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The more plants you have - the healthier you can be
For centuries the Chinese have believed in the importance of houseplants in creating and enhancing positive energy in the home and the office.
When it comes to improving your health and wellbeing, houseplants have been proven to enhance air quality, increase energy and more. As your plant breathes it removes harmful toxic emissions generated by furniture, paint and carpeting. Even better, as your plant also absorbs noise and radio waves it promotes relaxation and calm - a perfect way to lower the blood pressure.
Foliage plants such as the Peace Lily and Spider Plant are particularly good at removing nasty chemicals, while having an Aloe Vera plant in your home gives you the perfect natural resource for soothing skin irritations. In addition to boosting your well being, houseplants are a sure bet when it comes to adding that extra bit of glamour to your home.
Guest: Gemma Payne, Flowers & Plants Association (GP)
MN: Hello and welcome to webchats. It's very good of you to join us today. We're talking today about plants, houseplants in particular. Yes they look great, but they can do so more for you than that. They are indeed the ultimate multi-tasker. They can make you healthy, they can make the place look stylish, they can add to the decoration. And of course you've got to make them happy so that they can make you happy.
Joining me, from the flower and plant association, I'm delighted to say we've got Gemma Payne. Gemma, we've got some lovely plants in front of us, let's talk first of all about the plant itself and making the plant happy because it's important that the plant's happy in order that you can get the best out of it.
GP: Exactly. To get the best out of your houseplants you need to choose them really carefully and you have to be really honest about how good or bad you are at watering them, to be quite honest.
MN: The secret's in the watering isn't it, more than anything else? They need light and they need water.
GP: They need light, they need water, and sometimes they need humidity as well, depending on the plant. But most plants, you'll find, will suit any type of person. So you're kind of fitting them to your life and your lifestyle and how much you're going to look after them. There are plants that will take a bit of neglect and there are also plants that don't mind being over-watered. Because you're either one or the other normally.
MN: We've got a question straight in from Liz. Liz's question is all about being away at the weekend. Liz is away an awful lot but she says her plants don't get watered. That's an old old story isn't it?
GP: It's an old story, it happens. But at least she's honest about it, at least she's looking ahead and thinking what should I get so that it doesn't matter.
MN: Okay, what can we do for Liz?
GP: Well, something like this for example - these are lovely cactus plants. They look stunning - they look quite funky don't you think? Especially with this nice pink sisal round the edge. They don't need too much watering at all. They like light and they like warmth so they're good on windowsills but they will forgive you if you don't water them for some time, so they're really good.
MN: So if you're away a lot on holiday or long weekends away - they're going to be fine?
GP: They're going to be fine, as are things like this: what we call a Succulent type of plant.
MN: Is that related to the cactus at all?
GP: It's not, it's called (it's got a bit of a weird name) Hotlips is its common name.
MN: Beautiful plant and it looks like you can actually bite into it.
GP: It is succulent and that mean's it's fleshy so it holds lots of water in it. So if you water every two or three weeks even, it will forgive you. So that's really good again for neglect, if you go away a lot. Or even, look at this; I haven't even got this in a pot.
MN: Is that a plant? I thought that was just a decoration. That's extraordinary.
GP: No, it's a plant. It's Tillandsia. It's a Bromeliad, that's the plant type and it actually survives without any soil. In the wild they grow on rocks and trees. Some people call them air plants because they absorb all their nutrients from the air around them and in the wild they absorb them from the minerals in the rocks or from the trees. You can't go wrong with one of those.
MN: So if someone went into an establishment that sold plants and said 'I want an air plant', they would know what they meant?
GP: They would.
MN: The air plant - no water needed whatsoever. Penny, who is up in Glasgow, has sent us a question, and that's about Aloe Vera. Does that come under the Succulents category, I'm not sure? I mean it's a tropical plant isn't it?
GP: It's a tropical plant, and again it will forgive you if you don't water it very often.
MN: She wants to know how often she should water it. And I know a lot of people use Aloe Vera for eczema and skin complaints?
GP: Yes, they do. We're coming on to talk about healthy houseplants and the Aloe Vera is one of those. If you water it once a week, make sure you don't over-water it, but again you can leave it for a week or two. It will forgive you, but I would say, perhaps half a cup of water once a week is fine.
MN: What about oxygen? You need air don't you - I suppose too stuffy a room is not going to suit certain plants?
GP: No, but the advantage of plants is that they actually make the air cleaner for you because they absorb carbon dioxide and they pump out oxygen.
MN: Rachel has been on and she says she's got a houseplant with brown tips on the end - is that lack of oxygen?
