The COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a halt, resulting in global lockdowns to slow down its spread. One upside was that suddenly, people had more time to devote to passions and hobbies they were forced to leave behind due to their busy lives. One of these is collecting and nurturing both outdoor, and indoor plants.
Want to start an indoor garden, but not sure how they’ll fit in your tiny home or space?
In this article, we’ll talk about the plant benefits for our health and well-being, the best indoor plants for small indoor spaces, and other care tips to help you create the perfect indoor garden.
4 Health Benefits of Indoor Plants, According to Science
Ever wonder why you can focus better, breathe easier, and feel more alive in a room full of nature?
Turns out, houseplants are not just beautiful; they can also be therapeutic. In fact, their presence in a tiny home can make a serious difference to one’s mental, physical, and emotional health:
1. House plants help purify indoor air.
According to research, live plants can help you breathe cleaner air. An indoor plant can significantly lower the number of common pollutants and toxins in indoor settings. This is especially effective in small spaces.
2. Indoor plants can make any room more comfortable.
Want to make your tiny home feel cozier? Bring in some real plants! You can use them to screen off unattractive areas, reduce noise, and regulate temperature by adding shade to your home.
3. An indoor garden can do wonders for your mental health.
Science has confirmed it— interacting with indoor plants can make you calmer and happier. Plants have been found to reduce the level of stress, boost mood, and lower fatigue and anxiety. They can also ease the symptoms of depression and other mental health issues.
In other words, having an indoor plant is not just good for your health, but for your mind and soul, too.
4. Having an indoor plant or two can improve productivity.
Feeling demotivated while working from home? Another study says that introducing greenery to a bare office boosted employee productivity by as much as 15%. Having a plant doesn’t just make you more productive – it can also help you be more creative, concentrate better, and solve problems more efficiently.
These Are the Best Indoor Plants for Tiny Homes and Spaces
Ready to brighten up your tiny home with a lush, beautiful house plant? Don’t worry. While a massive philodendron or tall fiddle leaf fig may not fit into the average tiny home, you’ve still got a ton of plant options.
Better yet, you don’t need to have a green thumb, tons of space, or experience to create the perfect indoor garden. Below, we list the best indoor plants for tiny homes:
Air Plants
Delicate yet hardy, air plants are ideal for small spaces. An air plant is so easy to care for, they don’t even need soil! Instead, they use their green leaves to get all the nutrients and water they need. You can hang them to maximize vertical space, or tuck them into small nooks.
Keep these growing tips in mind:
- Mist this plant daily from spring to fall, and once a week in the winter.
- They only need low to medium light, so keep them away from areas with full sun.
- Care for them during spring and summer with a low-nitrogen fertilizer.
Houseplants That Tolerate Low Light Well
A lot of tiny homes lack natural sunlight, often due to minimal windows. Fortunately, many indoor plants can thrive and grow under low-light conditions, such as:
Lucky Bamboo
This ornate indoor plant symbolizes good fortune, and it’s also one of the best plants to grow in tiny homes that receive very little light. You can even place it in your bathroom! This plant loves moderate temperature and clean water, so remember to keep the roots wet after watering. In addition, change the water completely every 10 days.
Snake Plant
This low maintenance house plant thrives on neglect- and we’re not even kidding. Snake plants are known for being impossible to kill! While they like lots of light, but snake plants definitely prefer dimmer corners. You can place a snake plant in a shady spot and forget about it, and it will stay healthy and attractive!
Spider Plant
The slender, long leaves of this plant mimic the arachnid it’s named after. Despite having brightly-colored leaves, they actually grow better under low light conditions. In addition, it doesn’t like too much watering, so care for it in rich, well-drained potting soil.
ZZ Plant
The ZZ plant is a popular choice for malls and office buildings due to its low-light preference. The same thing makes it ideal for tiny homes. Perfect for the beginner gardener, this plant only needs watering once its soil becomes dry. On top of that, it can survive for several months without water or much care.
Peace Lily
As if its green, draped leaves were not beautiful enough, the peace lily will often surprise you with a pretty white flower. NASA also listed it as one of the best air cleaning house plants! It needs minimal light, but do remember to keep the soil moist.
Top Plants for Tiny Spaces That Love Bright Indirect Light
Now, if your tiny home or apartment does receive abundant natural light, consider these houseplants for your indoor garden:
Aloe Vera
The green aloe vera thrives in full sun, and we recommend you grow it in a heavy terra cotta pot. This encourages circulation and provides support for its top-heavy growth. As a bonus, the sap of the aloe vera plant can relieve minor burns and cuts.
Cactus
These desert plants love the light and dry air conditions, though they’ll still stay healthy with only three hours of sunlight exposure a day. There’s also a huge variety to choose from. Some have colorful blooms, others have interesting shapes, and you can even get one that looks like a tiny tree!
Never soak the soil when watering them, and simply keep it moist. Let it dry out fully between watering. The best varieties for tiny homes are Angel Wings Cactus, Rat Tail Cactus, African Milk Tree, Old Lady Cactus, Barrel Cactus, and Bishop’s Cap.
Fern
These popular houseplants love bright light, but keep them away from direct exposure to the sun. Doing so can scorch their beautifully shaped leaves. Some of the best fern varieties for tiny homes are the Lemon Button Fern, Maidenhair Fern, Bird’s Nest Fern, and Holly Fern.
Pothos
These vine plants are excellent for decorating a tiny home. Use them to spruce up a bookcase, or to beautify a plain wall with their hanging leaves. Excellent as tabletop decor, too! To care for your pothos, place them in a spot with full or partial sun, and grow them in well-drained soil.
Add Color to Your Tiny Home with Small Flowering Plants
Enjoy colorful, bright blooms all year long in your tiny space with these small flowering plants. Again, no green thumb required, because they’re low maintenance, too!
African Violets
This leafy, flowering plant comes in gorgeous red, white, and purple hues. It’s best to use a container that will let you water this plant from the bottom up when the soil is dry. Their leaves are very sensitive to cold water, and exposure can cause your African Violet to turn brown, spot, and even die.
Begonia
This lovely plant can bloom continuously, and they come in a wide range of colors and leaf shapes. Some, like the Rex Begonia, look very fancy! They do like light but don’t place it in drafty spaces. In addition, don’t let the soil dry. Instead, mist and water it often as part of your begonia care routine.
Hoyas
Make your tiny home more cheerful with the colorful, star-shaped buds of Hoyas, aka wax plants! They’re incredibly easy to grow inside the house, even with very little light.
More Ideas for the Tiny Home Gardener
Finally, here are more tips to help you keep your indoor garden happy and healthy:
- Choose the right containers. Some will do well in pots, others need a bigger container as they grow, some will thrive in hanging containers.
- Find out how their soil type needs to be created and maintained.
- Pick your houseplants based on the space you have available. If you have the square footage to spare, for instance, by all means, get that fiddle leaf fig, dragon tree, philodendron, or umbrella tree you have your eye on!
- Grow vertically.
- Check how much light your houseplants need.
- Protect your houseplants against pests.
- Do your research, especially for third party and imported varieties. Visit your local nursery and find out what the expert says about the types you like.
On top of that, check out our interior design and minimalist room style ideas for tips on where to place them around your tiny home. You may want to try composting as well!
Interested in going tiny? We’d love to help–get in touch with Tru Form Tiny today!
