Five Tips for Keeping Your Indoor Greenery Healthy In Winter

Even in the dead of winter, nature allows us the chance to keep our green thumbs working.

Houseplants might seem commonplace, even mundane, most of the year. Yet during the long winter season in Brookfield, Elm Grove and New Berlin, WI, anything green and alive is a source of cheer and hope.

For many people, the houseplants dotting their homes fulfill this mental health role. Their mere presence, while everything else seems dark and frozen, is a beacon of better times to come.

It’s why taking care of houseplants has a special importance in winter. The conditions that affect us – cold temperatures, shorter days, less light – affect them, too. There’s a certain symbiosis.

With most homes closed up tight in February, the benefits of indoor plants can hardly be overstated. They create oxygen and remove airborne toxins. Their perky greenery (if properly cared for) is a welcome sight.

These five tips can help your houseplants survive the winter, and you to enjoy their silent company:

• Move plants to windows with southern exposures. Sunlight in winter is shorter and less intense. A change in locale ensures your plants get enough.
• Houseplants don’t like drafty spots. Keep them away from doors and windows leaking cold air, or heat vents blasting warm air. Try to find an in-between location, if possible.
• Plants that spend the summer and fall outdoors often drop leaves when brought inside for winter. Don’t be alarmed. Some plants even grow thinner new leaves to adapt to the lower light levels.
• Believe it or not, dust buildup on plants’ leaves blocks sunlight, reducing photosynthesis (their life-giving process). Spray with a water bottle, or put large plants in the shower, to clean their leaves.
• “Leaf shine” products might make plants more attractive, but not healthier. They reflect light away from leaves (again reducing photosynthesis). Their stickiness collects even more dust.

Most indoor plants are pretty low maintenance. Granted, they’re not a real substitute for digging hands deep into rich soil, or relishing the aroma of fresh-cut grass. We have few options in February, though … so let’s enjoy the humble houseplant, and give it two green thumbs up.