By East End Flower Market – Alex
Bringing the outside IN, is my favourite past time. Here are a few ways to bring life and colour into your home, with 4 of the best houseplants:
1. The Snake Plant
Guess what? The Snake Plant dances to the beat of it’s own pot, ‘The Hipster’ of our house, refusing to do as the other leafies do. The snake plant absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen during the night hours. Before you get all Poindexter and think, ‘Well all plants do that, genius’ the distinction is, most other plants complete this process selfishly during the day (when you’re at work). And so, this baby is perfect for your bedroom, converting CO2 to Oxygen like the night wizard that it is, whilst you’re asleep. FYI, if we didn’t have plants in our atmosphere we wouldn’t be able to breathe and we’d die. What I’m trying to say is, get a snake plant if you’re keen on living.
2. The Parlour Palm
You know what’s cool these days? Parlour Palms. Especially for interior styling – why? Because they make you feel like you’re in a tropical wilderness, sipping on a mojito. When really, you’re at home, conditioning your carpet because your dog wee’d on it again while drinking Nescafe Gold. And that breeze you can feel through your hair is coming from the window you were forced to open in the thick of winter, to get rid of the smell. We all love our pets, but other than the carpet stains and wayward hair, what other footprint are they leaving in our home environment? Bio-effluents, that’s what! Humans are guilty of producing this too but let’s shift the blame to those who cannot defend themselves shall we? And what do bio-effluents do? They’re generally unpleasant and unhealthy for us to absorb back into our system. I know you’re panicking right now, but calm down, there’s a solution. The Parlour Palm. It will absorb these specific toxins right up and convert them into non harmful substances for you, you literally need to do nothing…except get one up in your grill asap.
3. The Aloe Vera Plant
Right, so you’ve fried yourself to a crisp. Very well done. What are you going to do about it? Immerse yourself into a bath of moisturizer to prevent yourself from going up in flames? Well…don’t. What you’re doing unknowingly is suffocating your skin when it needs to breathe to cool down. You’re locking in that heat, not alleviating it. If you’ve made the genius decision to not put sunblock on in the first place, at least perform your damage control correctly! Aside from looking pretty darn cool in a geometric pot on the windowsill of your sunroom, the Aloe Vera Plant is that selfless best friend you never knew you had. It bares soothing anti-inflammatory property B-sitosterol, antibacterial compounds, as well as containing vitamins and minerals oh so helpful to humans. Snap off the tip of the Aloe, and squeeze its healing juices all over your burned wrinkled body. It will cool your sunburn and replace what the sun has taken from you, whilst allowing your skin to breathe. It will heal minor wounds such as sunburn 8 days faster than standard dressings, seriously, what a great guy. Other than a sunburn alleviant, this plant doctor can ease eczema and psoriasis flare ups too. All of this contained within the leaf of a plant. Not only does Vera heal your body, it also holla’s at you when you’re home environment it too toxic to be healthy. It will test your atmosphere by absorbing toxins and leave brown spots on its skin to let you know, ‘hey, you’re house is gross, open a window’. Stop it Aloe, now you’re just showing off.
4. The Peace Lily
Tired, stressed, generally grumpy? Of course you are. You’ve just murdered another one of your plant children because you put it in an area of the house with too little sunlight. Again. Aside from being terribly forgiving of your neglect, the Peace Lily purifies the air you breathe much like our friend Bamboo Palm, in addition to reducing your stress levels. All of this from a position of the home with only a small amount of filtered light. You beauty! Positive impacts include lower blood pressure, improved reaction times (quicker to the fridge), increased attentiveness as well as contributions to diminished levels of anxiety. ‘The Attention Restoration Theory’ suggests that plants like the Peace Lily help to clear the busied mind from our everyday, and draw us back to nature and promote our zen. Lily will even let you know when she’s thirsty without being rude and dramatic and just dying. Her leaves will droop a little, and all you need to do is give her a good water and bam! Within 30 minutes, she’s perked up and she’s stopped complaining. Just what we like in a child.
You may have not known you needed them in the first place, but evidently you do. So hop on your bike and get some. I won’t tell you again…
Alex xx
After working in Psychology Outreach for five years, Alex packed up her desk and quit her full time job to allow herself the space to fulfil her creative aspirations in writing, painting, pottery and floristry. Getting back in touch with her childhood ways, Alex strings words together for The East End Flower Market’s blog, as well teaching you how-to-not-kill your houseplants.
Her most recent project is Knotley Crew: Botanic, surf and travel inspired home wares, hand crafted in Adelaide. Having spent her childhood amongst the gardens and lush foliage of the outdoors Alex loves to bring the outside in, and create beautiful, happy environments inside.
