Placing plants around your house can be so helpful for your mood and energy during the colder months. Here are my favourite houseplants to beat the winter blahs!
I always think of this mid-winter part of the year as being peak house plant season. We all need a little greenery in our lives and there isn’t much to be seen when you look out the window or go for a walk. Adding an extra house plant or two can really give you a little mood-boost if the winter is starting to feel really long. If you already own quite a few house plants that you love, one of my favourite tricks is to just move them around to different spots in your home every week or so. There’s something about a bit of greenery is an unexpected place that seems to make plants much more noticeable and their positive traits so much more evident. One thing that’s definitely not helpful when you’re dealing with the winters blahs, though, is a dead plant. It’s pretty sad to look outside and see a world full of dead and dormant plants, and then see a dead plant sitting right over there on your coffee table as well. So I thought I’d share some of my favourites today. These are plants that I find don’t ask for much in terms of care and maintenance, but give a lot back in return and really help my house feel fresh during the winter. Here are my favourite houseplants to beat the winter blahs!
Pothos
I resisted these for quite awhile. I know that they’re popular, but they really reminded me of the plants that we had all around our living room growing up and I kind of felt like they gave a room an outdated look. As time went by though, I started to see them more and more in settings that I liked and I decided to try one out. I can see now why they’re so well-loved! There’s nothing better than seeing your house plant with a new leaf and my pothos plant seems to pop out a new leaf at least every few days right now. It’s just so nice to see something growing and thriving like that.
Jade Plant
I think this jade plant of mine really needs to be repotted, but lets ignore that for the moment. This is a great plant because it has these happy rounded leaves in a nice glossy green, but it behaves like a succulent in that it doesn’t really mind if you forget to water it one month. It’s the best of both worlds.
Snake Plant
I feel like everyone owns a snake plant or seven at this point, but I still love them. They’re the ultimate plant that you just can’t kill and they bring such an energetic feeling to any space.
Peace Lily and Birds Nest Fern
I grouped these two together for no other reason than I love them both, but I have absolutely no experience with either of them. They’re on my plant wish list though! We’ve photographed both in different projects for local designers and I just loved how they looked in real life and in the photos.
Fake Plants
I keep finding myself going back and forth on fake plants. First, I thought that they were great and maintenance free, but then I realized how comparatively terrible they looked compared to real plants, especially in photos. Most recently, I’ve started collecting really good quality fake plants that I use sparingly and I can definitely tell you that going with good quality makes a big difference here. I think I still prefer real plants wherever they’re possible to use, but if there’s a spot that could use a little green that just won’t support the style of plant you have in mind, a really good faux plant can stand in just fine. Butter faux green than no green. 🙂
Honorable Mentions: ZZ Plant and Fresh Greenery
This ZZ plant of mine has gotten a little wild and it just keeps going. I’ve had suggestions to stake it, but I kind of like it being a little out-of-control like this and it certainly seems happy because it keeps putting out new shoots. These are great plants because they require very very little light and very very little water. In fact, mine was too wet when I brought it home from the nursery and kept dropping leaves until I let it dry out for a few weeks. Now it’s as happy as can be. 🙂
Another great option to add some green to your space is just to pick up a bunch of fresh greenery at your local flower shop. I wrote a post recently about how to care for fresh eucalyptus if you’re nervous about killing it and wasting your money. 🙂
Two Tiny Tips
First of all, avoid buying a plant that’s too big unless you have a pot that you already love in mind for it. It can be really hard for me to find plant pots that I love that are bigger than 6″, so I try to force myself to look for houseplants that are in pots that are 6″ or smaller. If you find yourself attracted to the larger plants like I do, look for a smaller plant with the habit of trailing. These will take up more space and have a larger presence, while still having a smaller pot.
The best place I’ve found recently to find plant pots is the thrift store. Plain matte white or matte black finishes are so in style right now on all ceramics and you can easily achieve this look by grabbing a pot from the thrift store in the perfect size and shape, and giving it a few quick coats of a matte spray paint.
Do you agree with my houseplant picks? What are your favourites?
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.