There's no denying that plants improve the aesthetic value of our world, air quality, and the clarity of our thoughts. Indeed, studies go even further: A number of them link indoor plants to reductions in stress, fatigue, and illness. Communities with designated green space experience less crime, plant-filled classrooms seem to help kids pay more attention and cut flowers can inspire creativity in adults.

We can't all live in a rain forest, but by strategically placing plants in our homes, we can reap their benefits. For the biggest payoff, here's your room-by-room guide to greenery and good health.

Kitchen: Grow Mint and Coriander

* Coriander: If the wisdom of centuries is proof enough, coriander is a must-grow herb. It speeds up digestion, gives your pancreas pep to secrete more insulin and reduces harmful lipids or fats. This exceptional anti-inflammatory herb is rich in iron, manganese and magnesium besides essential chemicals or phytonutrients like camphor, elemol, limonene and carvone. It is an excellent dietary fiber that tones up your digestion and with its amazing anti-bacterial skills, fights bugs that may otherwise play hockey. A study published in the June 2004 issue of the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry believes duodecimal, found in both leaves and seeds of coriander, may even fight salmonella twice as effectively as antibiotics.


* Mint: Even the mint leave who pedals water knows mint is invaluable for summer. Mint contains menthol, a digestive aid that also earns it its name from the Greek word 'mentha'. Menthol has anesthetic and anti-inflammatory properties also, which is why mint juice offers relief when applied locally to itchy skin. Having mint at hand is an excellent idea since chewing mint leaves can counter a blinding headache caused by acidity, heat and exhaustion and is a natural mouth freshener. A decoction of mint leaves is great to counter morning sickness. Both herbs can be thrown into a salad, used as garnishing and made into a dip or chutney.

A kitchen, unless it has an efficient chimney, may be a little stuffy for plants. So, try growing the herbs on the sill or in a window box. Both mint and coriander need some hours of sun and water at least once a day. Check the soil for dryness before you give it the next drink. The biggest mistake people make with indoor plants is killing them with kindness. A good watering once a week is plenty for most plants. Insert a finger into the soil around the container's edge; if the top inch is dry, water again.


Few flowers are as soothing and romantic as jasmine. Reason enough to place a tub of jasmine, pruned regularly into a shrub rather than allowed to grow into a climber, in the bedroom. Incidentally, pruned jasmine rewards you with more flowers. If the plant is too large to be brought indoors, place the flowers in a bowl of water by the bedside. Just five flowers are enough to perfume the room. According to aromatherapy, jasmine is recommended for those with insomnia, depression, stress and exhaustion. Jasmine is also an expectorant, so it works wonders for those with breathing problems. Jasmine can be used to flavor herbal tea, taken without sugar or milk.


Flower teas are good for digestion and are excellent anti-oxidants. If you plan to keep the tub in your bedroom, make sure it gets full sun to partial shade and a decent guzzle regularly. Jasmine may not take kindly to an air-conditioned room, so place it out regularly. It's not a fussy plant otherwise and requires little care other than a spoonful of organic fertilizer once a month.


There's nothing as energizing as a bunch of fresh flowers. With glassworks booming like never before, the options you have in vases are tempting enough to pick up flowers. However, even placing a pot of flowers can energies your den. Flowers like gerbera and chrysanthemum can remove the carcinogenic benzene from the air, according to the NASA study on plants. Both plants require bright light, so they need to be shuttled out when you are leaving home for the day. By evening, when you return to relax, they are ready to move indoors.

Workplace: Cut stress with flowers

Add value to your surroundings

No amount of chrome and glass can push up productivity, pretty up the workplace and reduce stress as can plants. That is why the biggest and not-so-big corporate grow or rent plants.


Although it does well even in a bottle of water if you are using it as a potted plant, go easy on watering: too many leaves falling off mean too much water. To keep it from growing scraggly, pinch the tips so that growth stops at that end and the plant throws forth stems from the sides. House plants turn a house into a home. One house plant per 100 sq ft of living area is enough to wield the magic.


Unknown to most of us, several plants can be poisonous. They can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, which can be fatal. If you have small children or pets, steer clear of bulbs like amaryllis, most lilies, narcissus and daffodil. Oleander, one of the most common plants in India, is extremely poisonous. Among ornamentals, beware of dieffenbachia or dumb cane. In the flowering annual range, give larkspur the miss. Berries of the common weed Lantana affect the lungs, kidneys, heart and nervous system and can be fatal.


The calliandra surinamensis or powder puff tree looks charming. But stay away from it if you are allergic to pollen. This is also the season for Congress grass to flower, leading to asthma and breathing disorders and a skin allergy, parthenium dermatitis. July is boom time for the weed. Ensure each parthenium plant is uprooted and burnt before it flowers. This is also party time for garden pests. Try organic methods of pest control like treating visiting aphids with tobacco water. Soak tobacco from four cigarettes in four large mugs of water. Stand overnight. Spray over the aphids, but be careful the solution does not touch you, children or pets.