Peter Shepperd - Houseplants 101: How to choose, style, grow and nurture your indoor plants

Figure 1. Love for plants

You may have noticed that house plants have all of a sudden come back into fashion. Keeping and caring for plants indoors has gone from being something that preoccupies the older generation to a full-blown leafy love affair.

Millennials, especially, fork out up to thousands of dollars to grow their houseplant collection.

Theres no doubt that social media has played a considerable role in taking houseplants back to the glory days of the 80s. Surely, you remember your parents or grandparents tenderly watering the then-famous spider plant. Everyone had one; they make so many tiny 'spiders' that with just a few strategic snips, you could gift a small baby plant to the whole neighbourhood!

Now, years later, this "sharing is caring" attitude has returned to create a new generation of plant parents. The only real difference is the fact that social media platforms now make it so much easier to connect with fellow enthusiasts.

Of course, the benefits of owning a houseplant or three arent limited to the community youll have access to. Actually, the advantages of indoor plants should make them a necessity and not just part of the dcor. Houseplants have scientifically been proven to reduce bodily and psychological stress (Lee et al., 2015). This is especially true if you interact with your indoor plants! So, the next time someone says youre crazy because you tell your houseplants about your day, dont worry: youre the healthy one.

Some other benefits of indoor plants include:

• Enhanced job satisfaction
• Increased productivity
• Reduced stress
• Improved mood
• Improved air quality
• Enhanced cognitive health

Houseplants are so remarkable that even looking at a plant reduces blood pressure (Perry, n.d.). You may be sitting there thinking, I know all this, but I am a plant murderer. I know, Ive been there. Youre so excited when you bring a plant home and promise yourself that it will be different; this time, youll succeed as a plant parent. Then, two weeks later, your house plant ends up in the dustbin, all yellow and drooping or dried to a crisp.

Im here to tell you that with some basic knowledge, you will be able to surround yourself with all the greenery you can manage. All you have to do is to never give up on making your urban jungle dreams come true!

Lets get you equipped with all the know-how not only to select the perfect houseplants but also to keep them alive.

Youll be happy to know that you may not be the one responsible for your plants demise. A lot of the time, people dont check the health of the plant before they buy it. Its a case of them falling in love with the foliage, colour, or flower and rushing to pay. However, if you know what to look for to make sure your plant is in good health to begin with, youre setting yourself up for success.

Figure 2. Green Leaf plant heaven

Shape

Look for a lovely, bushy plant. This will be a good indication that the plant is pushing out new growth regularly, which is a sign of good health. Avoid buying plants that are leggy or spindly. Houseplants lose leaves when theyre not happy, so a gangly plant shows that something is wrong. That doesnt exactly matter when the plant is still in the shop, but taking home an already-unhappy plant increases the chances of it dying a slow death.

Condition

The leaves of a plant are a good gauge of general health. You want to make sure that the plant has no signs of browning or yellowing. Floppy leaves or, alternatively, crispy leaves are also signs that the plant is not doing too well and maybe heading toward death's door.

Roots

I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with checking a plants roots in the store. Dont be. It is your right as a customer to make sure what you plan on buying meets your standards.

You want to pull the plant out of the nursery pot and look for strong and firm roots. If some of the roots are brown mush, that points to root rot, and you definitely dont want to take that plant home. Root rot happens when a plant is watered too often. Youll read more about root rot laterit is one of the most common reasons plants dont make it, believe it or not.

If the roots are visible on top of the compost or even poking out of the drainage holes at the bottom, the plant is pot-bound. This isnt as bad as root rot, but as a beginner plant parent, dont buy it. When plants are root-bound, they struggle to thrive and wont be in the best condition.

Pests and Diseases

One thing you dont want to do, specifically if you have plants at home already, is bring pests home to infect your other house plants. I cant stress enough that prevention is better than cure. Some pests are challenging to get rid of.