The Most Popular Houseplants of the Last 100 Years from the Better Homes & Gardens Archives

Here ’s a look at the voguish indoor plants that filled the varlet of BHG through the decades .

For practical purposes , plants could only cohabitate with us well when windowpane size increased and indoor heating system improved . When that simpatico situation come together roughly a 100 ago , houseplant strike in for goodness . Over the 10 , indoor plant have filled many niches . Some of the most popular photosynthesizing players remain the same today , but the way we display houseplant hasevolved right along with our interior decoration . We make the BHG archives to spotlight some of the most iconic trends in houseplants over the last one hundred years .

1920s: Plants with Artful Elegance

Better Homes & Gardens

When home environments became more plant - well-disposed in the Roaring Twenties , houseplants soon became part of the lives of your mean homeowner . miserable - light plantssuch as graceful ferns rapidly uprise in popularity , often placed upon molded - iron base . Their sizeable green foliage served as the consummate enhancer for the era’sgeometric Art Deco - revolutionize furniture , textiles , and traffic pattern .

1930s: Luxurious Leaves

The Depression days did n’t stop people from refining their indoor garden . Along withEnglish ivyeverywhere , the exposit repertoire of pop houseplant include schismatoglottis ( render above , right),dracaena , shag pine , grape ivy , andfiddle - foliage Ficus carica . And while article of furniture and decor became more surplus than the previous decade , design became a big retainer for displaying houseplant . glass ornamental pots were newly come on the securities industry and article of furniture was being forged to arrest unclouded - love houseplants such as cacti where they could bask in the most sunbeams .

“Indoor Gardening Guide,” BHG, November 1939

houseplant are ideal ornament to be used throughout your house , like pictures or lovely chinaware or fine erstwhile piece of furniture .

1940s: Statement Pieces

Wartime shortage of metal crusade wood into the limelight for house furnishings and interior decoration , with houseplants act as a innate accompaniment . But a token plant or two was n’t enough , you needed a whole rowing ofsnake plantsor anoverflowing dish gardento really make a command . Plus , with plate sizes shrinking in the post - war long time , using houseplant to separate or define spaces helped make the conjuring trick of capaciousness .

1950s: Maximalist Plants

Baby boomers were all about maximizing the indoor experience , and plants were a gravid part of that in the 1950s – often quite literally . tree diagram - sized specimen with eye - catching foliage such asparlor palms , philodendrons , and fiddle - leaf Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya with architectural charm ruled the day . People were also getting into creating collections ofAfrican violetsandversatile begonias(BHG even notify at the time : " you’re able to check begonia into either Traditional or present-day room plainly by change their containers . " ) .

1960s: Collectable Plants

Asfluorescent lights suited for home usebecame more available , any distance could become an indoor garden . The attribute of houseplants were downsize when smaller flora such as eyelash begonia andorchids were tuckedunder igniter and indoor gardeners continued building their collections . Though lumen were no longer a restriction , houseplants faded more into the screen background as tranquilize counterpoint to the mid-sixties ' otherwise loud colors and patterns everywhere else you looked .

1970s: Plants to Hang Out With

In the seventies , we have it all hang out with the fad fortrailing and hang plant life . Of course , macrame made it easy to let your houseplantscome tumbling down , but any type of rope or chain was enlisted as plants took over plate . Hoyasled the torrent , butspider plants , Christmas cactus , ferns , and other neat plant were munificently draped around too .

1980s: Flashy Flowers

With all those sliding deoxyephedrine doors letting the sunshine in came a floodlight of light – lovingtropical plant life with brightly colored blossom . Anthurium , bird of paradise , and flowering peppiness were top choice for bring a touch of floral flamboyance that could match the vibrant decor of the times . And for those without room for these heavy plants , BHG recommended dish antenna garden that could tot " a rainbow of color in a fighting of space " like the one below filled withprimroses , begonias , cineraria , and other brilliant bloom .

1990s: Nostalgic Houseplants

Jenifer Jordan

Although thecrazy quilt - look of the 1970swas no longer in style , hanging plants and othernostalgia - inducing specimenssuch as ivies and hoyas were again having their daytime as living whole kit and boodle of art . Meanwhile , everyone wanted to try and fail with a temperamentalweeping ficus tree(Ficus benjamina , shown above ) , but the houseplant cognoscenti chose its more easy - going cousin , Ficus maclellandii’Alii ' ( shown below ) .

2000s: Indoor Gardens

Steven Randazzo

Adam Albright

Someone funk thehouseplants into terrariumsas grow tiny plants under methamphetamine in a cloche , Wardian case , or canning jar became wildly popular . Unlike earlier terrarium that were more like scientific discipline experimentation , these version were whole caboodle of nontextual matter . Simultaneously , passion and humidness - loving cape primroses ( Streptocarpus ) andmoth orchidshit their pace , along with sunroomsfor display them .

1920s living room with houseplants

Credit:Better Homes & Gardens

2010s: Fancy Foliage Plants

Dane Tashima

Maximizing your indoor experience was the name of the biz for Millennials . A whole fresh undulation of leafage plants flooded the market so that formerly ho - humChinese evergreens , dracaenas , andcrotonswere decked out with jazzy markings . And boosted by social media and infinite innovation cartridge , thefiddle - leaf figwas pushed from dusty recess into superstardom .

2020s: Big Tropical Houseplants

plant with warm architectural lines and grownup leavesrule , likealocasiaswith arrow - shaped leafage , split - leaf philodendrons with striking leaf patterns , and of course , the mightymonstera . These freehanded , bold plants are oftengrouped together for an indoor jungle effect .

What ’s your guess for which houseplants will be trendy in the 2030s ?

woman tending to cacti collection