Best Plants for Depression (15+ List)

Here, we’re going to describe some of the best plants for depression. Before we begin, we’ll explain how plants can help with a mental health disorder like depression. Then, we’ll describe these plants in more detail.

What are the Best Plants for Depression?

If you’re thinking of starting some indoor gardening to help you deal with depression, here are some of the best plants to grow:

• Aloe Vera
• Lavender
• Holy Basil
• Lemon Balm
• Anthurium
• Chamomile
• Lucky Bamboo
• Chinese Evergreen
• Jade Plant
• Jasmine
• Sage
• Weeping Fig
• Snake
• Peace Lily
• Pothos
• Rhodiola rosea
• Fern
• English Ivy
• Peace Lily
• English Ivy
• Areca Palm
• Chrysanthemum

How can Plants help Depression?

Depression can be quite a harrowing experience because it takes away a person’s will to live. Dealing with this mental illness takes all the effort one can conjure up, so it’s important to get as much support as possible.

Growing plants in your home is one of the many ways besides professional help that can make this process easier. Plants lift your spirits by brightening up a room. They bring energy and vitality back to your living space.

Moreover, some specific plants are excellent for this purpose because of their appearance, smell, and medicinal properties. Research too supports the idea that growing plants at home can have a positive impact on individuals diagnosed with depression.

16 Best Plants for Depression

In this section, we will describe sixteen indoor plants that you can grow in your home to help fight your battle against depression.

Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera is a hardy low-maintenance plant that grows well in most climates. It has pointy sharp leaves with slight thorns. Once a year, mature Aloe Vera plants shoot out a long flowering stem with orange blossoms, which attract tiny birds.

It is a good houseplant for people with depression as it has numerous health benefits. Research has also shown that having Aloe Vera extracts regularly significantly reduces symptoms of depression.

Lavender

The Lavender plant is known to have adaptogenic properties that can reduce stress and symptoms of depression. The smell of these flowers has a calming effect and Lavender extracts can be added to several body care products to enhance this effect.

There have been studies that show the effectiveness of Lavender aromatherapy in reducing insomnia and depression. More than anything else, these flowers are lovely to look at and will brighten up your home.

Holy Basil

The Holy Basil plant is considered very auspicious and is commonly used in many Eastern healing practices. It’s great to grow this in your home because then, you can easily use a few leaves to increase the health factor of whatever food and drink you have.

Since depression is often accompanied by stress and body inflammation, Holy Basil can be of use. Its anti-inflammatory effects have been investigated in treatment studies for stress and depression and with positive results.

Lemon Balm

You can recognise the Lemon Balm plant because of its bright yellowish-green leaves with ragged edges. Popularly used in self-care products, this plant is another good option for your home if you’re struggling with depression.

This systematic review summarises the vast research done on the effects of Lemon Balm on anxiety and depression. Current evidence suggests that lemon balm may be effective in improving anxiety and depressive symptoms, particularly in the acute setting.

Anthurium

Also known as Flamingo Flower, Anthurium is a unique flowering plant that will surely grab your eye each time you cross it. It has only one petal that’s crimson red. It comes from the Americas where it is distributed from northern Mexico to northern Argentina and parts of the Caribbean.

This plant is so low-maintenance that you won’t go wrong. Only water it if you see the soil is drying and keep it in low indirect light. 

Chamomile

What’s fantastic about the Chamomile plant is the flower. It too has adaptogenic properties that make it a brilliant home remedy for people fighting stress, depression, and anxiety. You can use these for aromatherapy, to brew a cup of hot tea, or simply to look at for leisure.

A 2012 explorative study established that the Chamomile plant has a positive impact on individuals who are anxious and/or depressed. So, it makes perfect sense for you to invest in this houseplant.

Lucky Bamboo

There are various kinds of Bamboo and not all of them can grow at home, especially in apartments. However, the Lucky Bamboo is much smaller, super easy to care for, and can be used to decorate your house.

It’s called “Lucky” because it’s not really bamboo but resembles it a lot. This peculiarity established the plant as an equivalent symbol of fortune, hence the popular name, “Lucky Bamboo.”

Chinese Evergreen

Chinese evergreen plants thrive in medium to low light conditions or indirect sunlight, making them perfect for indoor growing. They come in different colours and degrees of variegation. These plants too are considered lucky.

Caring for Chinese evergreens is easy, and these pretty houseplants brighten rooms with low light or even no natural light. Their leaves are usually beautiful combinations of green, white, pink, and red.

