Oct 24, 2020

The Houseplants Taking Over Our Homes

What better way is there to brighten up a home than to add a little plant life, or a lot of plant life! Every home can benefit from some greenery to add a touch of nature, and it looks like our homes are only getting greener.

With more of us choosing to decorate with plants and have fresh flowers delivered, we wanted to find out which houseplants are starting to take over our homes, so we took a look at the past ten years of Google search data to find out which plants we love the most in 2020 and which ones you might expect to find in homes.

Looking at the search interest from 2010-2015 and comparing that to the interest in 2015-2020, we can clearly see that houseplants have skyrocketed in popularity, but which houseplants have had the biggest jump?

It seems as though 2020 is the year of the cactus, with three of the top five houseplants with the biggest popularity increases being different types of cacti - the Fishbone Cactus, Bunny Ear Cactus, and Mistletoe Cactus. These plants are, after all, pretty low maintenance, so they’re an excellent choice for amateur green fingers’.

Also in the top five are the Blue Star Fern, an easy-care plant with a blue-green hue, and Velvet Calathea, a plant with waxy leaves and red stems.

These houseplants have all seen huge increases in popularity since 2010, with the Fishbone Cactus jumping by more than 2,280%. So while you may not have seen many of these plants in homes ten years ago, you might just spot them far more often in 2020.

The Most Popular Houseplants

While the Fishbone Cactus has seen the biggest increase in popularity, that doesn’t mean that it is the most popular houseplant right now. We wanted to find out which are the most popular houseplants overall and which you’re most likely to fill your home with.

1. Aloe Vera - we love a plant that can multitask, and the trusty Aloe Vera does just that. Not only does it look great, but it also has medicinal properties, being used for everything from treating burns to settling an upset stomach.

2. Lavender - plants really can do it all, and Lavender is a perfect example of a plant with a skill. The aroma of this pretty little purple plant can promote calmness and reduce stress, even helping you to get a good night’s sleep.

3. Snake Plant - if you don’t have a great track record for keeping plants alive and happy, a Snake Plant may be the perfect one for you. This sturdy houseplant can withstand a lot, even going weeks without needing to be watered.

4. Peace Lily - another low maintenance plant, the Peace Lily is known for being particularly good at cleaning air, so it makes an excellent addition to your home.

5. Money Tree - the sturdy Money Tree is said to bring good luck and prosperity, so it’s no surprise that this plant is so popular.

Methodology:

Houseplant Trends:

Using Google Trends data, we analysed the popularity of over 100 houseplants over the past decade. We were able to do this by finding the percentage increase in popularity of each plant between the time frames of 2010-2015 & 2015-2020 respectively.

Most Popular:

Using the common and scientific name for each plant, we took worldwide historical search data from October 2019 - September 2020 and found the houseplants with the highest combined search volume.