Tag: houseplants

BRING NATURE IN

- Jill Leave a comment

BRING NATURE IN

As fall approaches and cooler weather settles in, we find fewer opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Our routines shift toward indoor activities including the demands of school and work. In meeting these obligations, we naturally find ourselves less connected to nature. But, at this time of year, it is more important than ever to find ways to “bring nature in” so that we can continue to enjoy the beauty and benefits it brings to our lives.

Research shows that spending time in nature is a low-cost and highly effective way to improve various aspects of our psychological wellness. From increased happiness and a sense of well-being to decreased anxiety, stress, and depression, spending time in natural environments can have a huge impact on our lives.  In fact, by spending just 10 minutes in a natural setting, there is a significant and beneficial impact on mental health. It also gives us better focus and improved performance on our working memory, cognitive flexibility, and attention tasks. Because of these benefits, exposure to nature is a proven wellness therapy, called nature therapy or ecotherapy, and is based on the concept of using nature to help us heal, especially psychologically.  Several books on the topic are: The Well-Gardened Mind: the restorative power of nature, The Nature Fix: why nature makes us happier, healthier, and more creative, and The Nature of Nature: why we need the wild.

 

As September happens to be Self-Care Awareness Month, it is a great time to pause and make sure that your connection to nature remains solid, even when you can’t get outside. So, what do we do when, due to inclement weather, we can no longer be outside in our gardens, or on the hiking trails, or spending time at the lake? Consider bringing the outside in so as to continue to reap the healing powers of Mother Nature and gain a host of mental health benefits. When it’s not possible to get outside into nature we can carry out ecotherapy indoors in a number of easy ways. The books listed here, and that are on display this September at the Main and Eastern branch libraries, will give you lots of great ideas!

Plants

When winding down a backyard garden for the season, there are a few tasks you can do to bring nature in. Dig the herbs from your garden and plant them in pots to bring indoors for the winter including rosemary, parsley, chives, and thyme. You can take root cuttings from annuals, such as begonias, geraniums, and impatiens and plant them in a container and keep them in a sunny place indoors. And, begin moving houseplants inside. Plants not only remove toxins from the air, but research shows that people who spend time around plants have more concern, empathy, and compassion toward others as well as improved relationships. As September 17-23 is National indoor Plant Week, it’s the perfect time to introduce them into your home. There are some nearly indestructible varieties so don’t worry if you don’t have a green thumb. You can even opt for faux plants if you are worried about young children or pets. You won’t get the clean air effect, but you’ll still reap some benefit. Several books that can help you get started are Bring the Outside In: the essential guide to cacti, succulents, planters and terrariums, How to Make a Plant Love You: cultivate green space in your home and heart, The New Plant Parent: develop your green thumb and care for your house-plant family, How to Plant a Room and Grow a Happy Home.

 

Flower Arranging

If the maintenance of living plants is more than you desire, bring freshly cut flowers into your home or workspace as often as you can. It’s an easy alternative and you won’t feel bad when they wilt because they aren’t meant to last forever. To save on the cost, purchase discounted bunches and arrange them yourself. Here are some books to help you:  Seasonal Flower Arranging: fill your home with blooms, branches, and foraged materials all year round, and Flower Philosophy: seasonal projects to inspire and restore. You can even make paper blooms that bring bright color and cheer to your space. Take a look at these pretty makes: Bold and Beautiful Paper Flowers: more than 50 easy paper blooms and gorgeous arrangements you can make at home and Crepe Paper Flowers: making and arranging beautiful blooms. For more Nature DIY projects keep reading to the end of the post.

Designing and Decorating

There are so many ways to bring nature in through home décor and just as many books on the topic. If you are looking to bring elements of nature into your home, then you may be interested to learn more about biophilic design. Biophilic design is about creating human connectivity to nature. Through interior design, you can bring the outside in by using natural elements. Choose paintings or photographs of landscapes or opt for botanical prints. Select furniture with beautiful wood grains, or paint with soothing colors found in nature, like greens and blues, that can reduce stress levels. Introduce natural materials or patterns, and definitely bring in a variety of plants as this is one of the easiest ways to create a biophilic décor. It is important to have abundant natural light in your home and workspace as well. If you need more of that – especially in the winter – there are gadgets to solve that problem like the Circadian Optics Light Therapy Lamp that you can check out from our TECHKNOW collection of things. Ask for Techknow #78 at the Customer Service desk at the Fairmount branch library.  Or, ask for TECHKNOW #63 at our Eastern branch library to check out the Circadian Optics Lumos Light Therapy Lamp. And, if you’d like to see if any of these ways to bring nature in is helping your well-being, you can ask Customer Service at the Eastern branch library for TECHKNOW #66  an Omron 10 series blood pressure monitor with Bluetooth. Use it to track if using nature as therapy is reducing your stress levels and having a positive effect on your blood pressure.  A few books that will show you how to bring nature into your décor are: Design By Nature: creating layered lived-in spaces inspired by the natural world, Nature Style: cultivating wellbeing at home with plants, and Wild Interiors: beautiful plants in beautiful spaces.

