How green is your house?

KOCHI: The pandemic turned quite a few of us into plant parents. We survived successive lockdowns doing Dalgona challenges, cooking up three-course meals with leftover foods and spending hours on social media. But what helped keep our minds afresh was the garden.

Many brought their gardens indoors, adding patches of green to break the monotony. The living room, kitchen, bedroom and every nook of the house got a new plant addition. Though a variety of indoor plants, both local and imported, are now available at the tap of the finger, indoor plants need to be carefully picked unlike outdoor plants. It is important to know the amount of water and sunlight that each plant needs in order for them to stay healthy and green. 

Choosing the right plants 
While choosing non-flowering indoor plants, it is extremely important to pick the right evergreen plants. Usually these indoor plants are low maintenance. However, it is important that these plants are placed inside the house in such a way that they receive the right amount of sunlight.  The snake and ZZ plants are popular choices as houseplants because of their various benefits. “Both these plants help in reducing pollutants, require less watering and are said to have traditional medicinal uses,” says Rahul Das of Plant A Home shop in Kaloor, Kochi. “They don’t require much sunlight. Hence, these two varieties are preferred by the customers.”  

Other popular varieties include money plant, aglaonema, maranta, syngonium, peperomia, which find their place in kitchens, living rooms and even dining spaces. Larger varieties of indoor plants which add charm to the houses include fig, dracaena and the ‘bird of paradise’, which is considered the queen of the indoor plant world. Some shade-loving plants include monstera, spathiphyllum that brighten up the spaces. 

Tips to maintain indoor plants
While local indoor plants can grow well in our climate, imported indoor plants have adaptability issues. Hence, it is always important to know the correct proportion of sunlight and water that is required for each plant. Here are a few tips: 

• Most indoor plants need to be watered only sparsely. Ideally, it should be watered once in three days.
• Exposing your plant to sunlight once every two weeks is always good.
• Always watch out for paleness of the leaves or excessive falling of leaves.
• A potting mix should be used for indoor plants. Cowdung powder is a great manure.