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Case Study
PLANTS THAT CLEAN THE AIR, WUHAN BOTANICAL GARDEN, CHINA
Description: Inspired by the TED talk ‘How to grow fresh
air’, wherein an Indian scientist explains how three common
houseplants can result in cleaner indoor air, in 2014 Wuhan BG
ran workshops for the public showing how they can use these
plants to alleviate dust haze – a big problem in Chinese cities.
The plants, which can be bought in any market, were: Areca
palm: Chrysalidocarpus lutescens, Mother-in-law’s tongue:
Sansevieria trifasciata, and Money plant: Epipremnum aureum.
The garden delivered one-off workshops in 13 different areas
of the city, reaching 1,600 people. Each workshop lasted a
maximum of two hours and included a lecture about the
effects of dust haze, information on how the use of particular
plants can clean indoor air, and how to grow them, including a
question-and-answer session about growing houseplants. Free
Mother-in-law’s tongue plants were offered to the participants.
The project was run in collaboration with local government and
the Association for Science and Technology.
Focus of the project: Dust haze, caused by car emissions,
industrial waste and other sources, is a pressing socio-
environmental issue for Wuhan’s population. Although the
project does not provide a solution to the greater problem it
does give a practical method that people can use to mitigate
the effects of dust haze in their homes. Wuhan BG is part of the
Chinese Academy of Science and has responsibility to conduct
botanical research and disseminate scientific knowledge for the
benefit of the people. The project contributes to this mission by transport costs and the publication of an information handbook.
making plant science useful to people in their everyday lives.
Garden staff give lectures for the
Wuhan community about growing
©houseplants that clean the air
Wuhan Botanical Garden
12 CARING FOR YOUR COMMUNITY | A MANUAL FOR BOTANIC GARDENS
Engagement approach: The garden offered the workshops
for free in community centres, squares, and open gardens and
promoted them through the media and community centres.
The delivery of workshops improved with time and experience.
A handbook was compiled so that people would not have to
take notes, and a plant was given as an award to participants
who could answer questions related to the content of the
workshop. The main target audience was elderly people from
diverse socio-economic backgrounds and for whom there was
little education provision at the time they were growing up.
In Chinese culture the elders live with their children’s family,
are responsible for looking after the house, and may be in a
good position to grow plants. As the project progressed the
garden staff learned how to provide information to this target
group in a more readily accessible way.
Audience research: The garden did not evaluate the impact of
the project but evaluation is one of the areas they would like
to develop. Anecdotal evidence suggests people were engaged
by the activities – for example, they took notes during the
workshops when they found points of interest.
Funding: In terms of staff time, the project was core funded
as part of the community work that the garden has been
committed to for eight years. Local government provided funds
for handing out free plants to the participants, also to cover
This has been a one-off project and over the coming years
the community work of the garden will focus on other types
of activities.
Challenges: Restricted financial and human resources were
limiting to the project. Thanks to funding from the local
government the garden was able to provide plants to the public
for free. Having only two people to deliver the project meant
that there was no capacity to conduct evaluation.