Green, green plants of home

PLANTS in homes and offices cheer us up and improve our productivity and air quality, a horticultural scientist has claimed. Dr Tijana Blanusa said potted flowers scrub the air of harmful gases. But it is important to keep the greenery alive as studies have shown that dead plants can actually make us sad, she said.

- By Mark Reynolds

The Royal Horticultural Society researcher told the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast: “It is quite complicated how plants affect us.

“The impact of indoor plants particularly is mainly in that elusive wellbeing domain.

“So plants will generally have a positive impact of how people feel, how productive they are in the space, how much they appreciate the space they work in.”