The 16 Best Plants for a Nursery: A Safe & Fresh Environment for Your Baby
If you have a passion for plants and love bringing the outdoors in, you might be wondering which plants you can add to your baby’s nursery.
Not all plants are suitable for children, but some truly beautiful options can purify the air, reduce stress, and help with sensory development.
To help you add some greenery to your baby’s room, we’ve put together a list of the 16 best plants for a nursery – including the hardest-to-kill plants for those who don’t have a green thumb.
The Benefits of Adding Plants to Your Baby’s Nursery
Healthy plants don’t just look beautiful; they also come with some important benefits for your home and baby.
Clean Your Baby’s Air
Some toxins are unavoidable, no matter how careful we are about the products we use. Things like cleaning products can leave residue, and even paint can give off fumes.
Luckily, many house plants have air-purifying properties that help remove harmful toxins from the air. Studies by NASA show that certain houseplants remove as much as 87% of toxins from the air in 24 hours, so they’re worth having in the nursery.
Develop Your Baby’s Senses
Did you know that a baby won’t develop its full 20/20 vision until they’re three to five years old? That’s why those first few years are so important.
Adding plants to your baby’s nursery helps give them added stimulation. The different colors, textures, and smells plants have are all wonderful aids for your baby’s sensory development. Not to mention, pairing some plants with a mural for your nursery is an easy way to create a beautiful room.
Increase Oxygen Levels
Plants release oxygen into the air and help boost the airflow in a room – as long as they get enough sunlight to grow healthily. Good airflow and oxygen content will help strengthen your baby’s immune system and support their physical health.
Keep Your Baby Cool
If you live in a hot climate, plants are great for helping to regulate a room’s temperature. Plants take in warm air and release moisture, helping a room feel cooler and more comfortable.
Large, leafy plants can provide much-needed shade and protection from the sun if you have large windows.
The Best Plants for a Nursery
Not all plants are suitable for a nursery, but the following options are 100% non-toxic and safe to have around small children. But you should always ensure any plants are kept out of reach from children at all times.
For Low Maintenance: Boston Fern
If you’re worried about the added stress of looking after a plant, a Boston Fern is a great option. These hardy plants are very low maintenance and don’t require much care to thrive. Water them a couple of times a week and give them a mist when they look a little dry, and they’ll be happy in your nursery.
For Hanging Baskets: Baby’s Tears
If you don’t have a lot of space for a plant, Baby’s Tears can be hung in a basket and suspended from the ceiling near a window. They’ll eventually trail and look beautiful. Alternatively, they work great in a terrarium on a shelf and will create a bed of tiny green leaves.
The Best Indoor Tree: Areca Palm
If you want a large plant to add structure to the room, an Areca Palm is one of the easiest trees to grow indoors. It won’t get huge, but the fluffy leaves look beautiful, and it’s perfect for an empty corner of a nursery.
For Air Purifying: Parlour Palm
Parlour Palms are loved for their air-purifying qualities and look great in a nursery. The long, fluffy leaves are soft, and they are fairly easy to look after. Make sure you keep your new tree in a bright spot out of direct sunlight for it to thrive.
For Quick Growth: Spider Plant
Spider plants are one of the easiest indoor plants to look after, and they grow very quickly. If you’re on a budget, you can pick up a baby plant for a couple of dollars at a garden center or plant nursery, and it’ll grow within a couple of weeks.
For Aesthetics: Prayer Plant
Prayer plants have beautiful green leaves with contrasting purple veins. If you want something that looks stunning, this is the plant for you. They are known to grow quite large, and their leaves curl up at night, so be prepared for quite the show.
For Color: Blue Echeveria
If you want to add a pop of color to your baby’s nursery but don’t want a flowering plant, a Blue Echeveria is a great option. This is a non-toxic succulent with thick blue leaves. They look beautiful, require minimal watering to thrive, and look great with nursery wallpaper.
For Texture: Ponytail Palm
Ponytail Palms have long, thin leaves that curl over and look like (you guessed it!) a pony’s tail. They are great for adding texture and really draw the eye with their unusual puff of greenery. Although it’s called a palm, this plant is actually a succulent, so it will need minimal watering to thrive.
For Trailing: English Ivy
If you love the idea of creating a fairytale wonderland in your baby’s nursery, English Ivy is for you. It’s fast-growing, can climb up walls, and loves to trail from pots and baskets. It’s used to shady spots, so it doesn’t need a lot of sunlight, and it has air-purifying properties.
Low Maintenance Options
If you find it hard to keep plants alive and want something that is seriously hard to kill, here are some great options that are baby-safe:
- Air plants: these are almost impossible to kill. They don’t live in soil and only need a spritz of water when they look dry – what could be easier?
- Haworthia: a small, stripey succulent that prefers dry soil and indirect sunlight.
- African Violet: if you’d like a flowering plant, the African Violet is hard to kill and has a beautifully vibrant color.
- Wax plant: if you constantly forget to water your plants, the wax plant will tolerate dry soil very well.
- Chinese Money Plant: these grow pretty round leaves and easily propagate baby plants with almost no care.
- Polka Dot Plant: with pretty white sots and pink hues, the polka dot plant looks beautiful in a nursery.
- Snake Plant: these look fantastic and are incredibly hard to kill. They’re also great air purifiers, so they are perfect for the nursery.
Add Greenery with Wallpaper
Plants are the perfect addition to a nursery. They’re bright, beautiful, and have a host of health benefits.
If you’d love to add a whole jungle of greenery to your nursery but just don’t have the space for dozens of plants, why not add a stunning jungle wallpaper? This will look stunning and has zero maintenance - win-win!
Check out our range of gorgeous plant murals here.
