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BAGR 113 Blog: How to Green Up Your Living Space

People are spending more time than ever indoors and at their screens, and that’s why it’s never been more important to have plants in our living spaces. This blog covers the benefits of having plants indoors and provides simple and affordable tips for greening up your own living space to be more in sync with nature. 

 

This blog is inspired by Episode 113 of Bloom and Grow Radio Podcast, where host Maria Failla discusses why and how to green up your living space.

 

Why Should I Have Plants Inside My Home? 

Being around plants has been proven to have a variety of benefits for humans. Plants can increase your creativity, alertness, productivity, cognitive performance, and concentration. They can also reduce stress, help lower blood pressure and heart rate, and reduce mental fatigue. Not to mention… plants look beautiful! Who doesn’t want a more picture-perfect home? 

 

What is Biophilia? 

If you’re reading this, you’re probably already a fan of nature. Biophilia is a hypothesis initially created by psychoanalyst Erich Fromm and then made popular by biologist Edward O. Wilson that states that humans have an innate desire to be around other living things. We are nature, therefore we seek to be around other natural things. It’s why we feel so calm around our pets, or so peaceful in natural settings.

 

How to Green Up Your Living Space

The best tip to make your space greener: always have a plant in your eyesight. This is especially important for areas you spend a lot of time in: the kitchen, living room, and home office. Make sure that where you look, there is some iteration of plant.


     1) Use Plants or Images of Plants

If you have a window in your space, make it a focal point. Place a desk, table, or couch against the window for that visual connection with nature. Put plants within the eye-line of your tables or any place you’ll be looking frequently. Another option is to put pictures of plants on the wall, so if you can’t have the real thing, you can still benefit from seeing pictures of nature. Photos, watercolors, paintings, or even botanical wallpaper can invoke that feeling of plants in your space. 

 

“Maria’s favorite botanical wallpaper is from Rifle Paper Company”

 

     2) Incorporate All of Your Senses

Different sensory inputs can mimic nature in your space too. Think of ways you can incorporate sounds, smells, and textures in nature. A small trickling water fountain, a soundtrack of calming rainforest noises or birdsongs, and scented plants, candles, or diffusers can all help green up your space. 

Our favorite scented plants: 

  • Lavender (Lavandula spp.)
  • Hoya lacunosa: blooms smell like cinnamon
  • Maxillaria tenuifolia, nicknamed “The Coconut Orchid” has a piña colada scent! 
  • Rose-scented geranium (Pelargonium graveolens)

     3 ) Use Your Space Wisely – Look up!

If you have a small space, this is especially important. Using vertical space to display plants or images of plants can really help fill in empty areas. You can use shelves, install hanging planters, attach plants to curtain rods, or even create green walls. Don’t just let your bookshelf be all business–let it be a little planty as well. 


     4) Mix Up Your Textures

Greening up your space doesn’t have to be with just living things. There are so many patterns in nature that show up and have been proven to relax us. Consider having accent details in your space made of natural wood grains, leather, stone, fossil textures, or bamboo as a way to mimic being outdoors in nature.

 


     5) Think About Your Light Setup

A window with natural light will of course give you lots of options for plants. But if you don’t have a window, you’re certainly not out of luck! Picking plants for your space is all about understanding your light setup. 

Remember: plants use light to make their food. So no light = no food = dead plants. If you truly have no natural light in your home, opt for a grow light. 

Suggestions for low-light homes: 

  • Snake plants (Sansevieria spp.)
  • Philodendron
  • Air plants (Tillandsia spp.)  

Suggestion for high-light homes:

  • Fiddle leaf figs (Ficus lyrata)
  • Succulent collection
  • Any type of Peperomia or Hoya

However you choose to green up your living space, remember that plants are our connection to the natural world. Spend screen free time with them everyday.  Use watering or caring for them as an excuse to get up from your computer and take some “me time” because plant care is self care. 

