Create a healthy New Year with houseplants from Pike Nurseries

Gardeners looking to have a healthier and happier New Year should look no further than houseplants. Not only do they provide much needed color during the bare winter months, but they also offer many health benefits like reduced stress levels, pollutant removal and improved air quality. To help customers create a cleaner and greener home in 2017, the experts at Pike Nurseries offer fresh tips on houseplant benefits, selection and care. Additionally, the neighborhood garden center will host a FREE Decorating with Houseplants class at select Atlanta-area locations January 3-7! 

Health and Happiness: Houseplant Benefits
While cooler temperatures abound, houseplants are a great way to continue to play in the dirt during the winter months. Not only do they provide a pop of color to spruce up home décor, but houseplants also provide many benefits for healthy living like increased air humidity, reduced stress levels and removal of dust and toxins from the air, keeping homes clean and healthy. Research has revealed that certain houseplants – like the Peace Lily – can efficiently remove pollutants like Formaldehyde, Benzene and Ammonia from a room’s air, releasing oxygen and improving the overall health of an environment.

Ferns, Bromeliads, Orchids, Oh My!
Picking the perfect houseplant can be a fun process, as Pike Nurseries offers a wide variety of foliage and blooming options, including Ferns, Pothos, Orchids, Bromeliads and Succulents. To ensure houseplants remain healthy and thriving, it’s important to determine in what area of the home they will reside and how much light the space will receive. An easy way to do this is to hold a hand about 8 inches above a sheet of white paper in the space where the houseplant will live. If high light is present, a clear shadow with definition will be seen; medium light will reveal a blurred shadow; and low light will offer no shadow.  Residents can then determine the right houseplant for their living spaces.

How to Plant the Perfect Houseplant
Houseplants can be planted in colorful containers that complement both the plant and home décor. Using a nutrient rich potting soil like Pike Nurseries’ Potting & Container Soil, the container should be filled almost to the top – leaving about an inch of space – in order to mix in a handful of EB Stone Sure Start fertilizer. Doing this will reduce transplant shock and promote root growth for healthy plants. Customers looking to try their hand at incorporating healthy houseplants into the home can join Pike Nurseries for a FREE Houseplants for Decorating the Home class at select locations January 3-5 and January 7. During this class, attendees will learn how to select the right houseplant, combine them for attractive displays and care for them. Additionally, class attendees will receive a 4-inch houseplant to take home and be entered to win a $50 specimen houseplant.

Fresh Care Tips for Houseplants
Houseplants should be watered thoroughly – usually about once a week –  when the top inch of soil feels dry, as well as given a good fertilizer like Bonide Liquid Plant Food once a month in order to thrive. To encourage new growth, spent foliage should be removed when the leaves turn brown, and Leaf Shine can be used to keep existing leaves glossy and beautiful. When away for long periods of time, a water globe or absorbent soil amendment granules, like Soil Moist, should be used to keep indoor plants hydrated.

For more information on houseplants, visit pikenursery.com/pages/houseplants or stop by one of the 17 store locations across Georgia and North Carolina to speak with a Pike Nurseries garden expert.