House plants, also called indoor plants, add charm to your home or office. Growing house plants is a captivating and rewarding hobby that can be enjoyed by everyone.

The benefits of indoor gardening are numerous. House plants clean the air by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. House plants brighten winter days with their vivid colour and green foliage.

When buying house plants, take time to learn their cultural needs, watch for possible disease and insect problems. Check house plants over carefully before purchasing. Pick the ones with a healthy green color and signs of new growth. Webbing or speckled leaves could signal an insect or pest problem.

A newly bought plant should be kept away from other house plants for a couple of weeks to avoid exposing other plants to problems, which the new plant may develop.

Most house plants are hybrids of plant species, which grow wild somewhere in the world. A good way of keeping them healthy is to try to match the environment, from which they are coming from.

Proper lighting and watering are essential factors for keeping your house plants healthy, but temperatures and humidity affect plants as well. Generally, tropical plants enjoy a relative humidity of 50%-70% and warm temperatures.

One would better keep his/her house plants on a slightly dry side than over-watered. Over-watering is the most common cause of plant death. City water is treated with chemicals, however plants don't like chlorine or fluoride, and so make sure you allow the water to sit in an open container for 24 hours, prior to using it for watering your plants.