Adding Plants To Your Bathroom

Surrounded by greens while soaking in your tub. How good does that sound? Here’s some expert advice on adding plants to your bathroom!

It feels SO good to add some life to your bathroom! Adding plants to ours has not only made the space more enjoyable to look at and be in, but it feels fresher. Not to mention – soaking in a bath surrounded by lush greens is like being in a tropical oasis! Ahhhhhh…..Studies have shown that being around plants helps to reduce stress and increases feelings of well-being and we’ve certainly felt that so far!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be featuring some more areas of our home where we’ve added plants, along with the best watering tips! Being fairly new to the game, I wanted to first connect you with an expert; someone who really knows what they’re talking about it when it comes to selecting your houseplants.

In Our Bathroom

On the Wall: Green Heart Leaf Philodendron Cordatum
Hanging Basket: Golden Pothos
Left Plant Stand: Sayuri Sansevieria (snake plant)
Bottom Left: Golden Madonna Aglaonema
Gold Plant Stand: Neon Pothos

Meet The Expert

Now it’s time to hand over this post to the expert! I met Grace at the pretty plant loft Botaniful where she works. She is so knowledgeable and her passion evident. I was happy she agreed to share her wisdom with us here!

Grace is a wife, mom of four kids and two dogs. As an avid outdoor gardening hobbyist, she discovered that she could extend her gardening hobby over the fall and winter by dabbling with indoor houseplants. She inspires to add plant joy and discovery with everyone she meets – children and adults alike!

“If my garden and plants make a passerby stop and linger for a little while to look a little closer at a flower, or a leaf, or because they noticed a small family of birds feasting on seed, jumping from branch to branch, then I feel like I have accomplished gardening with my head and my heart.”

Grace says she is blessed that the Universe presented her with the opportunity to work with plants and to be immersed in something she is truly passionate about.

Adding Plants To Your Bathroom: Grace’s Tips

Adding houseplants to your bathroom is a fantastic way to enhance the feeling of being refreshed and rejuvenated. Not only do plants improve the quality of indoor air, they also improve the quality of our lives.

Plants in a bathroom bring the beauty of nature indoors. Being surrounded by plants helps to invoke feelings of serenity and calmness which is why it is a great idea to incorporate them into a space like a bathroom – a room that is all about cleansing and relaxing.

Tip #1: Access To Light

Plants are living things. They need to eat and drink. In order for a plant to live and thrive, it needs energy from the sun (or another light source), in addition to water and carbon dioxide, to make food for itself. Remember the term “photosynthesis” from grade 2 science class? Yes! No? Maybe? That was a billion years ago! Well, plants use photosynthesis to make sugar, which gives them the energy to grow.

Without access to sunlight or a grow light, your plants will starve and drown to death. A plant that is not “eating” light is not really drinking water as well. The reason I say they will drown is because we will continue watering our bathroom plant (out of love and ignorance) if we do not understand the importance of light. Until we actually understand how a plant eats and grows (meaning the significance of light), we will think that all a plant really needs is water. A plant that has been watered too often will eventually succumb to root rot – which will happen even faster in a space that has very minimal or no access to light.

Tip #2: Assess The Light You Have

Now that we understand how vital sunlight is for healthy plant growth, we need to figure out what kind of light we have in our space. Direct sun – are there areas in your bathroom that the sun shines directly into the space and for long hours of the day? When you look out of the window, is the sun in direct view and the sunbeams streaming into the space? That is direct sun.

Windows with a southern exposure (S, SE, SW) would be considered full sun/direct sun. Figuring out the exposure of your windows is easy. Most cellphones have a compass app. Have your compass app open and stand at your window, as if you are looking outside. The direction showing up on your phone is the exposure your window receives. It’s that easy!

More on Assessing Light

Early morning direct sunlight from the east is not as intense as direct sunlight from the south and west. Partial sun & bright indirect light – this refers to sunlight that is filtered through a sheer curtain, blinds, film on a window, or through leaves of a tree just outside the window. It can be the gentle morning sun rising from the east for a few hours or the stronger rays of sunlight streaming in later in the day through a west-facing window. This light also includes the indirect brightness of a north-facing window where the view of the sky is not obstructed by a sheer curtain, blinds, large buildings or large trees.

Bright, indirect light can also include placing a plant in a shady area right next to a very sunny spot. It should be noted, however, if you place a plant in a shaded area, it will generally lean or reach for the sunnier spot over time.

Low light – Low light means very minimal natural sunlight. This does not mean “no” light. Plants need light in order to live. The quality and the amount of light a plant receives will translate into the lushness and vitality of your plant. North facing windows where the sky is obstructed by buildings or large trees is considered low light. If you cannot read a book in your space in the middle of the day, without turning the lights on, that space is not bright enough for any plant to survive or thrive.

Tip #3: Select The Plants

Once you have determined the quality of light your bathroom receives, select the plants that are best suited to your bathroom lighting conditions and the level of care you’re prepared to give them. Decide on the look you are trying to achieve based on the quality of your light: minimal and clean or lush like a jungle!

Straight, upright growing plants, like most of the Sansevieria varieties (snake plant) and the Zamioculcas (ZZ plant), are great for achieving a clean and minimalistic look. They are also tolerant of low light conditions. I love the look of the strappy, deep green, leathery-looking foliage of the Aspidistra elatior (Cast Iron Plant). This striking plant is also tolerant of low light conditions. Small and compact succulents look neat and tidy displayed individually in their own pots (I like to display them in sets of 3s) along a bright window sill.

More Plant Options

Ferns and some easy-care prayer-plants, such as the Lemon Lime Maranta, are also a great choice for a bright indirectly lit bathroom. Prayer Plants earned their common name from the fact that the leaves will spread out wide during the daytime and then fold up at night as if bringing their hands together in prayer. These plants thrive with extra bursts of humidity from steamy showers throughout the day.

I love adding vining plants, such as hardy Pothos and Philodendron Cordatum, to my northeast-facing bathroom which has a largely unobstructed view of the blue sky. I have them sitting on shelves and suspended in macrame plant hangers in front of my window, directly over my bathtub. Chlorophytum comosum (Spider plant) look great in a hanging basket as they add a nice round grassy fullness and will produce little baby offshoots over time. From the inside of my shower or tub, I can rest my eyes on the greenery all around and let my mind relax as stress and tension gets washed down the drain.

photos: Dallas Curow

Thank you to Grace for the awesome tips! Watch for a post in the next few weeks for tips from Grace on watering your house plants.

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