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House plants have seen a massive surge in popularity during lockdown. As more people are now working from home during the Coronavirus pandemic and/or spending more time indoors with the cold weather, it would seem we are bringing the natural world indoors!
Searches for ‘indoor plants’ have spiked since the start of Covid-19
Searches for ‘indoor plants’, ‘best plants to keep indoors’ and ‘easy houseplants’ have all spiked since the start of the pandemic, and there has been a 402% rise in the number of people searching for Chinese Money Plants!
I love Frida Kahlo so it’s no surprise my favourite house plants are cacti and succulents. Another popular choice is indoor hanging plants – check out East Four’s Popcorn-Knot Hanging Plant Bundle (pictured below) which is absolutely stunning!
The benefits of having house plants
House plants provide us with lots of benefits as well as their obvious aesthetic appeal. Being a plant parent has many benefits including:
- Boosting mood, productivity, concentration and creativity
- Reducing stress levels and helping you stay calm
- Helping to clean indoor air by absorbing toxins, increasing humidity & producing oxygen
- Adding new life to a sterile space, giving privacy and reducing noise levels
- Are therapeutic to care for and can promote mindfulness.
- Humans have an innate desire to be connected with nature, which scientists call ‘biophilia’. Unfortunately, the spaces we tend to spend most of our days – workplaces – tend to be stripped of much of their connection to the natural environment. Adding a few house plants can help restore this connection!
- Studies have shown that simply adding some greenery in the form of indoor plants can have major positive benefits for employees and their organisations
Plant Influencers popular on Instagram
It’s not surprising, being stuck indoors for hours on end that indoor plants have seen a surge in popularity on Instagram and indoor plant influencers are actually a thing!
However, While there are over 8.5 million #plantsofinstagram posts on Instagram, one survey found that nearly half of millennials don’t own house plants because they don’t know how to take care of them! If you’re a millennial get yourself a cactus – they are so easy to look after and it’s very difficult to kill them!
If you want to find out what the world’s most Instagrammed house plants are click here plus check out @houseplantjournal which is the Instagram feed of author of The New Plant Parent and botanical expert Darryl Cheng.
House plants can boost our immune system
Plants have certain chemicals that help reduce your stress levels and this works as a natural boost to your immune system. Plus, when you’re around plants, you end up getting a lot of great chemicals that will aid you in fighting many illnesses
House plants may boost productivity and creativity
In an eight-month study, the Texas A&M University research team explored the link between flowers, plants and workplace productivity. Participants performed creative problem-solving tasks in a variety of common office environment or conditions. The conditions included a workplace with plants and flowers, a setting with sculptures and an environment with no decorative embellishments.
During the study, both men and women demonstrative more innovative thinking, generating more ideas and original solutions to problems in the office environment that included plants and flowers. In these surrounding, men who participated in the study generated 15% more ideas. And while males generated a greater abundance of ideas, females generated more creative, flexible solutions to problems when plants and flowers were present.
Attention restoration theory suggests that looking at nature – and even just images of nature – can shift the brain into a different processing mode, making employees feel more relaxed and better able to concentrate.
The house plants tipped to be most popular in 2021
According to The Metro, the following house plants are set to be the most popular in 2021:
- Fishbone Cactus.
- Bunny Ear Cactus
- Blue Star Fern
- Mistletoe Cactus
- Velvet Calathea
- String of Hearts
- Happy Bean
- Chinese Money Plant
- African Milk
Fishbone Cactus pictured left.
Where can you buy house plants online?
Buying house plants online to green up your living space means you don’t even have to leave the house!
Here are my top 5 recommendations for buying a house plant online:
1. Canopy Plants – Canopy Plants – Plants to the People
2.Barry The Cactus – Barry The Cactus – Online cactus and succulent shop.
3 Indoor Plant Shop – . Indoor Plant Shop – House Plants & Office Plants Delivered
4. Bloombox Club Indoor plants & plant subscriptions delivered UK-wide by Bloombox Club
5. Patch Plants – Indoor plant and houseplant delivery | Buy online | Plant pots and planters | Patch (patchplants.com)
House plants have been our link with nature in lockdown and maybe they could change how we relate to the natural world beyond the pandemic. It will be interesting to find out!
