. You can’t see pollutants and you often can’t smell them. Even identifying them by the symptoms they cause is difficult. Having pollutants could give you symptoms of the common cold and it’s nearly impossible to identify whether you picked it up from a pollutant or your 4-year-old’s daycare. That’s why purifying your air is so important.
Top picks for purifying plants
Now that we’ve established the need for purifying plants, let’s list a few favorites that will clean your home with some flair.
Bamboo Palm
The bamboo palm, or reed palm, is renowned for its ability to remove formaldehyde from the air, a toxin that can cause issues with cellular function. It can also remove other pollutants from the air, like benzene. More importantly, it will give your room a tropical, breezy vibe. What’s not to love?
Ficus Alii
Next, we have the Ficus maclellandii, or Ficus Alii. This eye-catching fig plant makes a serious statement in any space with the ability to grow 10 feet tall, but it’s true power is its ability to purify chemical vapors from the air.
Snake Plant
You’ve probably seen snake plants before. It seems like everyone has these unique plants in their homes. Aside from their visual appeal, the snake plant does something that other air-purifying plants don’t. It converts carbon dioxide into oxygen at night, giving you better air flow while you rest. That makes the snake plant a particularly good bedroom companion.
Dracaena deremensis
If you’re new to the plant world, or just don’t have a very green thumb, this plant is the perfect solution. It’s low maintenance in terms of care and pretty resilient. Best of all, it removes toxins like trichloroethylene from the air, which can be found in many household products and affects our central nervous system.
Arranging plants to avoid clutter
Hopefully by now you’ve already called your local nursery and asked them to put all these plants aside for you. Once you have them in your possession, it’s time to arrange them. It’s best to arrange these plants in groups of three or four. You can get a burst of greenery in the room without making a lot of clutter this way.
Try to create some height differentiation by organizing groups with the tallest plants in the back. If your plants are all the same height, use small plant stools to create the illusion of different heights. Grouping plants with different appearances can also create a lovely effect since they won’t all blend together.
As you can see, making your home clean and organized can be achieved with even the most unusual of sources, like plants. We listed a few of the best purifying plants on our list, but there are so many more to discover. Start your research at your local plant nursery and explore all the possibilities for purifying your home!