The 10 Best Plants for Your Bathroom
Not since the 1970s have houseplants been such a dominant feature of our interior design choices. Yes, natural foliage is back on trend in a big way this year, and the more outdoors you’re able to bring indoors the better. Whether they’re pot plants, hanging plants, flowering plants or low light plants, there’s a place in our homes for all of them. And one of the best places just so happens to be the bathroom.
The humidity levels in this steamy paradise help to keep lots of plants at their absolute best. Even if your property has a bathroom without windows, there are lots of options available of plants that should thrive with just the right amount of care, attention and lighting. So let’s take a look at 10 of the best plants for the bathroom.
1. Bamboo
Bamboo is a gorgeous plant but it’s really unruly outdoors and can literally take over your garden. One of the best ways to control it is to contain it in a decent-sized pot in a sand-rich soil mix and pop it in your bathroom. It’ll need around 6 hours of sunlight each day and you’ll need to re-pot it around once a year as it grows super-fast, especially with all that lovely, nitrogen-rich fertilizer you’ll give it each week during spring and summer. One thing’s for sure, though, it’ll sure look stunning juxtaposed with a freestanding tub and some beautiful wooden cabinetry.
2. Calathea Rattlesnake Lancifolia
Otherwise known at the rattlesnake plant, the beautiful, two-tone, dark-edged leaves of the Calathea Rattlesnake Lancifolia will sit beautifully in a corner of a low-lit bathroom out of direct sunlight but with lots of moisture. The steam from that two-tap, walk-in shower of yours should take good care of the latter. You’ll probably want to water it around once a week as, though it enjoys moisture, it doesn’t fare well in wet soil. If you see the leaves yellowing, just cut back the frequency and amount your water it a bit.
3. Chinese Evergreen
There are around 20 different types of Chinese evergreen within the Aglaonema genus and they all love the climate that your bathroom will provide. Their large, tropical leaves will just keep on keeping on, even if you forget to water them for a while. The only thing they’re not too keen on is cold air, so if you start to see any leaf damage, there’s a good chance you’ve placed it in a draughty spot. Water it once every 10 to 12 days and, if you see the leaves yellowing, cut back a bit. Keep them in a low-lit spot in a pot with good drainage in soil that’s equal parts compost, perlite and sand.
4. Golden Pothos
This stunning, fast-growing climber could have been made for the bathroom. (If, you know, it wasn’t perfected by nature.) The Golden Pothos loves the humidity so make sure it gets to soak up some of that lovely steam to keep the tips of the leaves from browning. It thrives in bright sunlight and low light alike, just make sure the light isn’t hitting it directly. You’ll only need to water it once every 10 to 14 days but keep it in a good, moist potting mix and don’t let it dry out completely if you don’t want it to wilt. Pop it in a corner and let it go to work, climbing up the walls of your bathroom and making it feel like a little rainforest right there in your home.
5. Snake Plant
The beautiful snake plant has pretty much never gone out of fashion as a houseplant. And that’s not only because its beautiful green leaves are edged with nature’s decoration of a lovely yellow trim, but also because you’d have to be some kind of ninja assassin to kill it. It can survive in the hardiest of environments, whether brightly or low-lit, humid or dry as a bone. The only thing is doesn’t really enjoy very much is direct sunlight so if your bathroom is south facing, make sure to keep it out of the window. You won’t need to water it too often. The best way is to wait until it’s fully dried out and then you can give it a good drink, but don’t soak it.
6. Gardenia
Beautifully fragrant, the lovely white flowers of the gardenia will bring an amazing summery freshness to your bathroom and their waxy, shiny, deep green leaves are just perfect for a warm, moist environment. In fact, if you want to grow them indoors, the bathroom is the best place for them, because they’re not the easiest plants to grow elsewhere in the house, due to their dislike of draughts. They’ll need lots of sunlight and to be grown in an acid fertilizer rich in peat moss. You’ll also need to give them a good pruning once every eight-to-twelve weeks as they can really grow!
7. Peace Lily
If you love plants but don’t have a particularly green thumb, the peace lily is a fantastic choice for the bathroom as they don’t need the greatest amount of care and attention and, yet, they’re absolutely lovely to look at. Regular watering (don’t let the soil dry out) and fortnightly feeding with a well-diluted fertilizer will keep peace lilies looking at their best but if you’re having any trouble getting them to flower, it probably means they could use a bit more light (though they don’t need a lot).
8. Spider Plant
Probably the most popular of all bathroom plants, the chlorophytum comosum as it’s known to horticulturalists (spider plant to us regular folks) is the perfect leafy hanging plant for your bathroom. Its ‘pups’ (the little plantlets that grow off it) will cultivate themselves, reaching downward and filling the space beneath the pot to really give your bathroom a lush sense of fullness. Once they have their own roots, you can take cuttings and repot them. Make sure you keep spider plants in fairly small pots, as their roots like to feel enclosed. They do well in well-lit and medium-lit bathrooms alike, but they don’t like direct sunlight. Also, they’re great for cooler climates – just don’t let them get a frost or that will see them off.
9. Dumb Cane
The dieffenbachia, or dumb cane as it’s better known, is another great bathroom favourite thanks to its being so easy to take care of. It’s a lovely, lush green that enjoys the moisture and its large elliptical leaves are streaked with yellow for a bit of mother nature’s colour contrast. Give it the one-inch finger-poke test to see when it needs watering – in other words, if the soil is dry an inch beneath the surface, it’s time to water it. Keep it a quick-draining compost in a spot that gets a good amount of light and turn the pot once a month to keep it growing evenly in all directions.
10. Bird’s Nest Fern
One of the easiest ferns to take care of, the Bird’s Nest Fern is a rich green, leafy plant with wrinkled, wavy leaves that look a bit like banana plant leaves. They ascend large from the centre, growing smaller around the edges of the pot. A blood-red vein runs from the stem of the leaf and fades to whitish green at the tip. Like all the plants in our list, here, they love the moisture of the bathroom – in their natural habitat, they actually live inside palm trees so they can collect the host plant’s moisture. They don’t like direct sunlight, so are perfect for a north-facing bathroom. In a moist, loamy, acidic compost that’s never dry but never continually soaking, they can reach up to 5 feet tall and are really stunning at that size.
Looking for something else to read? Check out our article on how to design a Kelly Hoppen inspired bathroom.
Main photo by Skylar Kang