Photo: Robin Plaskoff Horton

Using houseplants as an interior design element is literally a breath of fresh air. Indoor plants offer numerous health benefits and can even improve your mood because taking care of them provides a calming effect. In addition, plants purify and cleanse the air to help you breathe better and fend off illness.

Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to have a green thumb and may instead end up killing almost every plant they own within a matter of months.

Matthew Wilson, a regular panelist on BBC Gardening Question Time and an award-winning landscape designer, has identified which indoor plants are the easiest to care for and for which rooms they are best suited.

Wilson explains that “most house plants come from sub-tropical or tropical countries where the atmosphere is moist,” which means that in your home you should try to replicate a similar environment to enable your plants to thrive.

To mimic the plant’s natural shade outdoors, the best place for most indoor plants is in a light room but not in direct sunlight. When it comes to watering them, a general rule of thumb is to make sure the soil never dries out too much to be careful while not overwatering them either.

To help you achieve what may seem like a difficult balance, we have provided the following cheat sheets:

The Best Indoor Plants for a Living Room

A more spacious area like a living room or lounge is best suited to the needs of larger plants like a weeping fig or dracaena. The larger space allows these bigger plants more room to spread out.

Spider plants are one of the most adaptable as they need very little light and it’s difficult to overwater them. These and other smaller houseplants look perfect on a coffee table or side table.

The Best Indoor Plants for a Bathroom

Some plants require more watering than other plants and are happier in rooms with higher humidity. These indoor plants flourish best in the bathroom due to the increased moisture in the air.

Low maintenance plants like broadleaf lady palms, Chinese evergreens and English ivy are great for bathrooms. English ivy in particular filters out airborne particles making it an ideal bathroom plant.

The Best Indoor Plants for a Bedroom

House plants such as the snake plant, peace lily and moth orchid are bedroom favorites for many of us. These choices refresh the room with a good “energy vibe” and provide the bedroom with a welcome  pop of color.

Moth orchids and snake plants give off more oxygen at night, improving the quality of and purifying the air in your home while you sleep. “Moth orchids are surprisingly easy to look after and will flower well every year with a little care,” says Wilson.

Here’s to your planting success and let us know how you do!

Graphics created and provided courtesy of Modern Rugs.