Sounds and Smells of Nature

Don’t underestimate the power of listening to a waterfall or the sound of raindrops on the surface of a lake or even chirping crickets. The result isn’t just enhanced relaxation and a sense of calm, but include attention restoration and better cognitive performance. You can also mimic the forest smells with diffusers and essential oils. Introduce water features like an aquarium or a fountain where the sound of water can create a healing atmosphere and bring in a sense of relaxation. Use soundscapes of a rain forest or the seaside or download apps of soothing nature sounds. Check out these cd’s to give it a try: The Healing Garden and Sounds of Rainstorms and Nature.

Arts and Crafts

There are many more ways than I’ve listed here to bring nature in to enhance your life. But, I will cover one more that can encompass a wide range of things and also fits into many of the categories above. That is arts & crafts. Making art or crafts inspired by natural environments or made from natural elements not only leads to an end result that you can display in your home, but can be a very therapeutic handicraft or hobby. Instead of buying art or décor items, consider making some. There are so many great books to get you started. You just might find that drawing, painting, crafting, and other creative methods add to your sense of well-being and contentedness all on their own. Try something new by registering for one of our Adult DIY programs to make a Twig Vase, or String Art shaped like a Pumpkin. Or, check out the ideas in these books: Nature Art Workshop: tips, techniques, and step-by-step projects for creating nature-inspired art, Plant Craft: 30 projects that add natural style to your home, DIY Succulents, Watercolor Botanicals: learn to paint your favorite plants and florals, Botanical Line Drawing: 200 step-by-step flowers, leaves, cacti, succulents, and other items found in nature, and The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling.

 

Welcome to the Jungle by Enid Offolter

- Ann Leave a comment

Houseplants are enjoying a lot of popularity right now, boosted by the COVID shutdown when everyone was spending more time at home and the push for healthier indoor environment. This also means a lot of books about houseplants have come out recently (many of which you’ll find on our shelves!) and while they all have great information on choosing and caring for your plant babies, here’s one that stands out – Welcome to the Jungle by Enid Offolter.

While there’s lots of good basic information here, Offolter is talking to the enthusiast, those of us already hooked and ready to try something a little more challenging. And Offolter delivers, covering aroids (a family of tropical plants with incredible foliage) in “50 Extraordinary Plants”. Some have gorgeous variegated leaves, some have crazy shapes and fenstrations (holes and splits in the leaves). Many have become fairly easy to find (I have seen Anthirium “Polly” plants for sale at Hy-Vee and the big box stores and Wallace’s sells a variety of anthiriums, philodendron and monsteras. But many of the plants covered in Welcome to the Jungle are rare (and incredibly expensive) so poring over the gorgeous photography in this book will be the closest most of us will come to them.

The real highlight of this book though, is the writing. Offolter does not mince words about how she feels and it’s usually pretty amusing. Here’s her take on A. warocqueanum, also know as “the queen” (it has gorgeous long, dark green leaves with white veining) – “Tricky, high maintenance, sadistic diva of a plant that does its best to make you cry. Needy, temperamental and will spontaneously die, just when you thought you had it all figured out.”  Or her description of removing baby iguanas from the plants in her South Florida shade house “They are lucky they are so cute. I give them a firm talking to on the way out of my shade house. I view it as a teaching moment for them.”  The writing alone makes this a delight!

Highly recommended whether you’re already addicted to these tropical beauties or just enjoy learning about plants.

The Indestructible Houseplant by Tovah Martin

- Ann Leave a comment

indestructibleNow that winter seems to have finally arrived, the Iowa gardener is forced indoors. How does the avid gardener get their quota of poking around in the dirt and watching green things grow? Houseplants of course! It may not be quite the same as a perennial border or a vegetable patch of edibles, but houseplants can get you through the darkest months and have their own charms and rewards any time of the year.

The Indestructible Houseplant by Tovah Martin will set you on the path to a lifelong happy obsession with indoor plants. Martin lists dozens of tough, easy-to-grow houseplants by family, giving lots of tips and growing advice and pointers to the best varieties. Each plant family has a simple-to-consult growing basics charts, but the real value of this book is Martin’s charming, fun-to-read detailed descriptions. The acknowledged current leader in houseplant cultivation, Martin is not afraid to admit to failures or less-than-spectacular results (although I doubt those happen to her very often!)

