21 of the Best Houseplants for Bright Light
08.11.2023 - 09:01 / gardeningknowhow.com / Teo Spengler
Some adventures in nature leave you feeling relaxed and peaceful. Think of a walk in a forest or gathering wildflowers for a bouquet. But did you know interaction with your own plants can also be calming and even improve your mental health?
Nobody is surprised to hear that activities intended to increase mindfulness contribute to good mental health. Think meditation or yoga. And caring for plants falls into the same category. Yes, plants are good for mental health.
While nurturing plants is fun and rewarding, as an activity, it requires a focus on the moment that is the definition of mindfulness. While you are repotting your cactus, it’s almost impossible to obsess about that problem at the office.
There is something innately mindful about caring for a garden or houseplants. They can positively impact most of our senses with their beauty, fragrance and soft petals and leaves. It’s a little like caring for a pet in that the focus of attention becomes another living being instead of oneself.
It’s no secret that plants are good for you. In fact, a bacteria in soil is said to cause the release of serotonin, a real mood lifter. And some scientists believe that plant care can even increase a person’s attention span.
Do some plants have more of an impact on mental health than others? Not necessarily. Plants do not soothe our anxieties because of their petal content or leaf size. Rather, it is the gardener’s involvement with the plant that results in a lowering of stress and greater joy in the moment.
Obviously, any plants you particularly love are likely to make you happier or at least happy faster than unfamiliar plants. It’s hard to tend to a plant day after day without starting to care about it. If you are just starting out with
21 of the Best Houseplants for Bright Light
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Evergreens keep their leaves all year round, so are a must in any garden. They’re particularly good choices in winter when their green foliage adds some much-needed interest and structure to a bare garden. Here, we share some of our favourite evergreens. There are options to suit any style of garden, as well as ideas for evergreen hedges. Our choices include recommendations from the Gardeners’ World team and familiar faces from across the gardening industry.
Finding the best plants for shallow pots can sometimes feel like a challenge. Surely that lack of depth means less than ideal conditions for your plants?
Deciding to grow common privet (Ligustrum vulgare) is an easy choice if you need an easygoing standalone shrub or plant for hedging. Indeed, the common privet (also called European privet or wild privet) has long been a popular hedge plant. If you’re looking for the fastest growing shrubs, this one is really fast. It grows as wide as it is tall, and it is also fairly cold-hardy.
Green hawthorn (or Crataegus viridis as it is also known) is a slow-growing native tree, dense with dark-green leaves and small thorns. It is a popular choice if you are interested in defensive shrubs for landscaping and its growth habit makes it perfect for hedges and screens.
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It’s no secret that getting outside is good for you. A little sunshine, fresh air, and outdoor exercise can banish stress and encourage an elevated mood. Even if you’re not interested in taking long hikes or playing touch football, gardening is an excellent way to harvest the benefits of the outdoors.
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Taking our ecosystem for granted is no longer the norm, and thinking people the world over spend part of every day making choices that can help the planet. While there are no easy solutions to the damage human kind has done to nature, small decisions – like what kind of tree to plant in the garden – can make a difference in creating landscapes that enhance local ecosystems.
Most gardeners treat tomato plants like annuals. They are nurtured during the garden season and then tossed on the compost heap sometime in the fall, but what if you could overwinter tomato cuttings? Can you overwinter tomatoes? Overwintering tomatoes is possible but it does require some knowledge. Read on to learn how to overwinter tomato plants.