SURVEY: Decorating with Houseplants
2020 Resolution: Keep Your Plants Alive
Download Article and @houseplantjournal’s guide to plant care.
Are houseplants our new way to connect to nature? With wellness and self-care dominating the trend-o-sphere, it only makes sense that we’d see the desire to bring those notions to our decor. We launched a survey with OnePoll to 2,000 millennials (25-39)* to understand their experience and relationship with plants. The survey found that 7 in 10 millennials consider themselves a plant parent.
Half of the respondents say they decided to add plants to their space because it complimented their overall aesthetic and decor, while a further 47% said they incorporate greenery into their home because it’s trendy. Millennials also own plants into their home because they improved air quality (48%), are peaceful and calming (45%) and make their space look beautiful (39%).
The survey highlights that even though 40% of millennials plan to buy a houseplant this year, 48% are nervous about their ability to keep plants alive at all.
In spite of their enthusiasm, we noticed an overwhelming anxiety about keeping new plant additions alive. At Article, we’re all about making things easy, so we developed a plant care guide with author of The New Plant Parent and botanical expert Darryl Cheng of @houseplantjournal to help dispel some of the anxiety associated with plant care to keep your plants healthy and spaces looking beautiful.
PLANT CARE IS HARD
As much as millennials love plants, plant care and maintenance remains a source of confusion. Almost half of those surveyed (47%) say they don’t currently own plants because they don’t know how to take care of them. 67% agree the responsibility of being a plant parent is more than what they bargained for. To 19%, watching plants is more stressful than getting a root canal.
Millennials said the most challenging part of taking care of plants are:
50% – The proper sunlight needed.
46% – How much water is needed.
43% – Whether the plant is an indoor or outdoor one.
34% – The importance of pruning plants.
30% – How easy it is to kill a plant.
These challenges can make it difficult to keep plants alive. On average, millennials have killed seven houseplants that they’ve brought home. 67% call themselves plant murderers.
Some of the anxieties around being a plant parent are:
60% – Making sure they have enough sunlight.
56% – Ensuring they have enough water.
48% – Keeping them alive.
37% – Stressing out the plant(s) when they move them.
21% – Finding a plant sitter when away/out of town.
ALOE YOU VERY MUCH
Despite the apprehension and challenges associated with being a plant parent, millennials are bringing plants into their home to create beautiful spaces.
“We’ve seen a rising home decor trend of pairing bold tropical leaf plants with natural elements like dark wood and raw concrete,” said Zoe Garred, director of product development at Article. “It doesn’t come as a surprise that the number one reason millennials own plants is because they compliment their overall home decor aesthetic. A touch of greenery is a simple way to make any modern space more beautiful.”
In addition to creating beautiful spaces, 81% of those polled said adding plants to their space has had a positive effect on their mental and physical health. Four in five polled say that taking care of their plants have led them to start taking better care of themselves.
Three in four respondents agree that plants are a test to see if you are responsible enough to get a pet.
The benefits seem to outweigh the anxiety of plant care and maintenance. 41% of survey respondents say they plan on adding to their plant collection in the coming year.
A LITTLE BIT OF ENCOURAGE-MINT
Darryl Cheng knows all about the life-changing properties of plant care. The man behind popular plant Instagram @houseplantjournal and newly minted author has his collection of plants to thank for his career. A few years ago, Darryl’s mother asked him to help decorate their home with plants in an effort to bring more life into the space.
“As I dove into it,” Darryl says, “I came across all this plant-care instruction that I felt was quite vague. I realized that I had an opportunity to improve the way that plant care was taught to people.”
Darryl loves to inspire people to see their plants as more than a decoration. “People expect a plant to be a piece of decor. But plants are a biological curiosity that you get to live with,” Darryl says. Since those early days of Instagram, Darryl has written a book on plant care and taken his business full time. A perfect position to have taken as plant care’s popularity takes off.
Thankfully, we have thoughtful experts like Darryl who want to take plant care beyond the flimsy plastic card. Article has had the pleasure of working with Darryl to help you become the plant parent (and maybe the eventual pet-parent) that you were born to be.
Check out the plant care guide we’ve developed in partnership with author and plant expert Darryl Cheng of @houseplantjournal.
*Survey Methodology: Survey conducted by OnePoll for Article from December 24, 2019 – January 15, 2020, with a sample of 2,000 U.S. millennials (25-39)