The photographs in the book are spectacular and prove that “indestructible” is not synonymous with plain or boring. Most of the plants are grown strictly for their foliage (often very colorful foliage such as with the bromliads and begonias) but there are several flowering varieties – geraniums, kalanchoes, African violets – as well. Most of the plants are easy to find (check the local nurseries – we have several excellent ones in the area and winter is when they have the best variety of houseplants); some are common outdoor container plants (such as geraniums and ferns) that enjoy a summer vacation outdoors, decorating your porch in the summer and your living room in the winter (I’ve done this with geraniums and begonias for several years – it’s a great way to keep your favorites and also save a few dollars in the spring)

Martin finishes the book with good, practical advice on how to care for and display your houseplants. I love the variety of containers she uses – colanders, trays, cast off metal dishes, unique and beautiful pots – all of which enhance but do not overwhelm the plants. She even discusses how she trained her cat Einstein to stay away from plants (he shows up in several of the photos). This book is the best combination of eye-candy, inspiration and practical advice. Highly recommended!

 

Air Plants by Zenaida Sengo

- Ann Leave a comment

air plantsAir plants, also known as tillandsias, are having their moment. Popular for their spiky shape and extremely low-maintenance needs, they are now widely available in garden centers, small boutiques, upscale food markets, and national retail stores dedicated to home furnishing and design.

Air Plants , by Zenaida Sengo who is the interior coordinator at the popular San Francisco-based Flora Grubb Gardens, shows how simple and rewarding it is to grow, craft, and design with these modern beauties. Decorating with air plants is made easy with stunning photographs that showcase ideas for using them mounted on walls, suspended from the ceiling, as living bows and jewelry, as screens, and in unique containers, like leather pouches, dishes, and baskets. Six step-by-step projects include a wood mount, a wall hook, lasso-and-hook wiring, a ceramic-frame garden, and three unique terrariums. This lushly designed guide is perfect for anyone with the desire to grow on air. (description from publisher)

Living in a Terrarium World

- Ann Leave a comment

Did you know about air plants?! Sounds kinda sci-fi, doesn’t it! Also known as an epiphyte, air plants get their nutrients from the surrounding air and thus do not need roots. Cool! They kind of remind me of a miniature, land-dwelling octopus or Thing from the Addams Family. Now here did I learn about these awesome plants? From Terrarium Craft: Create 50 Magical, Miniature Worlds by Amy Bryant Aiello, Kate Bryant, & Kate Baldwin!

I always thought that Terrariums were very difficult to upkeep and required intense calculations to maintain their delicate ecosystems, but Terrarium Craft has since convinced me that Terrariums are my new super laid-back, always stylish best friends. In fact, according to Amy, Kate & Kate, I don’t even have to put living plants in my terrariums if I don’t want to–I could use pretty sands, rocks, crystals, and dried flowers to make super lovely displays. However, they make even the plant terrariums seem easy by using moss balls, air plants, succulents and other easy care plants and arranging them with sweet figurines, geodes, books and costume jewelry to create little whimsical, fairytale-like scenes. I want to live in their terrariums, but, until I find a shrinking raygun, I will just check out Terrarium Craft from the library and make one of my own. It will totally have a geode and an air plant and will be based on that classic Ringo Starr hit, Octopus’s Garden.

The New Terrarium by Tovah Martin

- Ann Leave a comment

new-terrariumFight off some of that spring fever by cultivating a bit of green on a tabletop. From elegant, antique Wardian cases (named for Englishman Nathaniel Ward who created and popularized glass boxes for plants in the 1840s) to simple vases, Tovah Martin brings us the charming world of terrariums in The New Terrarium. You won’t find even a hint of crunchy-granola-1970s terrariums here (when these enclosed plant worlds were last popular) but you will find modern, playful interpretations of all kinds.

Martin firmly belives that any container, so long as it’s clear glass and has an opening large enough to accomodate plants, is just fine for a terrarium. As a result, there are fish bowls and aquariums, large flower vases, candy jars, Mason jars, even a covered cake stand on display here. There are also many beautiful examples of glass cloches (also called bell jars) that were once used to protect tender young vegetable plants in the garden, now in service to protect and highlight a beloved indoor plant.

Plant choices range from the exotic – such as orchids – to the more ordinary – African violets which are at their height this time of year and easy to find, or ferns. In fact, almost any plant – so long as it’s small enough – will thrive in the humid, controlled environment of a terrarium. The exceptions are plants that prefer dry conditions (cactus, succulents, herbs) You can even fill your terrarium with non-plant material – a favorite seashell or a miniature garden gnome. Martin lists favorite plants and how to grow them and gives on instructions on how to plant and care for your mini-garden. Populated with beautiful pictures, you’ll soon be on your way to bringing some of the outdoors in.