For a busy student, easy-to-grow plants fall under the category of must-have home decor that requires little, grows a lot, and keeps looking great for a long time. Here are some of the best picks for first-time growers that are low-maintenance, beautiful, and endlessly beneficial.
These unobtrusive plants are really growing in popularity, especially among college students, and it’s not hard to figure out why. Plants hold a special place in brightening up any small, modern dorm or apartment space and are one of the least maintenance plants you will find out there. When considering adopting a succulent and making it a warm point in your decor, you should know the wide variety of benefits they actually have toward your living space and just how low-maintenance they truly are.
Great in any climate, they are one of the least likely plants to ever die on you and definitely don’t need constant care as some other more high-maintenance plants and flowers. As with a lot of other plants, they can actually help purify your air, absorbing gases through the pores on their leaves while also producing fresh oxygen. They can grow in room temperature environments with moderate sunlight. They, like many other plants, also release water back into the air, helping with any sore throat, common cold, dry or itchy skin, or a dry cough. They even help with focus.
Another low-maintenance plant to consider adding to your home space is the ivy. It can grow to great lengths, making it look great as viney, long-hanging decor for a shelf or even desk or counter space. It also is extremely hard to over-water, the more water you give them simply translating to larger and larger leaf sizes. Specifically great for a prime spot on any windowsill, they can thrive in anything from bright, moist areas to low-light, cold areas. They are also another easy-to-grow plant that helps with respiratory conditions and respiratory health overall.
Ivy can prevent intoxication, reduce swelling, and has even been used as an anesthetic. Make sure, however, that your ivy still maintains some light for the health of the plant and the resulting health and home benefits to you! Did you know that nature exposure is also a great thing to have as a student as it can also help with pain tolerance and memory health? This can lead to better school and work performance, increasing your success. This is definitely something to think about when deciding how to decorate your office space or where you most often do schoolwork.
Another great easy plant is the aloe vera, which also provides physical medicine that keeps on giving just as it helps mentally and emotionally as many other plants you may consider. Aloe vera contains antioxidant and antibacterial properties and can be cut off, used, and regrown again for the medicinal and health properties of the aloe vera gel inside. The gel can help accelerate wound healing, reduce dental plaque, and even treat canker sores! If you’re looking for cheap ways to update your natural beauty routine this is one.
This plant is one of the most worthwhile, easy plants you could have at home even just for your own beauty routine. It can improve skin and reduce and prevent wrinkles. To apply aloe vera gel on your face up to two times a day is to give your skin all the moisturization, scar and blemish treatment you could want. It can even improve eczema and its more well-known treatment of sun damage or sunburns. This is another type of succulent plant that is great in moderate sunlight exposure, and only needs watered deeply about once every three weeks.
Such an interesting decorative succulent plant, cacti can come in many different colors and shapes but they are definitely all easy-to-grow plants to also consider adding to your home. Most known in various shades of green, they can also range from orange, pink, red, and even yellow. The most easy-to-grow variants of cacti are the ferocactus and echinocactus. Ferocacti often have large spines and small flowers. They also only have to be watered sparingly and can still last a winter well when grown indoors away from great cold or frost, but even then can last okay.
The echinocactus needs regular watering but is hard to over-water and their small size is ideal for indoor living as many other cacti variants. Another easy plant from the cacti family is the cereus which thrives in mild conditions both with regard to sunlight and watering. Most cacti just need a moderately sunny, well-drained area to reside and their different variations can match well to any space and personality, making great talking pieces and unique decor you’ll love.
Spider plants are another plant that is low-maintenance and help purify the air. Their striped coloring can look great on any dorm room or apartment surface. Did you know they are even edible, making them ideal for a home with any children or pets who might be too interested? Give them even amounts of moisture and moderate sunlight, and they can grow very leafy and beautiful before your eyes. Direct sunlight can actually do damage or burning to their leaves and also over-dry their soil, meaning they work great in lower lighting areas of your home or office.
Plants such as spider plants can also relieve stress as well as improve concentration. Many have even referred to spider plants as their good luck plants that help bring them good fortune and prosperity! The air purification of spider plants is also even greater than most other plants, being reported to remove around 90% of cancer-causing chemical formaldehyde, help filter out harmful benzene, formaldehyde toxins, and trichloroethylene. Pruning your spider plants, like with aloe vera and others, can produce new plant babies for free while improving plant health.
Along with easy-to-grow plants that produce endless health and food resources like herb plants, tomato plants are easy and can prove to be really productive. They are the long-season and heat-loving plants, making them the perfect balance to other plants you might choose which grow better in less direct sunlight. Tomato plants are ideal to grow in the springtime and do best in hotter conditions with little tolerance for cold and winter conditions, making them also ideal for indoor living. Just be sure to maintain moderate to warm temperatures in your home year-round!
Early in growth, tomato plants require daily watering ideally in the morning, and with any increasing temperatures experienced, may require watering up to twice daily. Vegetable plants are a healthy and sustainable way to have home-grown foods without preservatives and at little to no cost to you past initial purchase. Food plants make great lively decor to any kitchen space!
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