>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by... Albertsons Companies... with additional support from the following... CalFlowers... Dollar Tree... Sunshine Bouquet.

♪ >> Today on "Life in Bloom," plants, blooming and otherwise, are the focus.

We'll look at ways plants can improve the health of your home, we'll include a plant in a beautiful bouquet, and experience a bit of monstera madness.

♪ ♪ I'm J Schwanke.

Welcome to "Life in Bloom."

Plants are enjoying a new popularity not seen since the 1970s.

Have you added some plants to your home recently?

♪ I know the plant population in my home is on the rise.

Blooming or not, I can't seem to resist adding more plants to the collection over the past couple of years, especially the monstera variety.

I may have been known to nick a piece of foliage or two.

Plants do come in handy when unexpected arrangements are required, especially when the garden is out of season.

Let's take a closer look at these home companions and the contributions they make towards bettering our lives today on "Life in Bloom."

♪ Well, I enjoy the company and greenery of living with indoor plants.

Did you know that those same plants can improve our health just by being in our home?

A 1989 NASA experiment found that certain indoor plants can improve the air quality in a home by absorbing chemicals like benzene and formaldehyde from the air.

The research found that a number of different houseplants could act as natural air filters -- for example, Dracaena massangeana, also known as the corn plant, and the ever-popular pothos plant, and my personal favorite, the monstera.

Why would NASA study plants instead of going high tech with machines and filters for outer-space travel?

Plants provide a natural solution.

They're simpler.

Machines can break down, and filters create more garbage that they have to deal with.

And they don't create oxygen the way plants do.

Sometimes Mother Nature is the best solution, even when it comes to outer-space travel.

Additionally, a study has shown that being in an environment with plants can help reduce stress and improve blood pressure and heart rate.

And it doesn't even have to be an actual plant.

Images of plants -- ferns, monstera leaves -- incorporated into our daily lives can provide the same health and wellness benefits.

♪ Here's some of my favorite tips for caring for your oxygen-making plant friends.

Need to trim a brown or damaged leaf?

Dip your scissor in water first.

This will prevent additional browning or discoloring of the leaf.

♪ Does your plant friend need water?

Test with your finger.

It's best to feel the soil, or even probe a little deeper.

It's never a good idea to let a plant get bone dry or wilt, but if you do, it's best to soak the entire root ball.

Place your plant's pot into a large bucket and fill it with water so the entire root ball can soak completely.

Then remove the plant pot from the bucket and allow it to drain.

Then you can return it to its home.

Talk to your plant friends.

They also like music.

Research shows that peaceful music -- classical, jazz, or a similar genre -- are better for growth than heavy metal or acid rock.

I'm often asked, "How many plants should I have in my home?"

Research suggests one plant for every hundred square feet.

And it's best to have plants that are potted in soil.

They do a much better job than plants that aren't in soil.

Plant friends clear toxins from the air and provide oxygen.

Plants help us feel less sick.

Plants boost your mood.

It's known as horticulture therapy.

With plants in our environment, we think better and smarter.

Even pictures or images of plants can help reduce stress and anxiety.

♪ One of today's most popular trends in plants are air ferns.

Air ferns have been around for a long time, and they got their name, air fern, because it was believed that they simply needed air to survive.

Actually, the plant is called tillandsia, but they can go for long periods of time with no moisture at all, which is why they got the name air fern.

There are so many different types of air fern.

This is a giant one that we'll use in today's project.

But there's all sorts of different sizes -- smaller ones, and even little, tiny ones like this.

This one has skinny, little leaves, and notice it's sending out a bloom.

Sometimes the air ferns will actually bloom, just like that.

I've created a nice little home for my air ferns here with some wet Spanish moss in a saucer.

An occasional misting will keep them all living until I'm ready for my next project.

Little air ferns like this make perfect ornaments for your desk.

It's a great way to have an easy-care plant around at all times.

I liken them to the pet rocks when I was a kid, but now you can have a little pet plant that takes very little care.

An ashtray like this and a few stones...along with a piece of wet moss...is a perfect home for an air fern.

And it's a great way to recycle an ashtray.

So, let's create a special hanging terrarium today using our tillandsia.

Our first step is to add a layer of river rocks.

These are decorative, but they also provide drainage.

When we add a touch of water, it will prevent our air ferns from sitting in water.

Our next step is to add a layer of moss.

I've already dampened the moss.

