Welcome to the first in a series of articles put together to help you find the perfect plants for each room in your home.
Believe it or not, there are some plants just DYING to live in your bathroom.
Creating an Indoor Oasis
The bathroom has special conditions not found anywhere else in your home.
It’s humid in there, and usually a smaller room. It’s often a low-light setting.
Humidity-loving, tropical plants are ideal for this space, especially if you live in a dry climate to begin with (hello, New Mexico!).
As a bonus, many of these plants are air-purifying – they will help clean up those lingering odors that no one wants to talk about!
So let’s look at your bathroom.
How Much Space Do You Have?
First off, the room may be small, but we’re ideally talking about a full bathroom, with a bathtub or shower. A powder room or guest bath is not going to have the same high humidity levels, so you may find that some of your plants require extra watering.
Depending on your space, you may have room for bigger plants. Do you have a corner that a larger palm could live in?
Is there shelf space for smaller plants? A windowsill?
Hanging plants are a great option in rooms with a smaller footprint.
Keep your space in mind as we go over some of the plants below.
The next thing you’ll want to consider is the amount of available light, and what plants will be a good match.
Is There a Window?
If you happen to have a brightly lit bathroom, then you have plenty of options! Many popular, tropical plants will thrive in a bathroom climate.
Some plants will do well near a bright window. If the window doesn’t face directly south or get intense sun throughout the day, you can place light-loving plants like succulents on the windowsill.
Other plants will be happier with the indirect light on a nearby shelf. As you get to know your houseplants, you’ll find that you can move them closer to or farther from a window, depending on how they react.
Air Plants (Tillandsia, many species) – What’s easier to care for than these unique little houseplants that don’t even need soil? Although they don’t literally live on air alone, the humidity of the bathroom will provide much of what they need in the way of moisture. You can also periodically mist or soak air plants to keep them happy, but do let them have a chance to dry out after watering. They will enjoy a spot with bright, indirect light from a nearby window.
Polka-dot Plant or Splash Plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya) – This cheerful plant will add some color to your bathroom. It loves high humidity levels, making it ideal for the space, and it does like bright, indirect light. Too much sun will bleach the leaves, but it does like light, so living near a window or artificial light keeps Hypoestes happy and growing!
Low-light Situations
A common aspect of bathrooms is that they are often low-light environments.
You might think that nothing would grow there, and that all plants like to be plunked down in full, bright sun, but for many houseplants, low- light spaces are ideal, especially if their native habitats are shaded.
In fact, for these plants, you won’t want to set them in the direct sunlight of a window, or they may become sun-scorched.
A few plants that will do great in a space with less light:
Pothos – This vine is an ever-popular houseplant. It is equally happy growing along a shelf, hanging from a basket, or draped around a window frame.
Calathea/Maranta – Also called the Prayer Plant, because of the way it folds up its leaves at night, this is a great addition to a more dimly lit room, as long as it’s not in complete darkness. A humid bathroom will make this plant very happy, and you’ll enjoy seeing new leaves emerge as rolled up tubes that slowly unfurl.
Spider Plant – One of the easiest-to-care-for indoor plants, you’ll want to have spider plants hanging in every room, once you know about their air-filtering superpowers! Luckily, they’re also always making baby “spiders”, so you’ll soon have enough new plants to clear the air throughout your home.
No Light – Like, at All
This one is a bit trickier. If your bathroom is basically a closet that gets no light at all unless someone is in there…I’m not going to lie, you may need to go with some artificial plants. (And these days, there are some nice options available!)
Live plants ideally need at least some amount of light per day. They can go for a while in darkness, but it will eventually throw them into survival mode, which changes the chemical processes they use to make food and to grow.
They can’t maintain that state forever, and they will not be at their healthiest.
Could you add some plant-friendly lighting that you leave on during the day?
If nothing else, on autumn nights you can put those poinsettias in there that you kept alive from last year, to give them the required darkness for a holiday display!
Humidity
This is the key difference in the bathroom – high humidity, especially if there are frequent showers being taken. Some moisture-loving plants that will LOVE this space:
Fittonia, or Nerve Plant – These little guys are humidity HOGS. They do well in low-light, high-moisture areas that mimic the climate of the rainforest floor. Their favorite haunts include terrariums and bathrooms!
Grape Ivy (Cissus rhombifolia) – A gorgeous vine that provides something pretty and interesting, when you’ve forgotten to bring your cell phone with you and don’t know where to look. Grape ivy, also called oakleaf ivy, likes a brighter spot, so hang or place it near the indirect light from a window. I have one that does fine getting direct light in the afternoon and evening, but I make sure it gets plenty of water.
Boston Fern – Another one that NEEDS the humidity. Hang it in a basket near (or even IN) your shower. It will also appreciate a bit of indirect light. Boston ferns are full and beautiful, but you will find yourself picking up after them; they drop old fronds and can be messy housemates. You can periodically take them outside and do a bit of grooming, if this starts to drive you crazy! During the summer, they can be kept outside in a nice, shady spot.
In the Shower
If you have shelves or wall hooks that will hold some lovelies, you can create even more of a personal oasis with “shower plants”, bringing humidity-loving plants closer to the mist and steam of the shower. Orchids, ferns, lucky bamboo…you’ll have your own spa experience every day.
Hooks in the ceiling above the shower will also work here: this would be a great spot for that Boston fern! In fact, there are several ferns that would enjoy a misting or soaking from regular showers.
What about Watering?
So should your watering schedule be different when you keep houseplants in the bathroom? It depends.
You’ll still need to check the soil periodically, and watch for signs of dryness or overwatering. Drooping or yellow leaves don’t always mean thirst – the plant could be unhappy with the lighting. Checking the soil will give you a better idea of whether you need to water, and you can always lift the plant’s pot to see if it feels lighter.
Some plants will love a regular soak, as long as they are in well-draining soil.
The good news is, you can use the bathtub to give your plants a good soaking, even using the sprayer if you have one. Remember to plug the drain if you’re going to be spraying or grooming/pulling dead leaves.
Others prefer to go a while between waterings.
I’ve found that my peperomias are like this. When the top of their soil is dry to about two inches down, they are thirsty. But if I have their pots sitting in a tray, I don’t let them stay in standing water. I don’t know why, but they seem to hold water very well, and longer than my other plants. I almost lost a peperomia, after I practically subjected it to drowning. It partially recovered once I loosened up the soil around the roots, and I’ve since transplanted it to a better-draining soil mix.
Air Purifying
Just in case you needed an excuse to buy more houseplants, I’m about to give you the ultimate argument: they may be saving your life!
No, really. NASA did a study. Check it out here:
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073077.pdf
We know that plants produce the oxygen we need for breathing, but there’s more: it turns out that, not only are houseplants beautiful and just awesome in general, they’re also clearing nasty chemicals out of the air in your home.
For less than the cost of a HEPA filter!
More on this, and on the plants that were included in the NASA study – in another post!
Meanwhile, have fun choosing houseplants for you new bathroom oasis. They will bring natural beauty, a sense of peace, and fresh air to the space!