If you're searching for the perfect accessory to spruce up your home in the New Year, consider becoming a plant parent! House plants are ideal for urban living – they bring nature into your home and studies indicate that plants reduce stress, help purify the air, reduce noise, improve wellness and even increase your creativity. Plants also add drama and energy to your home decor. If you have a furry friend, make sure that your new plant family members are non-toxic to nibbling pooches and felines. Check out this list of pet-friendly flowers & plants from Teleflora. Now that you're ready for plant-parenthood, here are some inspiring ideas to get you started.

As with any kind of home decor, a houseplant collection looks best when you’ve got variety – of leaf, shape, texture, color, and size. And that means sometimes you have to go big. Large leaf houseplants can tie a room together and lend an air of tropical tranquility your desk cactus just can’t achieve, no matter how hard it tries. Looking for inspiration? Apartment Therapy has some great suggestions for big leaf houseplants to bring big style to your home.

The Plant Provocateur 3318 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026

Owner Hank Jenkins admits that he's obsessed with plants and how they influence beauty, design, and lifestyle. Originally from the backwoods of Michigan, the garden designer, author, and former glam rock band front, has a mission to "Inspire with Plants" and encouirages folks to aspire to the beauty plants provide. Specializiing in unique and sometimes hard-to-find house plants, The Plant Provocateur also sells planting supplies and a curated selection of vases, jars, pots, and other interesting display vessels.

Sunset Blvd Nursery 4368 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90039

Located in the heart of Silverlake on the corner of Sunset Blvd & Fountain Ave., Sunset Nursery has been family owned and operated since 1959. The nusery carries a wide selection of house plants, from small to large, to freshen your interior. Add pizzaz to your balcony with an array of colorful cacti and succulents, California native and drought tolerant plants. They also offer flower pots imported from all over the world and an extensive line of organic fertilizers and eco-friendly plant products to keep your plants happy, healthy, and all-natural. 

Mickey Hargitay Plants 1255 N Sycamore Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90038

Plant yourself in one of Los Angeles' premiere nurseries, whose clients include Sony Design Center, Whole Foods Market, Calvin Klein Studio, Tommy Hilfiger, and an astonishing list of celebrities. The 1,500-square-foot greenhouse is home to a wide selection of indoor and outdoor tropical plants of all sizes. They also stock decorative containers in Italian Terra Cotta, Malaysian and Chinese Ceramics, Mexican Red Clay and Rattan baskets. More than a store, Mickey Hargitay Plants can help with your interior and exterior landscape and design needs. They also offer a guaranteed indoor plant maintenance service, with a weekly visit by one of their expertly-trained technicians.

6 Easy Ways to Keep Your Plants Alive During the Dark Days of Winter

Baby, it’s cold outside, and since your indoor plants can’t exactly slip on a sweater, the change in season means attending to them with a little extra care. Well and Good has some tips for keeping your plants happy and healthy, like increasing the light with a grow light, stabilizing indoor temperature, skipping the fertilizer, and remembering to dust!

Bloomscape Subscription Service for Plants

Everyone should live with a little more green – and Bloomscape is here to help strengthen your relationship with plants. They make buying plants easy by delivering healthy, ready-to-go plants to your door and setting you up with the tips and tricks you need to help your plants thrive. plants make life better. Bloomscape comes from five generations of greenhouse growers and floral industry innovators, and their roots go all the way back to ancestors who were pioneers in the Netherlands’ horticulture industry. Plants are shipped with care and experience, at the right temperature to protect their roots and keep them healthy while they travel from the greenhouse to your home.

Let Your Plants Play Music, and Gardens of Sound Will Bloom

PlantWave turns a plant's biorhythms into music. Just attach two sensors to a plant’s leaves and PlantWave connects wirelessly to an iOS or Android device running the app. PlantWave converts the electrical conductivity of houseplants into audio, giving plants the chance to sing, by detecting slight electrical variations on the leaves. These variations are graphed as a wave, which is translated into pitch messages that play musical instruments designed by the PlantWave team. Other characteristics of the wave change the textural qualities of those sounds. The result is a continuous stream of pleasing music that gives you a sonic window into the secret life of plants. 

If you want to live longer, surround yourself with plants

If you want to live longer, live around green space. That’s the simple conclusion of the largest analysis ever performed on the relationship between the environment and human longevity – ever. Eight million people. Seven countries. One simple finding: People who lived near more green space lived longer than people who lived near less. All the more reason to put some plants in your life!

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