The recommendations rate for the optimum number of houseplant in the house may vary based on your different goals. If we need to improve health, reduce fatigue and stress, we may place one large plant (8-inch diameter pot or larger) or achieve similar results with two smaller plants (4-5-inch pots) for every 129 square feet. Increase the number of houseplant available in the house could increase the efficiency of houseplants in purify the air. Besides improving health and purifying the air, houseplant also play a role in home decoration also. If we want to using houseplant as decoration in the office or classroom, the number of the plants should be enough to create greenery view which can be seen by everyone in the office. In order to make everyone have a greenery view, we should place the houseplant in every corner in our living space. In order to achieve this target, We may fully make use of the different height of the houseplant, we may place it on the desk, cabinet, on the floor or even hanging it on the wall. But firstly, we should understand clearly which plant and where should we place our houseplants.

Floor Plants

Floor plants are those plants which could grow upright and at least 1.5 feet up to 8 feet’s height and easily spotted by the people who are passing by. Floor plant usually using bigger planter, the planter should be at least 200mm wide and 300mm height. If the planter is too small, the floor plant will be fall down easily and become a risk factor at home. Besides that, the plant should match with the size of the planter to create a balance visual ratio. So, the below are the recommended floor plants which are suitable for bigger planter.

Ficus Benjamina/Ficus Lyrata/Ficus Elastica

All the plants mentioned above can grow up to 3m or higher if we do not prune the tree. However, it is growing very slow and we need to prune once a year only to maintain its optimum height within 1.0m to 2.0m. It is suitable to place at entrance because it may tolerance wide range of light intensity and more drought tolerance compare to the other houseplant. Light intensity in the entrance area may fluctuated more, light intensity maybe higher in the morning or evening and low in the noon time when the sun is right above the roof. Therefore, the plants place in the entrance should not be too sensitive to the vary of light intensity. 

Dracaena surculosa var maculate/ Dracaena surculosa milkyway/ Draceana surculosa stardust

Same as Ficus tree Dracaena surculosa may grow to 1m and above, slow growing plants, tolerance wide range of light intensity, drought tolerance and suitable to place it at the entrance area. It is only need to pruning once a year to maintain its optimum height within 1m to 2 m. Besides that, we may keep it in small size (below 1 m height) also if you want turn it into a desk plant.

Calathea lutea

It may grow up to 1m to 2 m only, the height of the Calathea lutea is limited but it is growing faster compare to Ficus and Dracaena tree. Thinning of the Calathea lutea still needed at least once a year to prevent the bushes of Calathea become too dense and cuse the soil compaction. Calathea lutea can tolerate wide range of the light intensity also but if the sunlight is too strong it will cause the burning of the leaves. Therefore, it is more suitable to place on the pavement or beside the window where receiving partial sunlight. 

The floor plants could acts for different purpose at home also. For example, If you like partial of the sunlight reach to your house but you don’t want too much sunlight and make your indoors’ temperature increasing. Floor plant may act as an object to block partial of the sunlight and prevent indoor temperature increased. Besides that, floor plant could use as screening to prevent your private space visible by the others. A row of the floor plant may use as a natural divider to differentiate the spaces for different purpose also. We may make use of the different height of the houseplant for different purpose, and houseplant will not just be a home decoration anymore! There still have many advantages of placing houseplant at home and wait us to explore it!