GP: Probably not lack of oxygen. If things get a bit brown and crispy on any plant it tends to mean they're getting a bit warm. So it may be that her plant is near some radiators or other sources of heat.
MN: I was going to mention central heating. I mean, we live in centrally heated houses now and when we put plants on sills there's usually a radiator underneath. Is that something we've got to be careful of - drying the plant out?
GP: It is, and also if it's not the type of plant that likes direct sunlight, it may be that she needs to position her plant away from a window that gets lots of sunlight because it may be too dry.
MN: Talking of things that are likely to kill plants apart from ourselves not watering or over-watering them, what about bugs and mites and those sorts of things - how do we get rid of those because they love houseplants don't they?
GP: Bugs are best got rid of by purchasing a bug spray from any good plant retailer such as garden centres, florists etc.
MN: So get the sprays that you can buy, give them to your plants, kill off the bugs, that's the easiest thing to do. Very quickly, before we leave this section - over-watering - can you do that?
GP: You can, and this plant absolutely loves it. This is called Saliginella. They're gorgeous little plants and they look very trendy. They're very good for your interiors if you like the minimalist trendy look. They like to be watered with soft water preferably and they like to be misted a lot as well. So as well as watering you need to get one of these misting sprays and mist it once a day if possible. The best thing to do in terms of watering is to water them from below. They look quite perfect and sculptural at the moment and if you stick a spout in there to water them they can lose their shape. So water from underneath, let them soak it up through the roots.
MN: There's a little bit on care of plants for you. We're going to talk about the health properties of plants and why they are so good for you. They're forever working for us, cleansing the air, taking the carbon dioxide out but there's more than just that isn't there?
GP: That's the air exchange that they do, that's the way they work, it's their system. They pump out oxygen so it helps you have cleaner air and that's really important these days because we're often cooped up in our offices or our homes with our windows shut and central heating blasting or in the office with the air conditioning. It moves the air around. But some of them also absorb nasty toxins. Plants that are especially good for this are leafy plants such as this Spathiphyllum.
MN: That's the Peace Lily.
GP: Yes, the Peace Lily, that's its common name. It's really good at absorbing things like benzine or carbon monoxide so if you live near a busy road and you tend to get fumes coming through your windows or whatever, it's good for that. You also get nasty toxins in cleaning products, varnishes and paints. I mean, not huge amounts - I don't want to alarm anybody but plants like this are really good at absorbing those and taking them out of the air so it's less harmful to yourself.
MN: Excellent. Emma has a question about the positioning of plants for their health benefits. In other words having plants possibly near to where you're working so you're closer to where their oxygen producing is. Is that a myth or is that actually true?
GP: That's actually true and the more plants you have the better but you may not have the room so the best thing to do is perhaps get a few small plants and group them together so you've got a little micro-climate of plants pumping out the oxygen and making you feel better - boosting your energy. It can also help things like concentration as well, so that's good in the office.
MN: Well if you've got more oxygen you're going to concentrate more aren't you.
GP: Yes. Something like this, which is a Spider Plant.
MN: Did this come from a museum, is this like a 1970s Spider Plant that we've got here? Look it's still alive!
GP: It hasn't been alive since the 70s, I can guarantee that. These plants are excellent at absorbing toxins. It's actually proven by NASA - they actually did some research where they took different houseplants and these came out top at getting rid of nasty chemicals. The humble Spider Plant. And as you can see, one on its own might look a bit drab but what we've done here is put about 5 or 6 small Spider Plants together, you could have these grouped together like that on your desk or on a coffee table at home. It looks really great and it's doing you good as well.
MN: Helen from Devon has come in with a question. Helen is asthmatic and she wants to know whether there are plants that would be better for her than others?
GP: You want to promote lots of good air if you're asthmatic. So things like the Spider Plant are great because they're absorbing toxins but also the fresher air helps with your breathing obviously. The Spathiphyllum again is very good but the rule of thumb really is that the best plants are those which are leafy and green because you've got more surface area on the leaves so there's more air exchange.
MN: So the more foliage you've got, the more chance of getting the carbon dioxide out and the oxygen in, and absorbing some of those chemicals?
GP: Exactly.
MN: Jamie says 'I've got two small children - are there plants that are harmful to children?' I guess what Jamie means is if the children start picking at the leaves and nibbling them.
GP: Well most plants you wouldn't want to nibble them anyway. They're not going to taste great and also they're commercially grown, they're never bred to be eaten, even if they're something that you might think can be eaten, like a herb or something. Obviously the ones you buy in the supermarket for that purpose are bred for eating so they're fine, but I would advise you to put any plants you think might be dangerous out of reach and educate your children so they know it's harmful to eat anything like plants or flowers. Keep them away from them. If you just ingest a small amount of a leaf it won't harm you too much but obviously I don't recommend it.
