When it comes to the benefits of keeping real plants in the home, the facts are indisputable.
They oxygenate your space, keep you connected with nature and improve general health and wellbeing. According to Horticulture.com, we’re obsessed with them with £7.6bn spent by Brits on new leafy friends in 2021 alone.
The average person will shell out £306.71 a year on houseplants, which makes it all the more disheartening when your fledgling green shoots fail to flourish.
Nurturing a houseplant can be tricky business, especially if you’re a novice gardener. How often have you followed the plant care instructions to the letter only for your monstera, bamboo or ivy to stubbornly give up the ghost anyway?
It can be tempting to get a faux version in, but then you’d be cheating yourself out of the satisfaction and perks of caring for the real thing.
Location, location, location
Plants are as unique as humans, with each one requiring a different checklist to grow successfully. If remembering to water them is your main stumbling block, the answer is obvious. Put them in a high moisture area and let your daily routine do the work for you.
The bathroom is an excellent place to keep varieties of houseplants that call for, if not regular watering, then frequent misting. The steam from your shower will keep them hydrated and if you place them by a window, sunlight will do the rest.
Which plants are best for the bathroom?
Online florist Bloom & Wild is famous for selling letterbox flowers as well as luxury bouquets and a nifty line in houseplants. For high humidity areas, the company recommends rainforest natives to brighten and bring a spa-like feel to your washroom. It adds: "You’ll also need to pick a plant that’ll like the light conditions in your bathroom. If yours doesn’t let much direct sunlight in, houseplants that need all day sun won’t be happy there. So opt for one that can thrive in a shady spot."
Air purifying plants are also a sound choice, washing the air clean of bathroom chemicals that come from the likes of cleaning products, deodorant and body and hair care products.
We’ve found the best shade-loving, steam-happy and air-purifying plants to consider keeping in your bathroom.
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Best indoor plants to add a splash of greenery your home
Best air purifying house plants to keep your indoor space fresh
Best plant delivery services UK: Get plants fast by ordering online from these sites
Patch Plants Bali
Fancy bringing vacay vibes to your bathroom? Opt for Patch Plant’s small Schefflera, or Umbrella Tree. Rooted on her own lava rock set inside a tray, the plant offers statement appeal while needing pleasingly little in the way of care. The variety is most commonly found in Taiwanese forests, so naturally it enjoys a hot and humid setting - which makes a bathroom so fitting. The small size is a maximum of 40cm high but if you have the space for a bigger sister, the large can reach up to 90cm.
Be warned, Bali does need a medium level of indirect sunlight, so best for bathrooms with windows.
Find more bathroom-ready plants at Patch Plants.
Buy now £30.00, Patch Plants
Bloom & Wild The Monstera
The UK’s most popular houseplant, among millennials and Gen Z at least, The Monstera or Swiss cheese plant needs little introduction.
One of the reasons it’s a favourite is down to its easy going nature. While one will fare well in practically any room of the home, it will adore the wet conditions of your bathroom as they’re native to rainforests.
However, for optimum thriving potential, it’s best to keep its soil about 75 per cent dry before watering. Place the plant away from the bath or shower, by the door ideally so it can get some air when it needs it.
Top tip: keep leaves gleaming by occasionally polishing with coconut oil.
Buy now £38.00, Bloom & Wild
Arena Flowers Pineapple Plant
From across the Atlantic the Pineapple Plant has found renewed popularity on these shores. When they first arrived in Britain in the early 1700s, they were so startlingly unusual that only the exceedingly rich could afford to have them (as decoration, never eaten), and so they became a symbol of wealth and luxury.
Cut to 21st Century newsfeeds and Pinterest boards, and you’ll see that the fruit in its potted form is in vogue once more. As a rainforest plant from the wilds of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean it adores high humidity settings but only needs proper watering when the top layer of soil is dry.
Place in indirect sunlight and cue Alexa to play Club Tropicana for your next shower singing performance. Comes with a ceramic pot and free delivery.
Buy now £38.00, Arena Flowers
Maranta Fascinator Tricolour Prayer Plant
This is one of the hardest grafters in removing carbon dioxide from your home. Also known as Calathea, the Prayer Plant nickname comes from the way that the leaves fold together at night like hands in prayer - it’s a real treat to see them unfold if you’re an early riser.
Easy to care for, the plants enjoy indirect or medium light, and regular watering making them ideal for the bathroom or kitchen, helping to elevate the space. They have beautifully patterned leaves and come in a variety of colours, from green to purple, but keep away from sunny windows as this may cause them to fade.
Buy now £13.99, Amazon
Patch Plants Rapunzel
Also known as Devil’s Ivy, the Pothos makes an excellent bathroom plant. They’re famous for being super low maintenance (no herbicide guilt here), doing well in bright conditions as well as low light.
They tend to be on the smaller side too, so you won’t have to navigate around one when you’re drying yourself off from the shower. Pothos are also very good at removing common toxins from the air, purifying your space.
Place on a high shelf adjacent to your shower’s spray path for light misting when you have your morning bath.
Buy from Patch Plants and you can add a pot to house your new arrival in style.
Buy now £15.00, Patch Plants
Arena Flowers Anthurium Plant with Pot
Add a splash of colour to your bathroom with this vibrant plant, which originally hails of the rainforests of South America.
The striking heart-shaped coloured spathe offers an energising contrast to the waxy dark green leaves, giving it something a little extra to your garden variety houseplant. It doesn’t need a whole lot of light but does grow best in bright, indirect sunlight.
With regular watering high on its list of requirements, there’s no better place for it than in the bathroom.
Buy now £32.00, Arena Flowers
M&S Sansevieria Tin with Wooden Stand
The Snake Plant with its dark green leaves framed by lighter green-yellow borders loves nothing more than a hot and humid environment. With air purifying properties, they're the dream plant to add to your bathroom, scrubbing the air clean as you wash up before bed or in the shower.
They're happy in all kinds of light but hate being overwatered, so don't place them too close to the tub where they could get accidentally splashed. Instead they'll take all the water they need from the steamy condition.
Best of all this little beauty from M&S comes housed in a plant pot and stand, so it's ready to stand in its new home right away.
Buy now £30.00, M&S
Gardener’s Dream Stunning Boston Fern
If you’re one for long, hot showers, a Boston Fern can transform your bathroom into a rainforest-inspired oasis. The full, bushy plant loves living in damp spots, which makes it so suited to bathrooms and other high humidity environments. Set it on a shelf to allow its fronds to droop down, or install a hanging pot at the end of your bath/ shower to help keep its soil nice and moist.
Buy now £12.99, Amazon
Waitrose Florist Peace Lily
For calm and tranquillity in your bathroom, a Peace Lily is an excellent addition to your plant collection.
The pretty plant with white flowers helps to create a serene, spa-like ambience and is easy to care for, thriving best in high moisture, low-light conditions - ideal for bathrooms without a window.
Waitrose’s flowering version comes ready to place in a woven basket and is also an excellent option if you’re looking for a foolproof housewarming gift.
Buy now £40.00, Waitrose
Bloombox Club Aloe Vera
A common ingredient in many hydrating beauty products, the raw version of Aloe Vera also has star-worthy potential for your bathroom. Bloombox Club offers them in three sizes to best suit your space. The fast-growing plant does best in plenty of sunshine while humidity is also another plus point.
As the leaves grow upwards, there’s no need to worry about it taking up too much room either; let it grow on the floor or a high shelf, tall and proud.
Buy now £22.95, Bloombox Club