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Check out Maria’s Planty Home Office Tour for an in-depth look into her setup and her new book Growing Joy: The Plant Lover’s Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants)

For a deeper understanding of the science behind biophilia, read “14 Patterns of Biophilic Design” by William Browning, Catherine Ryan, and Joseph Clancy. 

 

About Bloom & Grow Radio Podcast

 Bloom & Grow Radio Podcast helps people care for plants successfully and cultivate more joy in their lives. Host Maria Failla, a former plant killer turned happy plant lady, interviews experts on various aspects of plant care, and encourages listeners to not only care for plants, but learn to care for themselves along the way.

 

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VIDEO: Succulent Success with Garden Answer!

Everyone loves an aesthetically-pleasing succulent arrangement, and with Garden Answer’s guidance, you can create one for your own home. Plus, with Espoma Organic’s Cactus Potting Mix full of the nutrients you need to set your succulents up for success, you can focus on having fun with the colors, shapes, and textures of these special plants! 

 

Learn more about Garden Answer here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/gardenanswer 

https://www.gardenanswer.com/

https://www.facebook.com/gardenanswer

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8 Terror-ific Plants to Spookify your Home & Garden for Halloween

Pumpkin-picking isn’t the only way to get into the Halloween spirit! With dark shades, peculiar shapes, and scientific names plucked right from the mad scientist’s shelf, plants are a crafty way to give your home and garden a spooky touch your trick-or-treaters will love. Plus, if October isn’t enough to motivate you, these eight plant picks are a great way to spice up your space year-round!

 

‘Black Velvet’ Elephant EarAlocasia reginula

This striking plant earns the name ‘Black Velvet’ for its gothic, nearly black foliage accented by silvery-white veins. This tropical houseplant, a dwarf variety of the Elephant Ear plant, loves warm, moist places and well-drained soil. We suggest a 50/50 combination of our Espoma Organic Potting Soil and Espoma Organic Cactus Mix to keep those ‘Black Velvet’ leaves nice and spooky!

 

‘Black Prince’ EcheveriaEcheveria affinis

Everyone loves a cutesy succulent, but a ‘Black Prince’ Echeveria is the key to adding some drama to your arrangement. Accented by salmon to red-colored flowers in the fall and early winter, this deep purple, nearly black succulent provides spooktacular color contrast against typical green succulents. Water sparingly and keep the ‘Black Prince’ in the bright light to prevent the dark foliage from fading. 

 

Venus FlytrapDionaea muscipula

Dun dun… dun dun… it’s everyone’s favorite insect-eating, horror-movie-starring plant: the Venus flytrap! The carnivorous Venus flytrap has “jaws” that can snap shut in less than a second, and while they’re nowhere near as frightening as Halloween decorations make them out to be, this plant can be a unique, scary-cool addition to your little garden of horrors. 

 

Doll’s EyesActaea pachypoda

Doll’s eyes plant, also called white baneberry, has an alien appearance with creepy clusters of eyeball-like berries. A slow-growing perennial, Doll’s eyes plant is best planted during late fall or early spring, and it can be a low-maintenance, ornamental addition to your garden, especially with a boost from Espoma Organic Flower-Tone. Just beware of the plant’s berries because they are very toxic if ingested. (Eye wouldn’t be caught dead eating one!)

 

Raven ZZZamioculcas zamiifolia

A group of ravens may be called an unkindness, but there’s nothing mean-spirited about the easy-to-grow Raven ZZ! One of the most loved and sought after houseplants for plant parents and interior designers alike, its shiny, dark foliage and upright form make it a bold way to add a gothic element to your space. To keep a Raven healthy, don’t overwater it!

 

Ornamental PeppersCapsicum annuum

Want some witchy fingers clawing through your garden? Give your Halloween decor a little pepper-power with ornamental peppers! Coming in a variety of funky shapes and colors, including vibrant oranges, reds, greens, and purples, you can enjoy these plants before the first frost sets in by keeping them in a container in the fall months. 