MN: A question from Georgie who is in Swansea: Georgie works in an airless basement like so many other hard-working office workers. I suppose it's one of the sins of modern life really that we're in an office somewhere, it's going to be a bit airless, the air conditioning might break down, and so it's going to get even more stuffy. That being the case, will plants help?
GP: They will. You do find these days that people do have plants installed in their offices. It's not just about furnishing but it's not just about the air exchange that I've just talked about either. Having greenery around you, or colour if you've got flowering plants really can boost your mood, make you feel more positive, make you feel more creative and help your concentration. Again, we're talking multi-tasking, they're healthy but in psychological ways as well.
MN: We've talked about the health properties of plants and we've talked about looking after them so they're happy and they make you happy, but the one thing we probably like about plants, more than anything else, is that they look good and they make our environment look good. So having a plant and it looks great, and it dies a little bit and it grows back up again depending on the season, but can we get something out of that plant all year round, as a style guide?
GP: Of course. Something like a rose plant. I want to show you how it can look very different in different pots and how you can dress it up and make it look really fantastic. Now, looking at this, it looks a bit boring doesn't it? The pot's a bit old-fashioned and all I've done really is plonk it in the pot without any dressing or anything. So that's how it can look. It still looks good but we can do better. Grouping together is a really good idea. There are 4 plants in there, 5 actually and things like these roses, especially these vintagey looking ones, which are really trendy at the moment. They look like garden roses but they're actually bred as indoor plants. We've made this look quite romantic obviously because we're going with the look of the plant. So what I've done is group them together in a bowl and added some fabric around it, literally just tied it round really simply but again you can match this to your interiors. So if you want to match your bedroom or your lounge you just choose something to match. You don't always have to use the same pot. Or you can use the same pot but change the look of it very quickly.
MN: This way well answer the question from Zoe: she's got a very small bedroom, she loves bold colours, and she wants to liven up the bedroom with flowers, great idea - what can she do that will be bold and striking?
GP: We've chosen a romantic pink to go with the roses here so we're making it look quite soft and blousy if you like but again, you could choose a different type of pot, something a bit more funky. Something you could add to this is some feathers. I've just taped them to the end of some wire and you can add extra bits of trimming like that if you want to go a bit more over the top with it.
MN: That's great, but for the boys around?
GP: For the boys around, something a bit more funky perhaps. What we've got here is a funky pot. I've got some pebbles in there because you want some air around the bottom so it doesn't get water-logged. I've got 2 rose plants here which I'm just going to take out of their pots, just squeeze them together - you might need to get rid of some of the soil. That just creates a fuller thing but also, compared to the other one, it's a lot funkier.
MN: I think the other thing is that it's in proportion isn't it? What are these?
GP: These are hat pins.
MN: Do people still use these?
GP: They put them in their plants now! If you've got some old hat pins lying around, or you can buy these from craft shops - it just adds a bit extra, makes it look more modern and it's easy. All I've done is put 2 plants in a pot and added something a bit extra
MN: That's great. We've got a question in from Becky as well. She's got a narrow dark hallway and she wants to know how to brighten that up. If it's narrow and dark I'm guessing tall and narrow plants?
GP: Tall and narrow plants and things that don't mind being in the shade, they don't mind a lack of light. So something like a large Dracaena dragon tree. Or palms are very good - big Parlour Palms. They're quite easy to look after and they don't mind a bit of shade. Zamio cocus is a great plant, it's very forgiving so it doesn't mind a dark corner and it probably doesn't mind a draught too much either, which a lot of plants are very sensitive to. They're very kind of fleshy, waxy leaves and they'll survive fantastically in a dark corner and they're quite tall as well so they'll give you that bit of height.
MN: Now Priscilla has got a question for us. She's got a cat. Cat-friendly plants for starters, so I'm assuming this is going to be something that's not going to upset the cat but also that's not going to be upset by the cat? And something that's going to give some oomph to the room.
GP: Dracaena are not that good, especially if they're the ones with the very thin leaves because I know my cat particularly goes for that kind of plant and tries to eat it. She also goes for very grassy kinds of plants. Cats do like to nibble grass so if you've got something like that inside it's not a good idea unless you've got it out of reach of the cat. Also, not good for cats are lilies. You can buy lilies as plants as well as cut flowers but they are actually poisonous to cats and very harmful. Both the petals and the leaves of the lily.
MN: We've got a question that's just come in from Mike. He's got a Scindapus, it's 4ft high. Since he bought it 4 months ago it's developed brown spots on the leaves.
