Bon Foliage My Friend

By on Dec 30, 2014 in Houseplants |

Bon voyage as we begin our journey into a new year. The New Year provides a fresh start often accompanied by resolutions to live healthier. How about adding a natural inexpensive air purifier to your home or landscape? How about something that will improve your mood and just might enhance your productivity? Well then it’s Bon “foliage” as we begin our New Year. Talk about functional decorating! Style with a purpose! You’ll find the benefits of some well placed houseplants will grow on you! Cleaner indoor air decreases stress and noise reduction enhances your productivity. In our enclosed sealed tight spaces for winter, plants create oxygen and remove CO² as well as connecting you with the outdoors improving your mood. Who would think the Space Station would teach us the benefits of clean indoor air? It makes “scents” when you think about it. Astronauts can’t throw open a window when...

Detox your home

By on Feb 8, 2014 in Houseplants |

Detox diets are popular with a New Year’s arrival. I did one this winter. Not sure if it worked but I learned a lot about myself. You have a lot to think about on those “cleanse” days when you are just drinking liquids. Primarily how much you like Pizza. I personally think fresh air and exercise are a key factor to good health. The problem in winter is we spend a large share of our day indoors. Think about it….between home and work many people spend 80%, 90% or more of their day indoors in winter. Our houseplants are also “prisoners” indoors in winter. Dry furnace fed air with no fresh air through the windows can get things rather stale. Aside from elevating your mood or calming you, plants can also raise the humidity in a room which is good when the air is dry. Houseplants can also have a pulling effect on airborne toxins. Studies by NASA have found...

The Topic of Tropics

By on Dec 28, 2012 in Houseplants |

When the snow starts flying and the Christmas decorations are packed away most of us need a little pick-me-up in the home or office. Tropical plants are just the ticket. Take a trip to my January Women’s Lifestyle article where the topic is tropics as in foliage for your indoor living space! Visit this link and flip on over to page 34! January issue Women’s Lifestyle

Have a plant move in for the holidays

By on Dec 21, 2012 in Houseplants |

Late December is a time for visiting relatives who bring strange smelling casseroles to the house. The windows are shut tight due to the winter solstice  and chilly temps outside. Maybe the aroma is produced by the relatives themselves from the cigar of Uncle Lewis and well…we all know about cousin Eddie. We all need a little fresh air to go with our holidays and some live plants might just be what you’re looking for. Adding some houseplants to the home and office can’t hurt. I’m sure there are some EPA estimates somewhere about the quality of indoor air versus outdoor air. Think about it, plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen as part of the photosynthetic process. Studies have found they absorb more than just carbon dioxide having the ability to absorb other indoor air pollutants. Even soil and roots can play a role in removing air-borne pollutants....

Scary Houseplants

By on Jan 10, 2010 in Houseplants |

Ever feel uncomfortable around your houseplants? Afraid to know what they’re thinking? Can they sense you’re nervous about keeping them alive? Well you have to develop a relationship with your plants to get them through the winter. In a classic Saturday Night Live skit, Christopher Walken addresses the issue with “The Googly Eyes Gardener”. I’ve posted the link here. Take a couple minutes to watch as Christopher Walken (of need more cowbell fame, another of my favorite skits) says you need to know where you stand with your houseplants. The only way to do that is to look into their eyes. In order to feel comfortable around plants he puts “googly eyes” on them so he can look into their eyes. He laments it’s not possible with grass……take a look by clicking on this link:...

Your plants are sagging

By on Dec 31, 2008 in Houseplants |

By the time the holidays are over and day after day of gray clouds and cold weather seem endless, it could be understood why spirits tend to sag. It’s at that point that some people turn to seed catalogs, known by many as “fictional reading.” Others turn to their houseplants to “maintain their sense of humus” but houseplants can also be having a case of the blues and sun deprivation. Don’t look now but “your plants are sagging.” Before I give you some pointers on “pulling up your plants” let me say I am happy to see the resurgence in interest for indoor plants. Indoor “tropicals” can improve the quality of indoor air and improve the mood of people around the home and office. This “green” attitude has been “growing” of late, with indoor plants (turning things outside-in so to speak) a strong...