purifying houseplants

Several people have asked me to write about houseplants and which ones purify the air in your house. Since I'm a plant lover, I was more than happy to do a little research and oblige.

Unfortunately, many of the things in our home ~ particle board, paneling, printing ink, paint, paint varnish and remover, paper napkins and facial tissue, furniture wax, floor waxes, synthetic fibers and plastics ~ are filled with toxins such as trichloroethylene, formaldehyde, benzene and ammonia. Some of the side effects of these toxins on humans can include headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, irritation of the nose, mouth and throat, drowsiness, increased heart rate, confusion, and liver and kidney damage. Of course, this all depends on factors such as the amount you are exposed to, and the amount of time you're exposed.

Some of the more common and easy-to-care-for plants that help purify the air are:

Spider plant

Draceana

(Source: Home Depot)

Ficus

(Source: Gardening Know How)

Peace Lily

(Source: Walmart)

Snake Plant

The tall plant in the large white pot in front of the fireplace is Snake Plant, also known as Mother-in-Law's Tongue.

This is also a Snake Plant, but a much smaller version. I found this one at IKEA.

Bamboo Palm

(Source: Gardening Know How)

Philodendron

As with any houseplants, if you have pets that might eat these, please check before you buy to make sure the plant isn't poisonous to pets.

Happy weekend!

around the yard in june

 This entire month of June so far, has been an endless blur of rain and storms. I took some photos around the yard a few days ago when we finally got a break from the rain.

This table is on my front porch. My spider plants do really well outdoors in the warm weather. The plant in back is spinach, which I'll have to dump soon. See how tall and leggy it got? Greens don't do well in hot weather; they're more of a spring and fall veggie.

This pot of flowers is also on my front porch ~ dahlias, bleeding heart, and ivy. 

 We like to upcycle when we can, so several years ago when our iron arbor started to rust and fell apart, we used two of the pieces as trellises. I don't have any flowers planted to grow up the trellises right now (I've tried clematis and morning glories - they didn't do well due to lack of sun), so for now I have little copper pots of flowers hanging from the bars on one of the trellises. The other one has a grapevine wreath hanging on it.

This pretty vintage garden chair was gifted to me by my aunt before she moved.
 

Taking a walk on the side of the house to the patio, the hostas are about to flower any day now. I know there's many varieties of hostas, but these ones with the leaves outlined in white are one of my favorites. We have a different variety of hostas lining the patio (you can see them a little bit in the background) and on the other side of the house. We didn't buy any of them...they were all transplants from neighbors and friends. Same with all our tiger lilies.

Instead of using a traditional hanging basket of flowers from a shepherd's hook, I went with potted flowers in a bird cage.

I need to harvest the basil growing in the blue pot. I'll be making pesto!

Love dianthus. Adds such a pretty punch of color.

The Joe Pye Weed (foreground) is really spreading - which is fine with us. It started out as two small plants. It will flower in July or August, which attracts a lot of bees.

I'm glad that I painted the table and ottoman this year. Looks so much better than having everything all white.

Looking at the patio from the other side...

Our little back yard is looking so green and lush.

Another perennial I love...tickseed. I never water it or do anything special to take care of it except to deadhead "spent" flowers.

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This is my butterfly garden right now. It looks a little boring when nothing has bloomed yet. Perhaps I'll divide a small portion of the tickseed and transplant it into the butterfly garden to add some early color. In another few weeks, the black-eyed susan, echinacea and lamb's ear will be in bloom, and then the butterfly bushes bloom in August and sedum in September.

Here's the back of my house, with a big lilac bush (there's a Russian Sage plant on the other side that you can't see), a hydrangea bush and my herb garden which has mint, oregano, thyme, rosemary and chives. The only vegetable we planted this year is tomatoes, and they're in a big pot on the other side of the house where they get a lot of sun.

Thank you for stopping by ~ hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of my yard!

xoxo

Melanie