There's no place like home. It's the place where we're surrounded by our possessions and creature comforts. We purchase things to give our homes a personal touch and create a certain ambience. And one thing we're buying more of is houseplants. But are these 'living' additions to our homes good for us and the environment?

 

Houseplants, also known as pot plants, have Instagram-friendly appeal; add a natural touch and they have the ability to brighten up a room on a budget. The Royal Horticultural Society found that nearly 72% of adults in the UK had a houseplant in their home, with this figure rising to 80% of 16-24 year olds. A fifth of owners also said they use plants in the home to boost their health and well-being¹. And average sales last year were up on the previous year.

 

It seems millennials are driving the growth in the sales of houseplants. According to research by The Economist³, more young people are living in flats without a garden. 24 year-old Daisy Hale told the BBC "being able to care for something but not having too much commitment - I guess that's a classic millennial² line - is ideal for my lifestyle."

 

From hanging baskets, to cacti⁴ and succulent ferns, the choice of vegetation is endless. They are easy to care for, and there have been unproven claims that they improve the air quality in our home.  But whatever their benefits, there are now concerns that they might not be so good for the environment.  Some are bought online and shipped from overseas. Fay Kenworthy, co-founder of PlantSwap, a community initiative that encourages people to trade plants locally, told the BBC "this could rack up 'plant miles'".

 

But botanist⁵ and BBC presenter⁶ James Wong argues that home delivery has less of an environmental impact than multiple trips to the garden centre in a car. Although he's not too concerned about the environmental impact, others are worried about the plastic pots they are in and the type of peat that some of them are grown in. However, a sustainable approach to buying them may be the best way forward if we want to introduce some natural greenery into our homes.

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