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Time to thank your indoor garden

National Houseplant Appreciation Day (and Week) spotlight benefits of growing things inside

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 6, 2021

Peace lilies are natural air purifiers. (Photo

courtesy Green Acres Nursery)

Cooped up indoors? It's time to show your green companions some love.

This is National Houseplant Appreciation Week, culminating in National Houseplant Appreciation Day on Sunday, Jan. 10.

While urging us to give a little TLC to our favorite pothos or spathiphyllum, this special week is really about awareness for all that houseplants can do.

Sure, they brighten up our windowsills or office spaces with some comforting greenery. But they actually can help people breathe easier by improving indoor air quality. Plants such as spathiphyllum -- the familiar peace lily -- are natural workhorses at filtering indoor air, converting carbon dioxide to oxygen and removing harmful substances such as formaldehyde and benzene.

Plants also release moisture into the air. These green humidifiers help make our indoor air feel more refreshing, countering the effects of dry heat from furnaces. European studies have found that the added humidity from houseplants can help reduce dry skin, soothe sore throats and combat colds.

Houseplants really do help people feel better. A Kansas State study found that hospital patients with plants in their rooms actually healed faster than patients with no plants.

Besides those physical benefits, houseplants offer small doses of garden therapy. It's relaxing to care for something and watch it grow.

The Garden Network gets credit for creating National Houseplant Appreciation Day, which always falls on Jan. 10.

Locally, Green Acres Nursery & Supply is celebrating all week with daily Facebook and Instagram posts. According to Green Acres' houseplant experts, the easiest houseplant to grow: Sansevieria -- better known as mother-in-law's tongue or snake plant.

Read more: https://m.facebook.com/idiggreenacres/

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An article about gardening.

Keywords:

gardening Sacramento garden therapy houseplants Green Acres Nursery & Supply indoor plants indoor gardening

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Garden Checklist for week of Feb. 9

Be careful walking or working in wet soil; it compacts easily.

* Keep the irrigation turned off; the ground is plenty wet with more rain on the way.

* February serves as a wake-up call to gardeners. This month, you can transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots.

* Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and cauliflower – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions.

* Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

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