The benefits of having plants

5 top reasons you should have plants!

My friend is finally getting one of my plants tonight. I’m probably as excited as she is. Can you believe it will be her first plant since she moved in about 3 years ago? My home now doesn’t have as many plants as the one back in Germany. When I moved to the US in 2007, I couldn’t take my plants with me and it broke my heart. At our current home, there are a few tall and big ones plus many smaller and medium sized ones. I love the touch they add to the house but even more, plants bring you so many benefits:

Plants purify the air.

Remember biology back in the day? Photosynthesis? When you learnt how trees converted carbon dioxide, the bad stuff, into oxygen, the good stuff? It’s not just trees, all plants scrub indoor air pollutants and recycle them into cleaner and fresher air for us. A large variety of plants also releases moisture into the air, humidifying your rooms during drier months.

Plants can decrease your stress levels.

More and more architects, interior designers and wellbeing practitioners are working together to identify the right office environment. Companies have realised that employees in greener environments are less stressed and are using this to their advantage. While not every desk has a little plant on it, even green communal areas can cut stress. Companies can create a little atrium or garden or stock up the kitchen and social room with some plants.

At home, you can also reduce your stress levels with plants growing colourful petals. Red petals are, for example, energising, giving you that extra boost.

Plants can make us happier.

About 10 years ago, Psychology Today already published a series about articles researching the impact of plants on humans. Besides reducing stress and lowering blood pressure, they’ve found that plants also increase overall well-being.

Little lavender plants spread their beautiful smell. Rubbing on a basil leave or lemon mint appeal to your smell sense and can calm you down and can give you the feeling of joy.

Plants are great decorating tools.

Larger plants can act as a living privacy screen. Hotels, restaurants and malls are bringing the outdoors indoors by creating a hanging garden or a green wall. You can re-create such walls even with a smaller frame and add different succulents to it. Laura from Garden Answer has plenty of video tutorials.

A plant can become the focal point in a room. You can make it the eye catcher in a window or integrate it with your furniture, as these pictures from Brit.co show:

Plants make a house a home.

Looking for a unique housewarming present? Give someone a plant! Whether it’s an orchid (trust me, they’re easier to look after than you think!), a mini orange tree for the balcony or an indestructible ZZ plant, plants can be as unique as humans. Add a pot that matches their other flower pots or pick one that will stand out!

You don’t need to wait for a house move to get new plants. As summer is coming up, many expats are using this time to move away and won’t be able to take their plants. See if you can give one of their plants a home or choose one from a nursery or garden centre.

How does your home look like? What plants do you have? Send us a picture from your favourite plant and we’ll share it on our Facebook page, if you like!

Until next time,
Agni

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