“A garden is the purest of human pleasures, and it is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man.” Francis Bacon.
Our planet needs far more plants and trees now than ever, as we’ve reduced it to our much inferior habitat thanks to its constant and escalated abuse over the years. With the growing urbanization, there is rapid shrinkage in the green cover. This makes it all the more imperative for us to understand and value whatever little trees we have left around us.
In the recent past, we have seen more people, especially the urban folk taking an affinity to plants ( indoor and outdoor ). They are now leaning towards turning their homes and offices into green spaces. Reasons may vary from fostering a connection with nature to adding to the decor or even improving air quality and protection against harmful air pollutants. It is good to see this interest in whatever proportion, and hopefully, this grows with time.
We’re currently seeing quite a few hybrid varieties and genetic tweaks in plants and trees. This adds to productivity and visual appeal, which is always welcome. Maintaining and nurturing plants and gardening are known to have several health benefits. Some of them are reducing cardiovascular risk, warding off dementia, enhancing the immune system, promoting a good night’s sleep, is a good stress buster, among several other benefits.
What’s best is most plants require very little care and maintenance. The benefits we get far outweigh their upkeep. Some of the best house plants or indoor plants for improving air quality include
Dwarf date palm
Lady's palm
Ficus trees
Rubber tree
Boston fern
Spider plants
The term outdoor plants refer to plants that can survive in whole sunlight (no shade). Sun-loving plants don’t have to be worrisome. As long as you choose the ones that thrive in your area and are heat and drought-tolerant, you should be rewarded with beautiful flowers and foliage. A few popular plants for our Indian weather include:
Succulents
Rain lilies
Bougainvillea
Palms
Marigold
Morning Glory
Hibiscus
Arabian Jasmine
Spider Plant
Aloe vera
Given the space constraints, especially in urban areas, vertical gardening is now gaining fast popularity. This is nothing more than using vertical space to grow vegetables (or herbs or flowers). Vertical gardens take up less space, are easier to harvest, and are easier to maintain. However, they do have their limitations, despite which the visual appeal is worth all the effort. Vertical gardens work well indoors and outdoors in private or commercial spaces. Outdoor gardens offer fences and retaining walls that may already be in place, forming the perfect surface for growing. Indoor plantings can use walls, pillars, and railings for support.
It is not as easy to grow a plant from seed for most of us. In this case, they can be procured from a good plant nursery. It is also a great and trending gifting option. A good choice will make for a perfect and long-lasting gift that will bestow a positive effect on the giver, receiver, and environment. Let's try to make this trend of gifting plants more popular.
We’re not far behind at Ikigai in adding plants at every possible nook. Some of our prettiest plants are what we have indoors, right by the work desks, which adds to the visual appeal and charm. These are plants like Devil’s Ivy, Song of India, Arrowhead plant, zee zee plant, and lucky bamboo, to name a few. The terrace outdoors is lined with Areca plants, bamboo, and some flowering plants like Bouganvilla, Aparajita, Champa, and shoe flowers. We will continue to add to our little plant family in an attempt to contribute to our green patch within our premises. We urge you to please join us in this beautiful endeavor.
This blog is written by Deepika, a part of the SPACEPLEXX team.
A Gallery of plants flourishing at Ikigai below -
