• Houseplants provide the green colours of nature that we associate with tranquility, freshness and new growth.
• They produce oxygen which eliminates toxins and absorb carbon dioxide to provide a cleaner living space.
• Nurturing a houseplant provides mental health benefits with it giving you a sense of purpose to look after a living thing.

With all these benefits, it’s understandable why we saw friends signing up for houseplant subscriptions through lockdown or growing herb patches on their kitchen windowsills to bring some much needed joy in the home.

Hanging plants are the latest fad whether in baskets or ceramic pots. For those of you who know Catriona here in the office, she was never a fan of hanging plants and now she owns two (seen pictured above) as well as an array of other plants, vast becoming an indoor jungle.

Houseplants have been a struggle for me as a lack of watering or overwatering would cause them not to survive. I used to think they were a trend of my mother’s generation as I’m certain she still has a houseplant that is older than me!

As much as I’m more an advocate of bringing the outdoors in with flower stems and branches in gorgeous vessels or dried flower bunches, another past trend coming back into style, I do see the appeal of houseplants. If you water and feed them correctly (the majority of them like being watered only when the soil is bone dry, especially cacti and succulents) and find the perfect spot for them where they flourish, they can provide a much needed tranquil influence in your home.

Your sense of smell is probably not something you associate with your mental health but you’d be surprised how much they are interlinked. In fact, some studies have shown that when you are anxious, your sense of smell is heightened as you are more “in touch” with your senses, particularly to bad smells. It’s no wonder we’ve seen a focus on smell from friends and family during the past five months, wanting to create a relaxingly scented sanctuary in their homes.

• room/reed diffusers
• room sprays
• candles
• pillow sprays
• bath salts
• face masks
• body oils and lotions
• facial steamers
• wrist oil rollers

Room sprays, reed diffusers, candles, wrist rollers and pillow sprays are our favourite pieces to use to provide a calming scent to improve sleep and reduce anxious feelings.

Our Organic Happy Essential Oil Room Diffuser is a favourite of ours as it is a relaxing yet joyous scent that throws very well in any space. Its lovely scent is always commented on when anyone enters a room it is placed in. We will be adding organic refills for these diffusers as well as another scent, Tranquil, which consists of Lavender, Neroli and Sandalwood on the website soon. Keep an eye out for it, along with some beautiful travel candles.

• A sprig of something you’ve grown in your garden or on your windowsill.
• Separate and repot an Aloe Vera or another houseplant you have in your home that can be separated.
• Purchase a pillow spray or a soothingly scented candle.

We’d love to see your houseplants and hear your tips on creating a sanctuary in your home. Send them in and they may feature on our social media pages.