There are lots of benefits to keeping plants in your home. As well as looking great and being fun to take care of and watch grow, the natural processes by which plants fuel themselves can actually improve your indoor air quality. This can be highly beneficial for your health, especially if you are often running things that affect your air purity like heating or air conditioning, live in a city where air pollutants are at high levels or are unable to open your windows.
Good, clean air inside your home also makes it more appealing, and whether you want to make a good impression on guests or are actually trying to sell your house, air purifying plants can be a big boon. Check out this site where Paul from Karkanja Realty explains how plants are a psychological trigger for buyers and helps add value to your property to learn more about this particular benefit.
However, not all houseplants are equal, so if air purification is your goal, then you want to choose your plants not just for their good looks but also their effects on indoor air. Here are four of the best plants for this.
Chrysanthemum Morifolium
This plant, which is also known by the easier to remember name ‘garden mum’, is one which was shown in studies by NASA to be one of the most effective plants for removing pollutants from the air. Research has shown it can purify a wide range of air pollutants, including benzene, formaldehyde, xylene, and ammonia.
Garden mum is also a very robust plant, so you don’t need to be especially green fingered to keep it alive in your home! It can live both indoors and outdoors, but its purifying effects are going to have a more profound impact if you grow it inside. It is also a commonly found plant at garden centres and doesn’t cost much to buy – all of which makes it an easy and effective option!
Spider Plants
Spider plants have long been a common feature in offices and schools because they are so resilient and easy to grow. People also tend to enjoy the way they reproduce, creating little mini spider plants as offshoots, which can be re-potted and grown as new plants.
Spider plants have been shown to remove xylene and formaldehyde from the air, and given they are so easy to care for and virtually free (if you can take an offshoot from someone else’s plant) or very inexpensive, they are ideal for people who want the benefits of plants with almost no hassle or expense!
Peace Lily
If you like the idea of a flowering plant, a peace lily is an option that grows well indoors due to its preference for shade. A peace lily will give you fragrant and attractive flowers during its summer flowering period. The peace lily does add pollen to the air when it flowers, so is not such a good option if you have pollen allergies, but it also has powerful air purifying properties comparative to its small size.
It can remove benzene, formaldehyde, ammonia, and trichloroethylene from your indoor air.
Bamboo Palm
Bamboo palm can be a good choice if you have pets who tend to munch on things and make leafy or flowery plants less of an option. They have an impressive and dramatic look thanks to their height and can make a cool feature in your rooms. They do need bright light to grow at their best, however, so while they are suited to indoor cultivation, you’ll need to pick a sunny spot for your bamboo palm.
Bamboo palm has been shown to be excellent at removing formaldehyde, and can also filter out trichloroethylene and benzene. It is also an inexpensive and hardy plant that is just about impossible to kill, so a great choice for beginners and people with dogs or cats in their homes.
These four plants are all easy to find and take care of, so why not start taking advantage of their air purifying benefits?
Bio
Elena is a lifestyle and property writer based in Malta, who works with Karkanja, a Gozo-based realty company. When she isn’t writing, she loves enjoying life in Malta by spending time at the beach, checking out local restaurants, and scuba diving.