10 Best Plants For Your Bathroom

Natural greenery is a bathroom trend that is definitely blooming.

We love how plants make any style of bathroom feel relaxing, whether it’s an old, updated or brand-new bathroom. Plus plants purify the air, which is a refreshing thought indeed.

If this is a gardening club you’re ready to join, try starting with any of these 10 best plants to spruce up your bathroom.

1) Zanzibar Plant

Even if your home is usually the place where plants go to die, you can spare some hope for this one. The Zanzibar plant is about as hardy as they come.

Also known as a ZZ plant or zamioculcas zamiifolia, the Zanzibar plant has thick, glossy, dark green leaves that suit bold bathroom styles. Drought-tolerant and fond of almost any lighting, be it filtered natural light or bright artificial lights, you can position your Zanzibar plant perfectly in your bathroom and basically forget about it.

2) Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is a great bathroom choice because it is low maintenance, looks good and can be very useful. It’s soothing as a first-response treatment for burns and rashes.

Aloe vera loves some good natural light so will prefer to sit near your bathroom window, but it won’t need a lot of water. Just the humid environment alone should be enough to keep your aloe vera plant healthy and happy with only occasional sprinkles of water

3) Devil's Ivy

Devils Ivy is a trailing beauty that works wonderfully to soften your bathroom space. It’s perfect for luxe and elegant bathrooms. Placed in a hanging basket or on a stool, shelf, or ledge, it will cascade down and give you a genuine feel of the natural outdoors. You could also plant it with a pole and let the vine climb up.

Devils Ivy is scientifically known as Epipremnum aureum and is also known as pothos. It likes humid, temperate environments, which helps it thrive in bathrooms. If you live in a cold climate, this plant might need a little extra attention during the winter months.

If you have pets or children that are not compatible with household plants, be sure to keep this one high and out of reach as it can be poisonous to cats and dogs – even harmful to humans if ingested.

4) Bromeliads

Bromeliads tick more than one on-trend checkbox. As well as greenery being in, so are feature colours, especially for bathroom tapware, basins and tiles. Bromeliads flower in pink, red, orange and yellow, so even if you’re not brave enough to commit to permanent colours in your bathroom, you could still create a colourful feature with this tolerant plant.

Caring for your bromeliad depends somewhat on the species – and there are lots of different types. Some like sun, and some like shade. Check the label and look for a bromeliad that suits your bathroom conditions. Either way, they generally won’t need much watering or maintenance.

5) Peace Lily

How could we not include the lovable peace lily in this list? It’s bright and lush and probably the most well-known household plant around. Plus it ranks highly for air purifying.

Some people say the peace lily ( spathiphyllums) is impossible to kill, but that’s a theory that has definitely been challenged by the not-so-green-thumbs out there. The trick is to make sure it gets plenty of indirect light, so it’s best for bright modern rooms rather than dark and moody bathrooms. The long-lasting bright white flowers will certainly play the part in spa and tropical style bathrooms. They can grow large so are suited to more spacious bathrooms.

Don’t overwater your peace lily and make sure you avoid direct sunlight, and it should live a long happy life in your bathroom.

6) Phalaenopsis Orchid

Here’s one for the smaller bathrooms. Being both luxe and compact, orchids will bring style and grace to bathrooms that might otherwise be tricky to decorate.

These Asian natives love humidity, so they will settle comfortably in your bathroom and won’t require a lot of water.

7) Peperomia

Another one for compact bathrooms, peperomia are small and slow-growing and can handle medium to bright indirect sunlight. There are thousands of types in different shapes, sizes, patterns and colours with hints of dark green, silver, red and burgundy on teardrop and heart-shaped leaves. Some make great hanging plants, but they’re also fine to keep down low without being harmful to cats or dogs. Find one you love the look of and it will perform well to liven up your bathroom.

Being semi-succulent, they’re easy to care for and only need occasional watering.

8) Cactus

For some people and some styles, cacti are the plants of choice. Unfortunately, they aren’t necessarily a good bathroom plant because they like to be baking in the hot sun. However, there are some cacti that are worthy of this list:

Mistletoe cactus (Rhipsalis) likes a little more humidity and a little less light than your typical cactus. It’s a good hanging plant, especially over the shower where the rising humidity can reach it. Its unusual cascading leaves that look somewhat like a scruffy hairdo create a very interesting focal point in your bathroom.

Zygocactus has more of the flat-leaved cactus features you might be familiar with. It flowers with vibrant pink, lavender, red, orange, yellow or white leaves from autumn to winter. Even when not in flower, they look fabulous draping down from a high shelf.

9) Ferns

In nature, ferns are usually found on rainforest floors because they love dark and humid homes. This makes them a perfect feature for darker bathrooms. A popular bathroom choice is the Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata). Also known as the sword fern because of its long foliage, it doesn’t flower but gives you consistent lush greenery all year round that is just the right shade to compliment gold bathroom accents.

10) Mother-In-Law’s Tongue

While your mother-in-law isn’t someone you want to think about in the bathroom, the mother-in-law’s tongue actually is a good bathroom plant. It’s also known as a snake plant, perhaps fittingly, depending on your mother-in-law, but its scientific name is sansevieria.

We love it as a bathroom plant because of how the leaves grow upwards, long and tall, bringing some height to your décor. It can sit in a plant stand without cluttering up any bench or ledge space. It also works well in cooler climates. It likes a little water, doesn’t like direct sun, and if you’re good to it, it will sprout some fragrant white flowers in late winter/early spring.

At Tradelink we are bathroom, kitchen and laundry experts. By no means are we horticulturalists, but we do love to flex our green thumbs occasionally to complement our stunning bathrooms with natural plants and flowers.

If you want advice on the latest and greatest bathroom products, including bathroom tapware, showers, vanities, basins, bathroom accessories, and plumbing supplies we are definitely the team to talk to. Contact us or visit a Tradelink store to speak to a showroom consultant about your bathroom goals.