That way, it provides a moisture source for our air ferns.

Our first air ferns are very unique.

They're a long-stemmed air fern, and I'm gonna trim them the right length and place them inside so that the bottom of the stem is touching the moss.

Then we can add our large air fern.

The great part about this is that the moss will provide moisture, and the terrarium provides humidity, but the open front will prevent it from getting too moist inside.

Next, we'll add a decorative hanger.

I'm using about a yard and a half of this great-looking rope.

Then we can hang it up wherever we'd like this beautiful terrarium with our air fern to be.

So, we've completed our terrarium, and the care is easy.

We simply mist inside occasionally to wet the moss and also our air fern.

It's a great decoration for our home or office, and it's a fun way to keep plants around all the time.

♪ ♪ Monstera deliciosa is also known as the Swiss cheese plant, so named for the holes that develop in the leaves.

The holes in the leaves better withstand heavy rainfall and wind as the elements pass through the leaves.

Monstera plants may grow as high as 30 feet.

The leaves are heart-shaped, large, leathery, and glossy.

The plant is an epiphyte with aerial roots.

The aerial roots have been used as ropes in Peru and to make baskets in Mexico.

Forcing the plant to flower outside its typical tropical habitat is difficult.

Monstera deliciosa fruit tastes a bit like a mix of pineapple, banana, and mango, among others, giving it a nickname of the fruit salad plant.

♪ Are you familiar with a family of plants known as bromeliads?

The pineapple is one of the most familiar bromeliads and the only bromeliad that's commercially grown as food.

But there are other edible bromeliads.

One of the most memorable attributes of the bromeliad is its ability to accumulate water between its leaves here in the cup in the center of the plant.

This is also where blooms of the bromeliad originate.

The colorful leaves are not actually the bloom, but rather used to attract the attention of pollinators, insects, amphibians, or other invertebrates that might visit or take up residency inside the cup.

Bromeliads are native to the Americas, but most prolific to South America, specifically the Andean highlands.

One single variety of bromeliad is native to Africa.

Bromeliads are native to the canopy in tropical rainforests, so they require bright and direct light.

Bromeliads can range in size from the largest, Puya raimondii, to the smallest, Spanish moss.

How about that?

It's not moss at all, but a form of bromeliad.

♪ Water is added to the cup, and, ideally, you should empty the cup weekly and refill the fresh water.

This reduces the build up of bacteria or the potential of aquatic eggs or insect larvae.

♪ Bromeliads are easy to grow, and a splash of color and unique texture and shape add a bit of tropical island to any location.

♪ ♪ ♪ A bromeliad is a wonderful addition to your home, office, or even outdoor living spaces, and will provide years of enjoyment.

♪ This is a fun table that works as a container as well.

Let me show you how it works.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ One of the things I love about a flower arrangement is having something to keep afterwards.

It could be a plant that's incorporated as part of the arrangement.

Plants that work well for this are succulents or tillandsias.

A tillandsia is an epiphyte.

They live on other flowers or plants, so it really just needs water to grow.

I've had these for several years, and we're gonna add one of them to the flower arrangement today.

First, we'll make the bouquet.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ So, now, our arrangement is all set up to have our tillandsia come live in it.

I love this fatsia leaf.

It's a great grounding for that arrangement, and then this'll just fit in there.

As I said, I've had these for a while, so on the back, sometimes they get little leaves that have died, and I'm just gonna peel those off.

Tillandsias will also bloom sometimes, which is a really fun advantage too.

So, a bloom may come up out of the center.

They come in different sizes.

These have actually just been living underneath my deck right now.

They're right by the ferns, and when they get watered or it rains, they get watered, too.

They're really durable plants, and it's fun to include them.

After we've enjoyed the arrangement, then the tillandsia could live right inside this pot with no dirt.

You simply could mist it every once in a while, and it'll be happy just living in the little terrazzo pot.

To insert it into the arrangement, I'm just gonna take a bamboo skewer, and I'm just gonna push it into the base of this.

Use the pointed end to get inside there.

I'll cut it off so it's sharp.

And now we stick it right into the bouquet.

It's a fun way to include a living plant inside an arrangement and have a keepsake afterwards.

♪ I'm creating a cocktail today with an unusual ingredient.

It's a liqueur that's made with artichokes.

It's a dark brown color, and it has a bitter flavor.

I've really become accustomed and now love bitter-flavored liqueurs.

