Linda Walker doesn’t know the names of the tropical plants in her office but that doesn’t mean she loves them any less.

She is convinced the palm trees, potted plants and vines wrapped around the bookshelves in Mike Carter I, Inc. offices at 417 12th St. W. in Bradenton not only brighten up the place but help her staff relax and breathe a little easier.

“It helps making the office a little more homey instead of having nothing around but furniture and equipment,” Walker said. “It’s a stress reducer because the plants make it a little nicer environment for the employees who are in the office eight or nine hours a day.”

Scientific research conducted across the country indicate plants are more than decoration and can help reduce stress, lower blood pressure and improve indoor air quality.

For more than 25 years, Charlene “Charlie” Lenger, owner of Tropex Plant Services on Whitfield Avenue in Sarasota, has specialized in selling, leasing and maintaining plants for companies interested in sprucing up their workplace. She believes there is power in plants.

“I was talking to an eye doctor from New College who told me that the human eye can distinguish 2,000 shades of green, but only 100 shades of red,” Lenger said. “This is because of man’s evolutionary bond with plants. What color green was back then was really important when you were about to eat it or use it for shelter or medicine so I think that’s why people feel so comfortable around plants.”

Serving 1,400 businesses stretching from Tampa to Naples, Lenger said many companies are recognizing plants have a positive effect on people.

“Studies have shown working in a greenhouse lowers your blood pressure,” Lenger said. “And hospitals use plants for healing. Almost all the local hospitals have plants including Manatee Memorial, Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, Doctors Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Port Charlotte has a wonderful healing garden. People like plants.”

Plants are highly effective, non-energy using air purifiers, according to a study called “Foliage Plants for Improving Indoor Air Quality” by a NASA researcher.

After NASA discovered potential indoor air pollution problems associated with completely closed structures in outer space, Dr. Bill Wolverton spent two decades at the Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi studying how plants can remove trace levels of toxic chemicals from the air.

“It is the act of the plant growing that cleans the air,” Lenger said. “So your plants don’t have to be pretty but they do have to be healthy and growing to filter the air.”

Certain plants are believed to be better filters of indoor air pollutants and can relieve a “sick building syndrome” that can come from various fibers such as carpets and wall coverings or solvents such as paints or varnishes.

“All the furnishings around us, they emit gases from the chemicals that are in them,” Lenger said. “For example, formaldehyde, which is in things like foam insulation, plywood, particle board, carpeting and furniture, can be filtered by philodendrons, which is a very common plant. Also, people can use spider plants, golden pothos, bamboo palms, corn plants and mother-in-law’s tongue.”

If a company is more concerned about the chemical, benzene found in tobacco smoke, gasoline, plastics, oils and inks, Lenger said she would recommend plants such as English ivy, peace lilies, warneckeis or marginatas to refresh the air.

“It takes one plant for every 100 square feet and that plant will filter the air,” Lenger said. “And plants can be the canary in the coal mine about what’s going on in a work environment or a home environment. The ficus tree is the most sensitive plant to indicate that there is a chemical related problem in the area. Because a ficus tree will get the strangest color green and yellow leaves and start dropping them.”

While some studies show that plants can relieve stress and create a happier work environment, Dr. Elaine Waters of Allergy Affiliates in Bradenton said businesses have to be sensitive to their employees’ allergies.

“We sometimes tell people to be careful about indoor plants because they can accumulate mold, which is an allergen,” Waters said. “There can be molds that grow in the soil and can grow on the plant.”

Lenger agreed that employers need to know how to properly care for their plants in order to receive any positive benefits in the workplace.

“Plants are hard to keep alive inside. It’s tricky,” Lenger said, adding that sometimes when companies’ budgets are cut, the plants are the first to go. “It doesn’t even cost a lot of money, a couple of hundred dollars a month, but it’s kind of like a pendulum swing in business.”

Green dollars are sometimes put ahead of green plants, Lenger said.

“Someone will say, ‘We need to cut costs because profits are down.’ And we’ll come and take the plants out,” Lenger said. “Then, in lots of ways the business starts to slide and employee productivity and morale will start to drop, so they’ll say, ‘Let’s get some plants in here.’ ”

Stacey Eidson, Herald reporter, can be reached at seidson@Bradenton.com or at 708-7908.

source : www.bradenton.com