Interior Landscaping How it Can Help Your Health
Landscaping is normally an activity that you would visualize as an outdoor activity. After all, the first word in this compound is “land”, which is outdoors. However, landscaping inside your home is also gaining in popularity, especially as people learn about the benefits to their health from indoor plants. While you will not exactly have “land” inside your house, you will certainly have some beautiful and beneficial plants which will enrich your life and make your home beautiful. Here are some tips for interior landscaping, and how it can help your health.
Air Cleansing Abilities
Plants really do clean the air. Most people learn in school that plants produce oxygen. In fact, that’s one of the worries over the devastation of rain forests which produce a huge amount of oxygen for the planet. But what we don’t always earn in school is that plants actually absorb noxious gasses. Off-gasses from construction materials can often make people sick. Carpeting furniture upholstery, and even wooden flooring produce off-gasses. The good news is that many houseplants thrive on these gasses. They basically “breathe” these gasses in and release oxygen into the air. A one quart house plant can cleanse the air in a 200 sq. ft. room every day.
Regulate Humidity
Many homes are too dry, especially in the winter when the heater is running. What many people do not realize is that central air conditioning units draw moisture out of the air and drain it to the outdoors. This can create a dry atmosphere in the house. House plants actually help to regulate the humidity. They do this through plant respiration as well as through the moisture content in the potting soil. If your house is too humid, plants can draw some of the moisture out of the air and use it. Plants from arid regions are a good choice for humid areas, especially if you want to remove some of the humidity from the air.
Other plants, as well as bromeliads are especially good for humidifying the air. If your area is quite dry, bromeliads won’t fare well, but in moderately dry climes, they will do fine.
Watch Allergies
Many people say they can’t have house plants because of allergies. If you have a lot of allergies, you can still have houseplants, just avoid the kind that have spores. These are mostly ferns. You can tell if they have spores because the underside of the leaves are covered with little black dots.
Create an Atmosphere
But, what about the “landscaping” part of this story? We’ve talked about the actual health benefits of humidification and air cleansing, now let’s talk about the beauty of houseplants.
You can create an atmosphere of relaxation and welcome in your house with interior landscaping. Even with overstuffed furniture and plush fabrics, you still have a linear element to your home. Plants break that up, giving a cozier feel to the room. With well-placed plants in the room, you can feel the tension drain from your body. That is also a benefit to your health.