Jade Plant

The Jade Plant is also called friendship plant, money plant, or silver dollar plant. It has succulent leaves and can be grown into a bonsai. These are very hardy plants that can stay with you for several years.

According to the Chinese Feng Shui, the Jade Plant brings good luck, wealth, prosperity, and good fortune.

Jasmine

The Jasmine plant is famous for its lovely scent and cute little white flowers. There are many varieties of Jasmine plants available, each with its slightly unique form or smell.

You can ease your depression with Jasmine flowers by either trying aromatherapy or by drinking Jasmine tea. These remedies are highly popular in Eastern cultures and have traditional roots.

Sage

The Common Sage, or Salvia officinalis, is a perennial, evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, greyish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. People commonly use sage for memory and thinking skills, high cholesterol, and symptoms of menopause.

It is also common for people to burn sage for aromatherapy and to cleanse the air. Having a pot of sage at home can be quite handy when you’re dealing with symptoms of depression.

Weeping Fig

Weeping Fig, popularly known as Ficus, is a common houseplant in many households. It is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae, native to Asia and Australia. Interestingly, Weeping Fig is the official tree of Bangkok.

This plant can help with depression by cycling toxins and irritants out of the air. In cleaner airspace, you’ll feel more at peace. Pick the right spot in your home for this plant because it doesn’t do well when relocated.

Snake

Much like many other plants mentioned here, the Snake plant can also help you with depression by purifying the air and through Feng Shui. Its scientific name is Dracaena trifasciata and it is native to tropical West Africa from Nigeria east to the Congo.

Due to the peculiar shape of the leaves, this plant is also called, ‘Mother-In-Law’s Toungue’. As it will reduce the number of irritants in the air, it will help you sleep better and for longer.

Peace Lily

The Peace Lily looks a lot like the Anthurium flower, except that the petal is white and the leaves are long and tapering. Because it blooms with white lily-like flowers, the peace lily is frequently associated with purity, prosperity, innocence, peace, and sympathy.

This makes it a good plant to have around your house if you’re battling depression. It’s beautiful to look at and symbolises the state you want to embody.

Pothos

You may know the Pothos plant by its other names including Money Plant, Devil’s Ivy, and Golden Pothos. It is a hardy indoor foliage plant of the arum family (Araceae) native to southeastern Asia.

What’s great about this plant is that it takes barely any effort to grow and can fill your home with lovely green ivies. Pothos is excellent at purifying the air and can give you an easy new hobby to distract yourself from negative thoughts.

Rhodiola rosea

This 2016 publication calls Rhodiola rosea a putative botanical antidepressant. That’s because its purified constituent, salidroside, has been shown to produce a variety of mediator interactions with hormones and neurotransmitters likely to be involved in the pathophysiology of depression.

In contrast to most conventional antidepressants, R. rosea extract appears to be well-tolerated in short-term studies with a favourable safety profile. So, why not grow some of this wonder plant at home when you’re fighting depression!

Conclusion

Here, we described over twenty of the best plants for depression. Before we began, we explained how plants can help with a mental health disorder like depression. Then, we described these plants in more detail.

The best plants to help you with depression are Aloe Vera, Lavender, Holy Basil, Lemon Balm, Anthurium, Chamomile, Lucky Bamboo, Chinese Evergreen, Jade Plant, Jasmine, Sage, Weeping Fig, Snake, Peace Lily, Pothos, Rhodiola rosea, Fern, English Ivy, Peace Lily, English Ivy, Areca Palm, and Chrysanthemum.

FAQs (Best Plants for Depression)

What flower helps with depression?

Any flower with bright-coloured petals or scented blossoms can do wonders to lift your spirits. If you’re struggling with depression, try growing some lilacs, pansies, jasmine, or lavender flowers as a coping strategy.

Do flowers cure depression?

Flowers cannot cure depression alone but they do contribute to the process of healing. They brighten the environment and fill it with sweet smells. Moreover, taking care of them is like a reminder for self-care, which often gets neglected when you have depression.

What is the flower for mental health?

In Australia, the Flannel flower is considered a symbol for the promotion of mental health awareness. It is the flower from an Australian bush that is known for its inherent strength and beauty. Because of this, it is seen as a metaphor for the beautiful struggle it takes to build resilience from mental health problems.

References

• https://scholar.archive.org/work/37p5zu4mffctjacf7lo4ml5np4/access/wayback/https://mcj.kowsarpub.com/cdn/dl/47a55ec8-9f3d-11ea-9468-23b27a2126d8
• https://synapse.koreamed.org/articles/1063474
• https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=CN2014002418 
• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/fcp.12186