ZZ Plant | 6 Reasons Why You Need a ZZ Plant in Your Home and Office
Zamioculcas Zamiifolia, is commonly called ZZ Plant and is also known as Zanzibar Gem.
Let me tell you; it really is a true gem to have in a home or an office space!
This plant with shiny dark green and waxy leaves is extremely tolerant to a wide range of environmental conditions, making it the ultimate plant for black thumbs!
I have had my ZZ Plant for over 12 years and it has survived many life changing circumstances such as the arrival of two babies accompanied by high neglect; a house move accompanied by a drastic environment change and finally; the arrival of a puppy accompanied by the chewing of fresh new leaves!
I keep a lot of my big plants inside cache-pots, which are over-pots to cover plastic pots and to enhance the look of the space. In this case I used woven baskets I bought on Amazon.
Here is my 12 years old ZZ Plant! It started off as a little plant in a 6″ pot in 2008. After being repotted at least 4 times, it requires two people to move it! When ZZ Plant becomes so big, its stems get heavy, and because of that, the older stems tend to cascade down.
After having experienced the hardiness and beauty of this plant for all these years, I want to share with you the 6 main reasons why you need this plant in your life; whether it’s at home or at the office!
1. Low Maintenance
ZZ Plants are extremely easy to care for. In-fact, they seem to thrive on neglect. One of the best ways to care for this plant is to find a good spot for it, let it adapt to this new environment and forget about constant care. Just simply enjoy its beauty.
Its versatility and ease of care make it an ideal plant for every pocket of your home and office as well as for black thumbs, plant beginners and very busy people with little time to dedicate to plant care.
2. Low Light
Even though I currently keep my ZZ Plant in a bright spot of our home, I have seen this plant thriving in a fairly shaded area of our previous home for 3 years.
ZZ Plant is the one plant you can push to the extremes when it comes to light levels. It thrives in bright areas and performs unbelievably well in rooms without natural light, provided that fluorescent lighting is the main source of artificial light.
Be aware though! While ZZ Plants do great in bright areas, they do not tolerate direct sunlight! Direct sunlight causes the leaves to yellow and curl up, so watch out for these signs.
3. Low Watering
ZZ Plants requires little watering depending on where you place them within your home or office. The more natural light you provide, the more water it will require.
Humidity or the lack of there of is also a factor in watering frequency. The drier the surrounding environment, the more frequently it should be watered.
The best way to determine when it’s time to water is the finger test. Stuck a finger in the dirt and if the top 1″ of soil is well dried out, it’s time for some water.
I recommend watering this plant every 2 weeks. If you forget it’s no big deal; I’ve heard of people pushing it to an entire month!
Having said that, it’s critical you don’t overwater this plant! This is basically the only cause of ZZ Plants death!
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4. Low Humidity
ZZ Plants don’t enjoy humid environments, which is another plus for all those home owners with forced air central heating and central air conditioning! Your geographical location is also a factor.
Your ZZ plant will thrive in drier homes and will still perform well in more humid environments provided that watering is really controlled and kept to a minimum in order to avoid tuber (roots) rot.
Be careful where you place your ZZ Plant within your home and office. If you notice one area is more humid than another one, just move it to the drier area.
Some people suggest ZZ Plants are great plants for bathrooms because typically these rooms don’t get much natural light. However, bathrooms tend to be humid environments, and ZZ Plants may not like that so please keep it in mind!
5. air purifying
ZZ Plant has been studied by the University of Copenhagen for indoor air purification qualities in 2014. The study showed that this plant is effective at removing volatile organic compounds such as; benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene.
This aspect of the ZZ Plant makes it a good candidate for bedrooms and offices!
6. High Sheen
One of the characteristics that makes this plant so beautiful and often induces people to believe it’s a fake plant, it’s its sheen! ZZ Plants waxy leaves are stunning, especially when new stems open up to reveal fresh bright green leaves.
In order to avoid clogging of the leaves pores, It’s important that no leaf shine product is used on this plant! It shines on its own!!
Use a natural, chemical free and home made product to clean its leaves!
Brief history
ZZ Plants are native to Eastern Africa, in particular the area that stretches from Kenya to Northeastern South Africa.
This plant has been around for centuries but it wasn’t until the late 90′ that the ZZ Plant has become known outside Africa. Dutch greenhouses and nurseries located in South Africa at the time took advantage of the ease of this plant propagation in 1996 and started its world wide distribution.
Speaking of propagation, checkout this article I wrote about my experience propagating and repotting a giant ZZ Plant!
styling
ZZ Plants are beautiful and are ideal for larger scale rooms.
Yes, you can buy small ZZ Plants, but despite people saying it’s a slow growing plant, mine grew fast. And it grew big! (As you can see from the pictures above).
When they are small, ZZ Plants can be displayed on table top using nice decorative pots. Given its shape and look, I recommend a very clean, modern looking pot that doesn’t take away from the plant colour and sculptural qualities
Bigger ZZ Plants in a home environment can either be placed on the floor or on a plant stand. They get heavy so make sure your plant stand can support heavy weights!
I recommend placing ZZ Plants in rooms with white or very light painted walls. This way the deep green tone of these beautiful waxy leaves is highlighted rather than muted.
A decorative basket can be used to wrap the plastic pot. Plastic pots may not be glamorous but they are light and when you have a big and heavy plant on its own, you need to keep your pot light, especially when a plant stand is used.
ZZ Plants look beautiful when combined with other plants of similar scale and leaf colour. In the first picture you can appreciate ZZ Plant stems against a white wall with artwork and a few Ponytail Palm cascading streams.
The second picture shows the proximity of a Philodendron Monstera with the ZZ Plant. While the two plants are inherently different, the leaves colour ties them together really well.
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So beautifil…so relaxing to my eyes!