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No matter what the season is, you can always enjoy some greenery and bring the great outdoors inside your home with houseplants. 

Houseplants saw a boom in popularity in 2020

 when many people were stuck indoors because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In 2021, Americans spent more than $2 billion on indoor plants and accessories, up from $1.3 billion in 2019, according to the 

MPR News host Angela Davis talked with two houseplant experts: 

, a horticulturist, florist and owner of Studio Louise Flowers in Stillwater, Minn., and 

Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants)

The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

: If people have a really bright area, cacti and succulents are great because they don't need a lot of extra care. They just sit on the windowsill and look pretty. They bloom, too. If you don't have that really bright space in your home, you can also do something like a pothos or a sansevieria. Those are two types of plants that will thrive in lower light levels and are pretty hardy and easy to care for.

: It's also about figuring out your personality type and what plants are suited for your personality. So if you're someone who really only wants to water your plants like once every couple of weeks, maybe you travel, maybe you have little kids, maybe you know you're out of your home a lot, succulents are great. But if you're a plant parent who wants to be incorporating plants into your everyday life and you try and water a succulent every day, that's a surefire way to kill it.

: What I found after investing thousands of dollars into therapy, retreats and different type of healing modalities, plants ended up being one of the most affordable and simple self-development tools that I had. Because I found that if I dedicated a little bit of time every day, which could be as short as one or two minutes, they create space. I think many of us go through our entire day without having a moment to ourselves to think own our own original thoughts.

: There is a multitude of houseplants that are toxic for our pets, primarily dogs and cats. 

 is a great resource for toxic plants. Plants like the monstera and the poinsettia are very toxic. If you have pets that do nibble on your plants, make sure that you're bringing non-toxic plants home. You can spray apple cider vinegar on your plant leaves. Apparently, the pets don't like the taste of it. I have listeners who put river rocks in the bottom of their pots so that their cats don't go digging in them because their paws don't like the feeling of the river rocks on the bottom.

Some houseplants from our host and listeners 

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Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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There’s nothing like a bit of green indoors to get us through a Minnesota winter. MPR News host Angela Davis talks about why plants bring us joy and how to keep yours healthy as we head into the new year.

Everything you need to know about houseplants from two Minnesota experts

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