Colin has been working in the gardening industry for over 30 years and owns 8 Garden Centres across central Scotland and is passionate about Scottish plants.
SUNDAY 15 MARCH 2020
I know this is a gardening column but with all the worry and hype about Coronavirus, I thought I would fly the flag for houseplants and let you know how they can help us with the air in our homes!
The way we live life today causes complaints like allergic attacks, asthma, headaches and tickly coughs. Well, this is where I think house plants can help us all! The humble house plant can make a difference to the air we breathe indoors and they will work hard at cleaning our air of toxins and releasing humidity back into the atmosphere.
You don’t have to take my word for it! Studies by NASA prove that certain plants help to keep the air in your house cleaner and increase oxygen levels which should lead to; having fewer headaches and coughs, feeling less tired, having fewer allergy symptoms, recovering faster from the common cold, feeling less stressed and even allowing you to be more productive and creative if you work from home!
So now I have convinced you on the benefit of house plants, what ones do I suggest? Aloe Vera is my favourite as it emits oxygen at night time and at the same time takes in carbon dioxide which leads to cleaner air – simple!
Other plants such as Chlorophytum (Spider Plant), Sansaveria (Snake Plant), Ficus Elastica (Rubber Plant), Ficus Benjamin (Weeping Fig) and Dragen Marginata (Dragon Tree) should all remove about 90% of formaldehyde from the air - it is believed that formaldehyde is potentially a cancer-causing chemical, so that’s great news!
If you want more moisture and humidity in your air then the Areca Palm or Boston Fern could very well be the plants for you.
Inside or outside plants are a pleasure, and beneficial to our health, now I know they won’t protect any of us from Coronavirus but hopefully they should never need to!
Happy gardening!
PLANT OF THE WEEK: RHODODENDRON ‘PRAECOX’
Rhododendron Praecox is one of the earliest flowering of the dwarf varieties, with blooms seen as early as February and throughout March. This one is more or less an evergreen shrub with dark green leaves and purple-pink flowers which you can now see in gardens across the country as we turn to spring! Great for containers and smaller gardens and thrives in full sunlight. It prefers a moist but well drained soil, humus rich and acidic for that lovely colour!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here