With an average of nine per house, Virginia ranks near the top of the list among states with an affinity for houseplants, according to a new survey.
In fact, Virginia ranks tied (with Tennessee) for fourth place for states with the highest concentration of houseplants, according to a new survey from HomeAdvisor.
The only states higher on the list were Colorado (15), Arizona (10) and Oregon (also 10). The national average was six plants per household.
Overall, Americans spend an average of $43 per year on houseplant care, with the list topped by Oregon ($62), Illinois and Mississippi. The average in Virginia was $41, the survey said.
Americans spend an average of 28 minutes a week on plant care, a ranking led by Florida (48 minutes), Louisiana and South Carolina.
The survey also asked respondents, “Does taking care of plants come naturally to you?” Arkansas and Mississippi topped the list, with 68 percent of respondents from each saying that, indeed, they considered themselves as having green thumbs. New York, Illinois, New Mexico and Missouri residents also ranked themselves high in that category.
On the other side of the coin, 58 percent of Nebraska residents admitted that a houseplant had died on them in the past year, the highest percentage in the nation. Other states with higher-than-average plant mortality included California, Colorado, Utah, Illinois and Nevada.
Another takeaway from the survey: One in four respondents said they preferred plants to pets.
The survey was conducted from July 18-25 and included 2,241 Americans, approximately 57 percent of them women. The generational breakdown was 11 percent Baby Boomers, 22 percent Generation X, 48 percent Millennials and 19 percent Generation Z.
Due to insufficient survey responses, local results do not include the following states: Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. Responses from those states, however, were included in national-level data.
For information, see the Website at https://www.homeadvisor.com/r/plant-ownership-by-state/.