GP: It's also known as Devil's Ivy and it grows like anything.
MN: As Mike was saying - 4ft in 4 months.
GP: If it's going yellow (as opposed to brown which tends to suggest dryness) it may be a bit damp or over-watered.
MN: He says brown spots but also the leaves are starting to go yellow.
GP: Yes, yellow suggests over-watering to me.
MN: You've been killing it with kindness Mike! He's been keeping it in the hallway and he's been keeping it damp and it's quite damp in the hallway anyway. So some more light, a bit more drying out. Can he save it, can he cut it back and try again?
GP: You can, and they're quite easy to re-root as well. I've done that myself with Devil's Ivy so if you want to take cuttings from it and just put them in a jam jar with some water and get the roots to grow, then replant, and you can have little baby ones.
MN: You can, and they're quite easy to re-root as well. I've done that myself with Devil's Ivy so if you want to take cuttings from it and just put them in a jam jar with some water and get the roots to grow, then replant, and you can have little baby ones.
MN: Like it or not, Christmas is just around the corner and now is the time you should be thinking about the dreaded Christmas decorations. Are you going to get that old box out again, with the tinsel and the baubles or are you going to brighten it up with some houseplants which are very seasonal? In front of us we have the old favourite which is poinsettia. It's known as the Christmas plant, we go out and buy them every Christmas and by April/May time they've usually died.
GP: Most people will buy a new one every year. Occasionally people get them to re-flower but it is very difficult.
MN: Can we just stick these in a pot? They're red and green and Christmassy but there must be another way of dealing with them?
GP: Yes, like the Christmas tree we get it out every year with the same old decorations so we want you to do something a bit different this year. Get your old Poinsettias by all means because they're fantastic and you can't beat them for the Christmassy look they have, but you can do something different with them and make them look really nice and really stylish. I'm going to show you something really quick and easy. These are little mini Poinsettias which you can buy from garden centres, supermarkets and florists. What I'm going to do with them is take them out of their pots and add a bit of trimming. This is called sisal - you can buy this in craft shops and you may be able to buy it from your florist as well. Wrap it round the root ball like so and then get a really nice container. This is a bit of fun - we've got a nice cocktail glass here - pop it in, have the sisal kind of spilling out. Have more than one for that extra bit of impact and there you go - something a little different. It'd look great on a coffee table - something low so you can look down on the plant. But they're fantastic - so easy.
GP: Something else that's easy, using the same plant - what I've got here is a cake stand. Use things that you've got in your house already, you don't have to go out and buy lots of new pots necessarily. I've got here some baubles and all that kind of thing. Pine cones, sprayed with gold paint.
MN: You've been Blue Peter-ing it again haven't you?
GP: I have. Again I'm just grouping these plants together, just 4 or 5. You normally do odd numbers. Just add a bit of extra Christmassy stuff.
MN: This should answer Imogen's question. She's asked: 'how can I brighten up the lounge just before Christmas without getting all the Christmas decorations out?' and this is perfect.
GP: This is the perfect thing to do, because they'll last. Like your Christmas tree, if it's fresh may only last a couple of weeks before the needles start falling off and you get very fed up. Poinsettias obviously need some care. I'm just adding a bit of silver bullion wire, some crinkly wire.
MN: That's fantastic there, you just look at that and it says Christmas and you've got living plants at the same time.
GP: Living plants, which obviously means you've got to look after them, and things like Poinsettias don't like to be in draughts. A lot of people say 'my Poinsettia always dies and the leaves fall off'.
MN: Is that because it's right next to the windowsill and they've had the window open a little bit?
GP: If they're in a draught or they're next to heat, that's the bad thing.
MN: One little thing to finish with, have you got a finale there?
GP: We have. Just to have a change from the Poinsettia we've got these gorgeous Christmas cactus - Schlumbergera.
MN: It's very attractive - do they flower at this time of year?
GP: Yes, and look at them - they look great. They've got these gorgeous pink flowers on them. All I'm going to do is something really simple because I think the flowers and the plants speak for themselves here. I'm just going to get some nice dark coloured vases and in they go. Again, more than one for impact, looks really stylish. These plants actually like being misted as well - they're the only cactus that like being misted.
MN: We'll give them a good misting and while we're doing all of that, Gemma - thank you very much indeed for joining us. Thank you for giving us some fantastic top tips. I hope you enjoy getting things ready for Christmas even if is this early to do so. We'll be back with more top tips on webchats, as the seasons unfold. Hopefully that'll be with your good self Gemma.
GP: Yes. You can look on our website for more information. www.flowers.org.uk
MN: As simple as that. Thank you very much indeed for joining us, join us again next time on webchats.
