Yahoo Finance Deck out your home in houseplants: which ones to buy for each room - that won't die
In a modern living room you’re now as likely to see a monstera or rabbit’s foot fern take centre stage as a designer lamp or a piece of art.
In a trend last seen in the Seventies, house plants have made a reappearance. It’s now achingly hip to sport trailing greenery in your bathroom, or an air-purifying weeping fig next to your bed.
For largely millennial renters, it’s an easy and affordable way to customise their flats. “When you can’t do much to an interior, plants are a great way to personalise your space,” says Nik Southern, founder of the east London florist Grace and Thorn.
Southern says that most of her sales are house plants, and that the trend is spreading to weddings, where greenery is increasingly taking centre stage.
But it’s not just for renters; Southern herself recently moved into a house that needed renovating. In the meantime, she filled her new place with plants.
“It’s definitely a great way to immediately feel at home somewhere new,” she says. “Plants quite literally breathe new life into a space, so will help with that moving house stress. It’s such an amazing way to bring the outside in, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve got a garden, a balcony or just a window – plants will work anywhere, even in basement flats.”
As well as their visual appeal, house plants tap into the wellness trend. “There’s a huge mental benefit from owning plants,” says Freddie Blackett, the boss of Patch, an online house plant shop. “We’re constantly on digital devices, so when you have time to look after a plant and switch off, it instantly feels really good for you.”
The rising awareness of indoor pollution also plays a part. “Even if you live above a flyover you’re better off opening your windows than not,” Blackett explains.
“The pollution that the chemicals in your carpets, or scented candles give off is a huge problem. But plants can help to detoxify the air you breathe.” Patch has a section on its website where you can search “air purifying” (as well as “child or pet-friendly”).
Due to their visual appeal, house plants have also had a starring role on Instagram: there are thousands of listings under the hashtags #urbanjungle, #monsteramonday, or #plantgang.
Alice Vincent, a Telegraph journalist and keen urban gardener, uses Instagram to update followers on her green-fingered travails and has written a book, How to Grow Stuff: Easy, no-stress gardening for beginners.
Plants that can be hung from shelves or macramé plant hangers are hugely popular at the moment. Fran Bailey, who runs Forest, a house plant shop in south London, and co-authored Practical House Plant, says that two of their bestsellers are the trailing varieties: Ceropegia woodii (string of hearts) and Senecio rowleyanus (string of pearls).
There’s even a British collective of people on the Instagram account @therealhouseplantsofig who run a plant swap website; members list what they would like, and what they’ve got, and post their samples to each other.
For many, taking cuttings is a step too far along the horticultural route. For many novice indoor gardeners, the ultimate aim is not to kill our new housemates. Patch treats its customers with kid (gardening) gloves, firstly matchmaking its plants with their new owners.
“The space you’ve got is fundamental,” Blackett says, “and then you need to understand the plant’s behaviour.” Customers are emailed a tip per day for the first 10 days as new “plant parents”, then they have access to Patch’s plant doctors (you can even email a snap of your poorly plant and get advice on how to revive it).
Most plants die from over- rather than under-watering. “You can bring an under-watered plant back from the brink; it’s much harder with an over-watered one,” Blackett says.
Southern offers this sage advice: “The reality is plants don’t die overnight. You just have to respond to their needs.”
As an interior design feature, are houseplants here to stay? Blackett thinks so: “Because there’s the well-being side to plant ownership, it’s much more enduring than just a design trend,” he says.
Bailey agrees: “I think the ritual of caring for plants and the rewards of seeing them thrive is something that really hooks people.”
