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    Houseplants for a Healthy Home: 50 Indoor Plants to Help You Breathe Better, Sleep Better, and Feel Better All Year Round
    Houseplants for a Healthy Home: 50 Indoor Plants to Help You Breathe Better, Sleep Better, and Feel Better All Year Round
    Houseplants for a Healthy Home: 50 Indoor Plants to Help You Breathe Better, Sleep Better, and Feel Better All Year Round
    Ebook185 pages53 minutes

    Houseplants for a Healthy Home: 50 Indoor Plants to Help You Breathe Better, Sleep Better, and Feel Better All Year Round

    By Jon VanZile

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    This A-to-Z guide illuminates the numerous health benefits of 50 common, easy-to-grow houseplants along with detailed care instructions and beautiful illustrations of each plant.

    With plant-scaped rooms popping up all over Pinterest, style blogs, and home décor magazines, houseplants are the hottest home accessory right now—and for good reason. Plants are a quick and easy way to add life, color, and texture to any indoor space. But houseplants offer so much more than just visual interest to a room. They can purify the air, reduce stress, improve sleep—and much more!

    Houseplants for a Healthy Home explains the specific health and wellness benefits of 50 common, easy-to-grow, and popular houseplants, while introducing you to new favorites bound to brighten your life. You will find an A-to-Z guide of a variety of the plants that includes a beautiful illustration of each plant, along with the plant’s health benefits and clear, detailed care instructions. Let Houseplants for a Healthy Home lead you to a life in full bloom.

    Editor's Note

    Living decor…

    Houseplants are an easy, inexpensive way to add a bit of a style to a room. But did you know they can also improve sleep? And help relieve stress? Learn how to care for your plants — and for yourself! — with this handy, easy-to-understand guide.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateMay 1, 2018
    ISBN9781507207307
    Houseplants for a Healthy Home: 50 Indoor Plants to Help You Breathe Better, Sleep Better, and Feel Better All Year Round
    Author

    Jon VanZile

    Jon VanZile is a Master Gardener who lives in South Florida, where he enjoys collecting orchids and aroids and experimenting with ways to grow the perfect heirloom tomato. He is the author of several gardening books, including Houseplants for a Healthy Home and Gardening Hacks. He can be reached at JonVanZile.com.

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    Reviews for Houseplants for a Healthy Home

    4.5/5

    19 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Really imformative information very organised I loved the illustrations in the text I loved learning more about different plants and there purposes definitely inspired me to take care of the plants I do have and also get more and help my family as well as the environment fantastic read
      Read all the way through within an hour xx
    • 3/5
      Basic but informative. A good staring point for new plants enthusiasts.
    • 4/5
      Good concise information about the healing quality of plants. The best part was the simple growing advise. This is a brief yet comprehensive handbook for both experienced and beginning gardeners/herbalists. The illustrations were accurate, however, not botanically precise.
      Excellent for quick reference especially the links in the back.
      Highly recommend!

    Book preview

    Houseplants for a Healthy Home - Jon VanZile

    How to Care for Your Houseplants

    Before your houseplants can take care of you and your home, you have to take care of them! Fortunately, keeping healthy houseplants isn’t complicated. We’ve laid out the tools, ten simple rules, and common plant and garden terms for keeping your plants lush all year round.

    WHAT TO HAVE ON HAND

    Indoor gardening isn’t complicated, but there are some important differences between growing plants inside and in an outdoor garden. Indoor plants can’t just grow bigger roots to seek out more nutrients when they’re hungry. Your house is also designed for you, not for your plants. This means air-conditioning, lower humidity, and a lack of proper sunlight. But not to worry: with the right tools, you can create a great indoor environment for your houseplants.

    MATERIALS

    As an indoor gardener you’re lucky: you don’t need a shed full of special equipment to keep your houseplants thriving. Instead, here are a few helpful tools to keep handy:

    VARIOUS-SIZED CONTAINERS. The most important thing with any indoor container is drainage. You can use clay, plastic, ceramic, or just about any other kind of pot, as long as it provides a way for water to drain out.

    A WATERING CAN. Any standard watering can found at your local hardware store will do.

    GARDEN SHEARS. Kitchen scissors will work for softer plants, but a good pair of sharp shears is ideal. Always keep shears clean.

    SPRAY BOTTLES. Consider getting a bottle for misting with pure water and a separate bottle for growth agents like neem oil or foliar feeding. Label your bottles so you don’t mix them up.

    GLOVES. These are handy for keeping your hands clean when repotting plants.

    FERTILIZERS

    The difference between sort-of-healthy houseplants and lush, gorgeous houseplants is fertilizer. Since indoor plants are grown in containers, they rely on you to provide all of their nutrients, especially the big three: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (the NPK on a fertilizer label). There are many products out there that promise their combinations of special vitamins and enzymes are necessary for healthy plants. For the most part, however, a basic fertilizer combined with regular watering and repotting will allow your houseplants to thrive.

    Here are a few types of potting soil and fertilizer for well-fed houseplants:

    FORTIFIED POTTING SOIL. Many leading potting soils have fertilizer included. For most common plants, this will be enough food to last for six months, or even a full growing season.

    CONTROLLED-RELEASE FERTILIZER PELLETS. A high-quality, controlled-release fertilizer will include the major NPK nutrients, plus a host of micronutrients, and will supply your plants with a continuous food supply for months. Follow the label directions to make sure you’re using the right amount.

    LIQUID FERTILIZER. Many expert growers use liquid fertilizer because it’s rapidly absorbed, easier to control in terms of dosing, and convenient. Look for one designed for houseplants and follow the label directions. If you really want to make your plants happy, use a little liquid fertilizer with every feeding during the growing season.

    TEN TIPS FOR GROWING GREAT HOUSEPLANTS

    The plants in this book can all be successfully grown indoors without taking any extraordinary measures. Still, if you’re new to indoor gardening, it can take a little practice to get the hang of it. To help you out, we’ve provided a few simple guidelines that will apply to most plants. While each plant profile will have specific instructions for proper care, these are the basics:

    1. USE A HIGH-QUALITY POTTING MEDIA. Never use gardening soil for indoor plants. Common dirt is far too heavy and provides poor drainage. A good potting media should include a lightweight base like sphagnum peat moss or coconut coir to retain water, something to add structure like pine bark fines, and something that will increase drainage like perlite. Bagged potting soil might also contain added fertilizer and water-retention crystals, which will hold moisture longer so you don’t have to water your plants as frequently.

    2. BEWARE OF OLD DIRT. Bagged potting soils are not meant to last forever. Over time, the peat breaks down and becomes more acidic. The bigger chunks crumble into smaller, denser particles that compress around the plant’s feeder roots, making the plant less able to take up water and oxygen. It won’t be long before your container is filled with mostly roots, decomposed and exhausted potting media, and not much else. Repot plants annually for the best results.

    3. LEARN TO WATER CORRECTLY. Improper watering is the number one killer of indoor plants. Overwatering can lead to decay and root rot, while underwatering can leave your plant dry and cause it to waste away. Never let your plants sit in water! After watering, let the container drain into its saucer, then empty the saucer of extra water.

    4. LOOK FOR WAYS TO INCREASE HUMIDITY. Indoor environments are often heated or air-conditioned and have a very low humidity level, especially compared to the tropical regions where many of our favorite houseplants come from. Increase the humidity around your plants by filling a spray bottle with water

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