“Nurturing something and seeing it grow is really good for the mind.” Why not growing some plants to enjoy this wonderful peace?
With gentle sunshine coming through the glass window, Stephen stands in the kitchen. Bending forward slightly, he looks at a row of plants and checks them one by one. Then he pours water into a watering can and walks to a little shelf. Standing still for a while, he slowly waters the plants on the shelf.
“Nurturing something and seeing it grow is really good for the mind,” said Stephen, a 29 year-old plant lover. “That is a sort of spirituality when you see how nature works. Just actually observing what nature does and it’s something that is essential to our survival.”
Stephen Peckham was a former bookmaker and now runs a plant shop in Cardiff. He also cultivates more than 50 indoor plants in his own house, where they stand by the side of sofas, next to lamps, along stairs, on shelves, and on windowsills, almost everywhere in different heights, making his home a pretty garden.
“They are really good for producing oxygen and purifying the air,” said Stephen.
There is a big difference between indoor plants and outdoor plants, according to Stephen: “A lot of house plants don’t want a lot of sunshine, which a lot of people get wrong because they think you have to put plants next to the window. But that is too intense for some house plants. For cacti however, because they are from deserts, they are used to being really exposed.”
Another important factor is temperature. Most indoor plants don’t like temperature below 10 degrees and they would die outside in winter because of the low temperature. They also don’t want to experience too high temperatures such as 30 degrees, because the body will lose water and finally dry out.
According to Stephen, many plants such as Swiss Cheese, Snake Plant, Calathea, Devil’s lvy, Fishbone Cactus and Spider Plant are very suitable for the indoors. Besides, if people look for houseplants that are good in little natural light, ZZ Plants (zamioculcas zamiifolia) and Aspidistra are recommended. If the plant is to be placed on a windowsill, then a cactus or a succulent is good.
Kelly Bridgeman is a florist in Cardiff Central Market. She has run a flower shop for 13 years and describes her job as a happy business with great satisfaction. “They make me happy,” said Kelly. “There is new growth inside. When you see new life, like when you get a new leaf, that actually excites me.”
Kelly said taking care of indoor plants was very easy. People sometimes kill their plants and that’s because they often over water them. Besides, plants don’t always attract insects. Sometimes they do and that is because the plant is ill and something goes wrong with them.
Kelly believes that putting plants at home changes the environment dramatically and makes the house look more homely. She suggests considering the height when thinking of decorating rooms with plants.
For shelves, trailing plants such as Scindapsus and Epipremnum are very good options, because they will tail down and look very pretty. But if you start from the ground, try to use different types to create various heights. Besides, lovely pots also help a lot.