Interior Landscaping: A Recent Trend

There are no rules for the kinds of plant that can be used to decorate a home. The selection is largely a matter of personal taste, but certain guidelines can prove useful. First of all, it is obviously sensible to select plants that suit normal home conditions rather than try to make either the plants or the home satisfy difficult requirements.

• In large lobbies, plantings can be arranged to direct people to clustered seating areas, which are set apart from each other to create a sense of privacy.
• Any number of implied messages about the occupants and attributes of a given space can be subtly communicated with the use of plants. Plants can be arranged in a progressive manner.
• Interior landscapes can also delineate spatial boundaries and indicate the activities to occur within those boundaries.
• Putting plants where they will grow best and where one want greenery can be difficult to resolve. Lush palm in a dark hallway won’t last long. Just remember to return them to the “right” spot.
• A single indoor plant will highlight a coffee table, a fireplace mantel or a piano, and a large collection of foliage and flowering plants will bring a bay window into dramatic focus.
• Homemakers can spark up their kitchen with an indoor herb garden or bring early spring to the entrance foyer with a fragrance of flowering bulbs. A tea-cart provides an unusual as well as practical place for a collection of potted plants.
• Whether on a windowsill or on a table, hanging or sitting on the floor — a plant’s placement is the key to survival.
• The beauty of ornamental indoor plants is also enhanced when they are placed in groups. The mass effect also produces a sense of coziness in them and they show marked improvement in the microclimate.
• Since there are many indoor plants that have foliage of varied hues, when grouped together they look great. This category includes crotons, zebra plant, caladium of various sprays, monstera (with glaring white variegation), dracaenas with foliage of various kinds and dieffenbachias.

Plants as a Focal Point:

• A large planting or grouping several houseplants together can create an impressive focal point.
• Think of choosing a large palm Howeia Foresteriana in a container that blends with the rooms’ color scheme.
• Fiscus benjamina is a common yet still popular choice for an entranceway or stark kitchen focal point.
• For the most dramatic contrast in a monochromatic room, look at the different color variations and separate the other plants to highlight that particular plant.

Enhancing a Room:

• Houseplants are an excellent way to disguise areas of your home that one wish to fade away. For example, if one likes the window and treatments but despise the view out the window, several plantings to cover up the eye-sore can be used.
• Hang an impressive basket to hang a fern or cascading Ivy from the ceiling to hide the upper view out the window.
• If the room has an unsightly ceiling one can keep the eye focused lower by hanging a row of plants or basket containers.
• Choose plants that are easy to keep up like Tradescantia or Philodendron.
• Use shelving and pedestals to create different heights and levels to display the plantings.
• Look for unusual places to add a houseplant that can enhance the decor like an unused fireplace or in front of an old unsightly radiator.

Plants to Fit Style:

• Look for houseplants that fit the style of the home. Bonsai plants have an ancient feeling as well as White Orchids and Caladiums giving the room mystery and an exotic flavour.

Seasonal Decorating:

• Although there are a large variety of houseplants that are available all year around, using a seasonal plant as a holiday decoration can be a fun decorative accent as well. From late to early spring planting Crocus, Hyacinths, Amaryllis, Tulips, Daffodils and Narcissus in our homes can bring natures spring freshness inside.

Where to start?

Before a start looking at plants and suppliers, there are points to be considered:

• What is the specified budget?
• Do the person wants to buy the plants themselves or outsource this task?
• Who will maintain the plants (i.e. will it be done internally or by a gardener?)
• What sort of plants do they want?
• Where will plants be located?

It was suggested on a website that the plants selected, the landscape design, and the cultural practices employed determine the health of urban landscapes. A healthy urban landscape can add to the quality of life in urban and natural communities by:

• Providing a refuge for living organisms that depend on a natural environment.
• Producing enough oxygen each day for one person per 25 square feet of lawn.
• Reducing noise pollution by absorbing, deflecting and refracting sounds.
• Trapping and controlling dust and pollen in the air that can cause allergic reactions.
• Cooling the “Urban Heat Island Effect” and reducing electrical usage.
• Combating the greenhouse effect by absorbing gaseous pollutants such as CO₂ from vehicles.

Guidelines for arranging houseplants:

• A couple of plants per room, may be two or three for a living room or a den, should be sufficient to help refresh the air in your home
• One six-inch houseplant per 100 square feet of living area will do a good job of filtering out pollutants. Also, the more vigorous the plant, the more air it can filter.
• Houseplants, when grown in a closed, controlled environment, were able to extract volatile organic chemicals from the air.
• Some plants are more efficient in filtering out toxins than others. For example, philodendrons, spider plants and pothos were found to be the most efficient in the removal of formaldehyde. Gerbera, daisies and chrysanthemums were effective in the removal of benzene.
• It is suggested that one plant should be allowed for approximately 10 square yards of floor space, assuming average ceiling heights of 8 to 9 feet. This means that there is a need to place two or three plants to contribute to good air quality in the average domestic living room of about 20 to 25 square yards.
• When positioning plants, try to strike a balance between light and ventilation because the effect of plants on indoor air pollution appears to be reduced if they are set in a draft.
• Aloe vera is an unusual plant in that it gives off oxygen at night and absorbs carbon di­oxide, the opposite of the normal photosynthesis process, making it a good plant for bed­rooms. Two other groups of plants which do the same are Sansevieria (mother-in-law’s tongue) and the varied family of

The findings of the related researches also entail that spider plants were the most productive at improving air quality in rooms. Ivy, dragon trees and rubber plants were also effective. The research findings recommended the following:

1. At least one plant per 9.29 square meters,
2. Combine plants to combat a range of toxins,
3. Select leafy plants – the more surface area a plant has, the more air it can clean,
4. Each worker should have a plant on his or her desk, within the “personal breathing space” – an area of six to eight cubic feet (sqm) where most of the working day is spent.

Source: My Ph.D. thesis-

Asnani, B. 2008. Impact assessment of houseplants on indoor environmental status in the residential buildings. Unpublished doctoral thesis. Department of Family Resource Management. College of Home Science. Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture & Technology. Udaipur. Rajasthan.