The 14 Best Bathroom Plants

With our homes becoming full of more and more technology, it's becoming even more important to choose design styles that increase our connection to nature. House plants are an excellent way to introduce colour and life to your bathroom and luckily there's a huge selection for you to choose from. Alongside helping to create a relaxing, tranquil space, many bathroom plants also have air purifying qualities. This is great when you consider the number of harsh chemicals often used to clean bathrooms.

Polly Shearer, bathroom interiors expert at Drench.co.uk suggests, "more people are creating nature-inspired bathrooms and adding plants to bathrooms for a biophilic aesthetic and the wonderful air purifying qualities they provide. Google search interest for 'bathroom plants' as of October 2021 has increased 1253% over the last decade, which truly shows the increase in popularity for plants."

When choosing your bathroom plants there are a few factors to consider:

Space

When choosing your plants, it's important to consider how big your bathroom is and how large the plants are likely to grow. Having plants too large for your bathroom will create a cramped, claustrophobic feeling.

Care Required

Some of the plants on our list will require regular watering whereas others can survive for weeks without. Have a think about how much time you want to spend caring for your plants or more importantly, whether you will remember to!

Available Lighting

As with different water levels, different plants will need varying amounts of light. Have a think about the areas you would like the plants to go and how much light these areas receive throughout the day.

What Are The Best Bathroom Plants?

The best bathroom plants will be those that are able to cope with lots of extremes of temperature and air quality. Bathrooms will become very warm and humid when in use, so it's important you choose plants that can cope with this. However, as night falls your bathroom will generally be colder than the rest of your home, so the plants will need to be able to cope with these lower temperatures. If you have any pets it's also important to check the suitability of house plants, as some can be toxic to dogs & cats.

Polly Shearer also claims "if you're the type that struggles to keep plants alive, the bathroom plants you should go for include Snake Plants, Aloe Vera and Cast Iron plants. These plants can handle a little bit of neglect and will thrive on little water, so if you can't remember the last time you watered your plants, these are the perfect options!"

Snake Plant

Our first pick is the Snake Plant. These are great for your bathroom as they require relatively little maintenance. Snake Plants will thrive in sunlight but can also handle lower light levels. Keep this plant on your windowsill in the light during the winter and move it slightly further away in the summer. One of the benefits of Snake Plants is their ability to filter out formaldehyde from the air, which can be found in some bathroom cleaning products.

Dragon Plants

Next up is the Dragon Plant, also known as Dracaena. These plants prefer shade as their leaves can be scorched if exposed to excessive amounts of sunlight. They also prefer a level of humidity which isn't found in most other rooms of your home, making them perfect for placement in a bathroom away from the window. As an added bonus, Dragon Plants can filter out VOC's found in some bathroom products.

Begonia

Begonia plants will thrive in fluorescent lighting, which makes them ideal for bathrooms without windows. Although they don't need sunlight they do require more maintenance than some of the plants on this list, needing a light daily water. However, if  your bathroom is used frequently, this should give the plants enough humidity to survive.

Dieffenbachia

With leaves that can grow up to a foot, these plants are on the larger side so they are ideally suited to bigger bathrooms. They will thrive in temperatures around 15°C and love humid conditions, exactly the kind you'll find in a regularly used bathroom. The Dieffenbachia should be rotated every month or so to ensure they grow evenly and will need to be placed closer to a window during the darker winter period.

ZZ Plant

Of all the plants on this list we think the ZZ plant has the best name! It's also a bit of a trooper and is perfect for people who struggle to keep plants alive. Although it doesn't like complete shade or direct sunlight, it will thrive on a window-sill which gets moderate amounts of light throughout the day.

Ivy

Ivy is often thought of as a weed as it can take over exterior walls and buildings. However, controlled in your home, it will look gorgeous in the bathroom. Hang your Ivy on a windowsill above your toilet to fill an otherwise empty space, or hang it on a WC unit where its leaves can fall down for a stunning effect  Along with the aesthetics, Ivy also has great air purifying properties and can help remove mould from the air.

Spider Plants

Spider plants are a staple in many homes and for good reason. They are able to grow in a variety of different conditions but favour lighting from a windowsill which receives moderate sun throughout the day. You should avoid leaving them in an area which receives full sunlight, as this can scorch the leaves. They need to be watered once a week and have the added benefits or removing pollutants such as carbon monoxide from the air.

Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera is a gorgeous plant which will make a fantastic addition to modern bathrooms. Aloe Vera is able to handle changes in temperature and won't grow much more than a couple of feet, which makes it a perfect countertop accessory for smaller bathrooms. Aloe Vera likes lots of bright light, so leave it on or near a window-sill and move it outside for the warmest summer months. The gel of Aloe Vera also has lots of other benefits including soothing burned skin.

Lucky Bamboo

Bamboo is a beautifully minimalist plant that requires no soil to grow, which makes it ideal for use inside the home. Simply fill a pot with some pebbles and water and your Bamboo is ready to go. It also doesn't need a lot of light, which makes it ideal for smaller bathrooms that don't have any windowsill space. Bamboo will make for a fab edition placed next to your shower or toilet. Be wary that this plant is toxic to animals so keep it well out of reach of pets.

Orchids

Orchids are tropical plants, so they're suited to the humid environments of bathrooms. Once flowered, they are one of the prettiest plants you can have in your home and will bring a welcome touch of colour. Orchids mainly prefer moderate, indirect light, so they're best kept on window-sills which don't receive too much harsh sunlight.

Peace Lily

The Peace Lily is a striking plant that will certainly make a statement in your home. With elegant, glossy leaves and pretty white blooms, the Peace Lily is the perfect plant for anyone looking to create a relaxing spa bathroom. It only needs a little indirect sunlight and your shower will bring the tropical humidity it would have in its natural environment. The leaves of the Peace Lily also have air filtration properties, ideal for bathrooms that have problems with damp & mould.

Philodendron

The philodendron is a tropical plant which would naturally be found on the jungle floor,  so it likes humid environments and only requires minimal light. This makes it an ideal plant for family bathrooms without large windows.

Cast Iron Plant

If you're not very good at keeping plants alive, this is the best bathroom plant for you! The Cast Iron likes low light environments, needs very little water and can tolerate high temperature extremes, so you can relax in the knowledge that your plant is going to stand the test of time! To keep your Cast Iron healthy you simply need to wait until the soil is completely dry before watering.

Chinese Evergreen

The beautiful leaf patterns and its smaller size make the Chinese Evergreen perfect for small, chic bathrooms. The Evergreen lives up to its name and can stay healthy for long periods of time with little care. It likes the humidity which comes with smaller bathrooms and needs lower levels of light, so place it on a counter top away from the window.

Philodendron Is The Most Popular Bathroom Plant

We conducted a study to uncover the most popular bathroom plants. Drench created an index for 14 common bathroom plants (that can actually survive in these conditions) by exploring average monthly Google searches, the percentage increase in search interest over the last decade as well as sales data from the UK’s leading online garden centre, Primrose.

That completes our list of the the best bathroom plants! Whether you have a large bathroom flooded with light or a smaller cloakroom, there's an excellent selection of plants to help you create a beautifully relaxing bathroom space.