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Home » Benefits of Growing House Plants

Benefits of Growing House Plants

by Elyssa Goins
This article was fact checked.
Helpful: 100%

The potential benefits of growing house plants indoors can be underestimated by people and outweigh the effort growers have to make while caring for them – compared to what they receive in return…..

The motivation to create this site originated based on encouraging people to learn more about indoor plants, what they offer to households and types that would be suitable for them. The rewards are covered here!

Decor – Look And Feel of a Room

Décor is one of the main reasons many people grow house plants within a home, and it’s easy to see why. The look and feel of a living room, bedroom, or even hallway can be transformed with indoor plants.

This is an example of “when pictures speak louder than words”.

Brighten Up Window Areas

Table Centrepiece

Plants in a Conservatory

Palms and Tree Type Shrubs

Palm plants and shrubs bring empty spaces and large rooms, alive. Many can tolerate fairly low light conditions which allows them to be placed near doors, stairs, in hallways, and next to fire surrounds.

The problem for décor growers: An issue growers can have if they just want a plant for making a room look great is they can seriously get the wrong plant for the wrong room. Having the wrong conditions for certain plants will cause growth problems or even kill them, and no longer spruce up any room.

Of course, there are solutions, such as researching to find out the care and conditions a plant needs, especially light and temperature needs. Fortunately, there are many plants that are easy to care for types that survive well, with minimal attention that are best suited for some homes.

Indoor Air Quality

One of the huge advantages of growing plants indoors is the improvement of air quality and the removal of toxins from the environment. Most of you will be aware from school teachings that plants convert carbon dioxide into the air we breathe (oxygen), so it makes sense to allow some space in the home for them to promote good health. Another of the benefits of growing house plants.

Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) created a clean air study for space stations and produced a list of house plants that do more than just turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. The list Nasa produced of various house plants removes large quantities of benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene from the atmosphere.

Here are 12 of the best from NASA and Dr Wolverton at removing toxins. This list includes NASA’s, Dr B.C Wolverton’s (produced the book, How to Grow Fresh Air), or both that found these toxins were reduced.

Plant Name (common and scientific)BenzeneFormaldehydeTrichloroethylene
Boston fern – (Nephrolepis exaltata)NoYesNo
Dwarf date palm – (Phoenix roebelenii)NoYesNo
Kimberly queen fern – (Nephrolepis obliterata)NoYesNo
English Ivy – (Hedera helix)YesYesNo
Lilyturf – (Liriope spicata)NoYesNo
Golden pothos – (Scindapsus aures)YesYesYes
Peace lily – (Spathiphyllum wallisii)YesYesYes
Mother in law’s tongue – (Sansevieria trifasciata )YesYesYes
Dragon tree – (Dracaena marginata)YesYesYes
Gerbera Daisy – (Gerbera jamesonii)YesYesYes
Hardy Garden Mum – (Chrysanthemum morifolium)YesYesYes
Janet Craig dracaena – (Dracaena deremensis)YesYesYes

I was surprised after researching air pollutants further and found many of the poisonous toxins that plants help eradicate are produced by furniture, carpets, and building materials used indoors.

If you would like to know more about improving the air quality of your home with house plants, I would suggest taking a look at Dr B C Wolverton’s book “How to Grow Fresh Air”.

Health and Well-being

The removal of toxins from the air and renewed oxygen (as mentioned above) is not the only health benefits of growing house plants. There have been significant studies and research done that suggests a person’s health during an illness is improved quicker.

What seems obvious to me is when we are unwell it’s hard to think past our own state of life (which is difficult), so the small amount of care and nurturing given to a plant improves our well-being (emotional and mental). The act of caring and nurturing anything living is well known to have a positive effect on people, mentally and emotionally.

There is also the aspect of flowers blooming and attractive foliage that will improve a person’s mood.

Medicinal Purposes

While some house plants are toxic for humans and pets to consume, others offer various health benefits. Plants such as echinacea, chamomile, peppermint, aloe vera, and many others are reported to improve or help various health conditions.

Some species lack enough scientific evidence to support the health benefits. However, many countries and traditions have been using plants for medicinal purposes for centuries and swear by them. This is yet another of the benefits of growing house plants.

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