Two spider plants sit on a wooden table. Their long green leaves are surrounded by a yellow stripe and dark green speckles in the center. Behind them are wooden shelves filled with smaller, leafier houseplants.
Houseplants won't just brighten up your space — they’ll help clean the air, too!

The 5 Best House Plants to Clean the Air

HOUSE PLANTS ARE MORE THAN JUST PRETTY DECORATIONS.

By Mia Bencivenga

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December 2, 2020

As we enter what feels like the thousandth week of the COVID-19 crisis, many people are still hunkering down in their homes. All year round, but in the winter especially, the air inside your house can feel stagnant and dry. That’s where houseplants can help.

Not only do they add a cozy quality to our homes, but they also can help clean and humidify the air.

If you’re worried about your ability to take care of a houseplant, here are five great options for gardening beginners — or people who tend to forget to water their plants.

Peace Lily

Peace Lily

As the name suggests, peace lilies are a beautiful, tranquil plant with glossy leaves. They’re easy to care for because they will “tell” you whenever they need watering by dramatically drooping. Peace Lily’s (and their soil!) help trap pollutants from manmade materials. Just make sure you trim their bottom leaves so the soil is exposed to as much air as possible. Also, their leaves can be toxic, so wash your hands after handling them, and keep them out of reach of pets and children. 

Spider Plant

Spider Plant

If you’re looking for a resilient plant, you’re going to love the spider plant. Not only are they notoriously hard to kill (which is great for those of us who lack green thumbs), but they have little “baby” spider plants that you can put in small planters throughout your house. Spider plants, like the majority of air-cleaning plants, pull air pollutants down to their soil and pump out cleaner, more humid air through their leaves. Pretty impressive!

Snake Plant

Rubber Plants

Rubber plants are ideal houseplants for many reasons, but some of the biggest include that they’re hearty, don’t require much watering, and grow big and tall. Another benefit to those big beautiful leaves is that they are able to capture lots of pollutants from the air and release oxygen in return. 

Snake Plant

Here’s another plant that thrives in dry environments and can survive even the most forgetful gardener. Not only do snake plants look Instagram-worthy, but they’re also low maintenance. Their superpower? They’ll convert carbon dioxide into oxygen at night— making them the ideal plant to have in your bedroom.

English Ivy

English Ivy

There’s something romantic about ivy plants. They’re visually appealing, but they are also supposedly the best type of air filtering plant out there. Why? Well, apparently they’re amazing at filtering out mold as well as pollutants from the air in your home. As always, be careful to keep them away from kids and pets, as their leaves can be poisonous. 

So, if you’ve got a room in your house that could use some freshening up, any of these houseplants will do the job — and they’ll add a little ambiance, too!

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By Mia Bencivenga