Food-Gardening Lessons From A Wartime Victory Garden

Ferns are Good Air Cleaning Houseplants

Fern

Ferns are useful houseplants for cleaning the air, particularly when it comes to formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a problem in some newer homes. The emerging science of phytoremediation uses plants to filter toxins from air and soil. Studies revealed that ferns are a natural for absorbing formaldehyde from the air inside your home. As they transpire, the formaldehyde is taken into the plant with carbon dioxide, then only oxygen is released to filter air naturally. So if you haven’t repotted that old fern, or if you’re on a budget, buy lots of smaller ones and repot to make the air inside cleaner than ever.

About Maureen Gilmer

Maureen Gilmer is celebrating her 40th year in California horticulture and photojournalism as the most widely published professional in the state. She is the author of 21 books on gardening, design and the environment, is a widely published photographer, and syndicated with Tribune Content Agency. She is the weekly horticultural columnist for the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs and contributes to Desert Magazine, specializing on arid zone plants and practices for a changing climate. She works and lives in the remote high desert for firsthand observations of native species. Her latest book is The Colorful Dry Garden published by Sasquatch Books. When not writing or photographing she is out exploring the desert on her Arabian horse. She lives in Morongo Valley with her husband Jim and two rescue pit bulls. When not writing or photographing she is usually out riding her quarter horse.

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