It's a wonderful apéritif, and we can garnish it with fresh herbs.

♪ We'll fill a highball or Collins glass with ice.

Then we'll add 2 ounces of the artichoke liqueur.

We'll top it with lemon soda.

♪ ♪ And garnish it with fresh basil.

This is a wonderful apéritif, and it's so simple.

I love it.

♪ Green plants, along with green flowers, can make for an interesting arrangement with different shapes and textures.

Many years ago, I learned how to weave palm leaves into a nautilus-shell form, and this is a perfect opportunity to share that craft.

Let me show you how to do it, and then we'll add these woven-foliage accents to a lovely arrangement that includes green flowers.

So, for this project, we'll be using teepee foliage.

[teppy] Many people call it "tee-pee," but the correct pronunciation is "teppy."

And it's a palm frond.

You might be used to seeing this on Palm Sunday, things like that.

But today, we're gonna create this fun nautilus shell by weaving the teepee foliage to create an element that we can use in our flower arrangement.

It's best, when you do this, to sit down.

I place the palm frond between my knees.

That way, I can hold it with the back side facing me.

I start at the top and grab three of the fronds, weaving them into a French braid.

It's the same way that you would French braid hair, bringing in an additional frond each time, working your way all the way down the stem.

♪ ♪ ♪ When you get to this point, then we pull that back into the stem itself.

We'll attach it with a piece of decorative wire.

I like to use decorative wire because then, when it dries, you'll still be able to see that wire, and it becomes a decorative element.

So, I chose lime green.

Goes with our container today.

♪ I've created several of them today.

You'll notice that each one has a different shape based on the palm frond itself.

And they'll all look great inside the arrangement.

Another fun thing that we can do with the teepee foliage is manipulate it using a scissors.

Many times, you might see it in an arrangement where people have cut it off so that it forms a perfect pyramid.

That's something that we used to do in my family's flower shop all the time for arrangements.

But we can take it and make it even more interesting.

By cutting it at an angle... we've created two triangles and left a little bit at the top.

It almost looks like a little pineapple.

It's a fun way for us to manipulate the foliage...and create interesting shapes for our arrangement.

I'm gonna use all green flowers today, and we'll use some other flowers that can actually dry.

The great part about the nautilus-shell shapes is these will dry just like this.

We could paint them later on, use them in a permanent arrangement.

We've got lots of fun things that can happen with these woven palm fronds.

We'll start with bells-of-Ireland.

♪ We're creating an arrangement that has a very strong line.

♪ So we'll use the bells to that advantage.

♪ Our trimmed pieces of teepee will look great as accents coming out from the bells-of-Ireland.

♪ ♪ We'll use green Banksia protea.

They're green, but yet they'll dry, and they provide wonderful texture.

Ornamental kale has become a popular item for floral arrangements.

In this case, I can reflex the kale itself so that it almost looks like a green rose.

We're adding some aspidistra leaves, and in some cases, folding them over and poking the stem through so that we can fill in and cover our foam using the aspidistra leaf.

And, finally, for a little added texture, some miniature myrtle.

I love having all these textures together, and best of all, the nautilus shape that we created becomes a great addition to the entire arrangement.

Thanks for joining me today on our journey through the world of plants, learning about their attributes and creative ways to combine them with flowers.

I know plants improve my home.

Hopefully, you'll invite them into your home, too.

For "Life in Bloom," I'm J Schwanke.

Well, I don't know why I don't have a fern pillow, but, you know, I would have gotten a monstera one if I could have.

I know, I know.

You would like that better.

I wonder why you have little leaves sometimes, and then sometimes you have great, big leaves.

There's that.

And sometimes there's leaves without holes in them, so I don't know what that's all about.

[ Laughs ] "He's talking to plants now."

[ Laughter ] >> He's been lonely.

[ Laughs ] That's good.

>> Sometimes Mother Nature is the best solution, even when it comes to outer-space travel.

[ Man speaking indistinctly ] That was pretty good.

It was pretty close.

>> Yeah.

>> [ Laughs ] "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

>> "J Schwanke's Life in Bloom" is brought to you by... Albertsons Companies... with additional support from the following... CalFlowers... Dollar Tree... Sunshine Bouquet.

♪ Closed-caption funding provided by Holland America Flowers.

♪ For everything flowers, recipes, projects, and more information, visit ubloom.com.

♪