Quite on-trend, indoor palm plants bring the much-desired vibrancy of greenery to any space within the home. We chat to the experts, Austen Gordon and Andreas Keller of Plantify who provide us with a buyer’s guide and Jean Badenhorst of Jean Green for some care tips.
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Plantify’s Austen Gordon and Andreas Keller on how to buy your palms:
1. Opt for variety
We love indoor palms for their instant lushness and fullness. There are many varieties within the palm family – we love the classic parlor palm (areca palm), which features long-leafed stems. We also love the lady palm for its star- or fan-shaped array of leaves and we’re currently crushing on the gorgeous fan palm. As palms can be quite visually “busy” with all their leaves, we suggest carefully mixing different varieties together so that your result isn’t confusing to the eye. This can be achieved by pairing the same plants together for a cohesive look or by using contrasting palms. We suggest using a big-leaf variety with a small-leaf variety. Be careful about placing two palms of different varieties together but with similar sized and shaped leaves, or else their individual leaf qualities will get lost in the forest, so to speak. If your palms won’t be overlapping each other or won’t be placed close together, then go wild.
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2. Placement is key
Thoughtfully placed into a home, palms will bring a gorgeous pop of bright green to the space and can fill out a corner beautifully. Indoor palms love bright light best (as all plants do) but they will be happy in areas that only receive medium levels of natural light. Palms are good choices for areas in your home that are a little dim. When you choose your palm, you should consider your space to determine whether there will be enough natural light. We also suggest checking the foliage of the plant for general health – excessive yellow or brown leaves on a plant are signs of incorrect watering and you shouldn’t buy it. Large palms make great statement pieces, but they also do a great job of filling up an empty corner in a room. Always consider the size of the plant in relation to its surroundings. In a large living room, for example, one palm in a corner may not be enough to make an impact, but if you move it over next to the sofa, you have a plant that’ll make the space alive. For smaller spaces, a corner is a perfect spot as you can bring a large plant into the space and use it to fill up “dead” spaces without it getting in the way of everyday life. Palms do not like to be in a draught, so you need to make sure that it won’t be standing where it will be directly exposed to a constant draught. Speaking of draught, although the palm is resistant to air conditioning, try not to stand your plant directly in the draught from the unit.
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Jean Badenhorst of Jean Green makes taking care of your palms super easy with these three tips:
1. Place your palm in a bright area in your home and where there is indirect light. Direct sunlight will scorch the leaves.
2. During spring and summer, keep the soil of your palm moist, but allowing it to dry out slightly in between watering; feed your palm monthly during these seasons. Reduce watering in winter.
3. Clean the leaves regularly – you could stand it under a tepid shower or simply place it outdoors during a light summer rain shower. Mist the leaves regularly to create humidity – more frequently if you place your palms in a warm room.
Jean Green
Top Style tips
1. I love grouping palms (of the same family) together. Buy three palms of different sizes and pot them in similar pots. Style them together to create a small family of palms – Jean Badenhorst, Jean Green
Jean Green
2. At Plantfiy, we love pairing palms with hand-woven baskets for a truly tropical vibe – and these baskets are incidentally made out of palm leaves! If your space is limited, try placing one larger plant as a statement piece and then filling your space with smaller plants to create a cohesive tropical look – Austen Gordon and Andreas Keller, Plantify
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