5 houseplants to improve the air quality in your bathroom

Flowers and herbs make a fitting addition to the décor of any toilet, but did you know that you can get plants that will work to keep your toilet smelling fresh as well as looking good? Some plants not only look good and smell good but actively work to remove toxins from the air as well! It’s like an air-freshener that never needs replacing!

For the time-pressed householder, air freshening plants are a really easy win. They require little maintenance and deliver better smelling, healthier bathrooms. To help you get the most from the wealth of botanical options out there, we’ve collected a list of the top 5 houseplants for freshening up the air in your loo.

1. Bamboo

Bamboo is a champion of indoor air freshening. It is very effective at removing the common household pollutant, formaldehyde, from the air and it is one of the few indoor air freshening plants that is safe to have around children and pets (it is not poisonous when eaten). Bamboo shoots also look great in the home and compliment a stylish bathroom especially well. They can grow very tall if you let them and provide a tropical feel to your décor. They don’t require a lot of watering, but they do require sunlight.

2. Peace Lilly

The Peace Lilly is one of the most popular plants to have around the house. It looks elegant and is very easy to care for, requiring neither much sunlight, nor much watering. Not everybody knows it, but the Peace Lilly is more than just a pretty potted plant. Peace Lilies also help freshen the air around your home, absorbing some of the toxins and pollutants that get spread through the use of chemicals in products and cleaners. In fact, they are amongst the most efficient houseplants at performing this function. All this makes them one of the top plants to have around your bathroom and toilet. – though be warned, they are likely to cause sickness if ingested (eaten).

3. Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums are another great choice round the home. They are also very effective air purifiers and they also look great. Where they differ from the Lilly is that they are much more colourful. Their pink and yellow flowers perform a more distinctive decorative function in your bathroom, brightening up a space substantially. In fact, they are one of the prettiest choices of indoor air-freshening plants, so many of which are hardy evergreens. On the flip side of this, they do require more attention, regular watering and much more sunlight. Please also be aware that they are not to be eaten by pets or children.

4. Mother-in-Law’s Tongue

Also called the Snake Plant, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue is a really impressive looking indoor plant that grows quite tall and is talented at sucking out pollutants from the air around your home. Airborne toxins it can help absorb include formaldehyde, nitrogen oxide, benzene and trichloroethylene – big words that sound, and indeed are, things you don’t want to be breathing in too much of if you can help it. This cactus-looking plant doesn’t need a lot of water at all, on the contrary, keeping it sufficiently dry is often the greater challenge in the bathroom. It does prefer sunlight, but can go without it. And once again, it is best not eaten!

5. English Ivy

You might know English Ivy best as an outdoor plant. One that is often found decorating old garden walls or the front of old houses. It can look very beautiful, but can also cause gardeners headaches as it tends to grow very quickly and swamp other plants around it.

What you might not know is that it can also be used as an indoor plant, where it has less chance to grow out of control and makes a very effective air purifier. Like the other plants mentioned, English Ivy absorbs some of the toxins that man-made products emit into the air in our homes. But English Ivy has a special, additional talent, and that is fighting mould. It absorbs airborne mould molecules that spread around our house and can be dangerous to our health if inhaled. So, if your bathroom has a tendency to get mouldy, this could be your perfect remedy. Ivy does come with a – by now – familiar health warning. It’s a fairly toxic plant and must not be eaten. If either the leaves or berries are ingested they can cause a lot of discomfort and, in the worst cases, serious medical symptoms. So, with Ivy most of all, we have to say: not for a household with pets or small children.

Flower Power! – Discover how indoor Houseplants can help keep the air in your bathroom fresh and toxin free.

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