 

Dracula OrchidDracula vampira

Based on its name, it’s no surprise that the Dracula Orchid would be a perfect addition to your home and garden this Halloween. At the center of the bloom, the plant has a vampire-like (or for the Netflix buffs, a Demogorgon-like) mouth that looks ready to bite you. Want to add a festive touch? Wrap your container in a cape and paint it red down the sides to give your Dracula Orchid the proper outfit. 

 

 

GarlicAllium sativum

More of a vampire hunter than a Twilight lover? Time to stock up on garlic. Folklore has taught us that garlic is the best way to ward off vampires, and in addition to its protective properties, allium vegetables also do very well this time of year. Kickstart the bulb-planting process with our Espoma Organic Bio-Tone Starter Plus

 

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Espoma’s All Purpose Potting Mix and Indoor! fertilizer will help ensure those peculiar plants grow healthy and strong. We hope these eight plants help you and your garden get in the Halloween spirit! Have a spooky suggestion we left out?

 

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Video: Houseplant Upkeep with Garden Answer

Watch as Laura from @GardenAnswer pots her succulent cuttings, repots her begonia, and grooms her African violets with the help of Espoma! 

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Video: Lightbulb Terrarium with Garden Answer

Looking for some creative terrarium ideas?

Watch as Laura from @Garden Answer uses a unique lightbulb to plant some succulents!

 

 

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VIDEO: CREATING A CREVICE CONTAINER WITH HOMESTEAD BROOKLYN!

Have you ever heard of crevice gardening? Follow along as Summer Rayne Oakes of Homestead Brooklyn shows us how to get it done in a container with the help of Espoma.

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How to Grow Citrus Fruit Indoors

Have you always appreciated citrus trees but felt that growing your own would be too much work? As it turns out, growing citrus indoors is actually fairly simple! The plant itself can be a beautiful accent piece in a room, and the indulging scent its white blossoms produce is enjoyable for everyone. Not to mention that taking good care of your citrus tree means you eventually get to enjoy the fruits of your labor! Here’s how to do it.

Water

Citrus plants don’t like to sit in wet soil, but they don’t like to totally dry out either. This is why it’s important to plant them in a well-balanced soil like Espoma’s Cactus Mix. Be sure to check the top few inches every few days until you figure out the best watering schedule. Generally speaking, it should be about once a week.

 

Sunlight

Your citrus tree will require 8 to 12 hours of sunlight each day. This means you should try to situate it near a south facing window or supplement with an indoor grow light if necessary.

Fertilizer

Citrus trees that live in pots require regular feedings every 2 to 4 weeks as some of the nutrients are washed out with regular watering. And what you feed your citrus trees can often determine the taste of its eventual fruit! That’s why Espoma’s Citrus! Organic Fertilizer is specially made to address the needs of citrus plants and help you grow some of your tastiest fruit yet.

Bonus Tip:

These plants like temperatures between 55 and 85 degrees and dislike sudden shifts in temperature. Try to avoid placing it near chilly drafts and space heaters to keep them in their ideal environment.

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Now that you know all about raising your citrus tree from seedling to fruit, the possibilities are endless! Whether you choose lemon, lime, orange, or any other citrus variety, these tips are sure to help you reach your indoor gardening goals.

 

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Video: Indoor Succulents for Beginners with Garden Answer!

Watch as Laura from Garden Answer shows you 7 great succulents for beginners!

 

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Video: How to Plant Citrus in Containers

Watch Laura from Garden Answer show you how to grow citrus in containers!

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Video: Citrus Growing Update & Care Tips!

Laura from Garden Answer updates on her indoor Lemon & Lime trees she grows indoors. Watch for important care & growing tips!

 

Learn more about Garden Answer here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/gardenanswer 

https://www.gardenanswer.com/

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