Seven Houseplants That Will Make Your Home a Healthier Place to Live

I’ve always loved houseplants. For some reason they make me happy, and I like watching them grow. Many types of houseplants, like the kind you can get at a standard big box store, are fast growers.

NASA produced a detailed study on how houseplants clean the air in homes. You can read the complete report here, but this article will summarize some of the finds, and lead you on your way to making your home’s air cleaner, healthier, and less toxic

Here’s seven of the best plants to clean up your home’s air that are cheap and easy to find.

1. English Ivy

English Ivy is a climbing vine that you can either hang or pot. It does well even in low light conditions and in rooms with few windows. It grows quickly, and has leafy, dense foliage that is a healthy dark green.

English Ivy helps to clean the air by reducing the amount of formaldehyde floating around. Formaldehyde is a common indoor pollutant and is common in wood varnishes and carpet dyes. Yuck.

2. Peace Lily

You can usually find Peace Lily’s in big box stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot. They are often associated with holidays like Easter.

Although they require weekly watering, they grow well in low-light environments.

These plants rid the air of benzene, which is found in many paints, and acetone which is found in many household cleaning products.

3. Lady Palm

Lady Palm’s look like miniature palm trees and are not known for growing quickly.

However, the leaves spread out to take up a lot of area, and makes this plant ideal for filling in open spots in your living areas. It can make any room look much more inviting.

Lady Palm’s clean the air of ammonia from household cleaners.

4. Boston Fern

Usually you’ll see this plant in a hanging pot, but it can be freestanding as well. It needs a lot of water and a humid environment, so it might not be the best choice for dry or cold climates.

5. Snake Plant

Some like this plant, some despise it. It’s sometimes called Mother in Law’s Tongue – maybe that gives it a bad name.

It absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide and helps to increase oxygen content in the air. You’ll feel refreshed with more oxygen and you’ll have more energy, so this is a must as far as I’m concerned. Hopefully you can look past the shape or name as well.

6. Red-Edged Dracena

Another ‘like it or hate it’ type of plant from my experience. It makes your home look a bit more tropical and can add some color with the red trim on the leaves.

It requires moderate sunlight and only occasional watering. It helps rid the air of toxic chemicals like formaldehyde and xylene.

7. Chinese Evergreen

By far my favorite houseplant – I have three in my home.

There is hardly anything you can do (or not do) to hurt or kill this plant. I have not watered it for a month and it still survived, although the leaves did turn a bit yellow. It’s hardy and really cleans up the air.

You’ll love it. Get a few.