I recently got a question about what type of house plants I have in my home. So I thought I would go into detail about what I’ve had that’s lasted. I’m no horticulturist, so this post will not be delving into the ideal living situations or advice on achieving maximum growth, but rather sharing the plants I have had that are able to survive with very little work.
These are the most low maintenance plants you can get, so if you have a black thumb (like me) but still want to green-up your home, these are the plants for you!
Note: Succulents are not on this list, because I have had my share of succulents and killed them all.
1. Sansevieria (AKA Mother-in-law’s tongue or Snake Plant)
We have 2 of these in our home. The one pictured here has been sitting in this same spot for over a year (and it’s still alive!). I picked up this plant about the size that it is now from my local garden store and literally just transferred it into this empty pot. I didn’t add dirt or fertilizer. This pot doesn’t drain (since it resides indoors) and I usually think to water it once every week or two. It doesn’t sit in front of a window and I haven’t taken it outside at all, but you can see in the picture that it’s in a room with some indirect sunlight that comes from the window in the opposite corner. It hasn’t grown much, but it’s survived and I haven’t had to pull off any brown leaves. It also doesn’t wilt at all. So I’m happy to say this one wins the award for the number 1, easiest plant to care for.
2. Aloe Vera Plant
We have a small aloe plant in our kitchen that has survived 3 moves and is now happily living in our landlocked, windowless kitchen with no direct or indirect sunlight. I have moved it to a window sill for a couple days at a time, maybe 3 times in the 1 1/2 years that we have lived in our current home. This is an easy one to keep alive and there are so many good uses for aloe too. The only thing I learned (the hard way) is that too much water will make the leaves brown on this one. Ironically, the only plant I think to water regularly is the one that does better with the least amount of water. This one sits right behind the faucet on our kitchen sink, so it’s the easiest to keep watered, but I learned to keep watering to a minimum with my aloe.
Pineapple planter from CB2.
3. Pothos Plant
Can I just say that these vine-y plants are my absolute favorite right now? They are cheap to buy and because of the ever-growing vine, they add a lot of green to the room with relatively no work. We’ve had this one sitting on our piano for over a year now. It has done well with being watered once every couple weeks. It’s taken a couple longer stints with no water and I noticed some browning around the leaves and vines and I just watered it a couple days in a row after that and it greened back up. Overall this is a pretty easy indoor plant to take care of.
Disclaimer: As I was googling the official names of these plants for reference, I read that this one is actually poisonous to cats/dogs/small children if its eaten. We have all 3 of those living in our home. The article I read did say that a small amount ingested is not fatal, but just tends to make pets/babies sick, but I think it’s worth mentioning. The good thing about this plant is that it looks best sitting up high on a self with the ivy trailing across or down and you can also hang it to avoid any possible mishaps with your pets or babies.
4. Philodendron
These are very similar to the pothos plants. I think this is technically called a “golden philodendron”. They also have them in a darker green color which makes it even harder to tell them apart. These tend to be a little bigger than pothos plants though. I bought this golden philodendron at the same time that I bought the previous pothos plant. They were almost exactly the same size when I bought them and this one has grown much faster and much bigger. I water this one even less than most of the other plants I mentioned above because this one sits in the back corner of our family room so it gets forgotten often when I am watering the other plants in the entryway. This one hangs in front of a window, but because the window faces out to our covered back porch and shaded backyard, this one probably doesn’t get much more sun than the ones in my entryway. This one has definitely grown and stayed alive with very little work. I have had to trim some brown leaves every now and then probably just because I don’t water it as much as I should, but overall this one is very black-thumb friendly.
5. Peace Lily Plant
This is a picture of my peace lily (above). When I bought it, it had a few of these pretty white flowers (pictured below)
This plant is a natural air purifier! I’ve heard that the more light your peace lily has, the more it will bloom with the white flowers. Since I’ve been keeping mine inside with minimal indirect sunlight through the window in our entryway, it hasn’t bloomed at all, but it is still alive and growing. Every now and then a leaf will turn brown. So I just pluck it off and water it some more. This plant has proved to need a little more watering than the others I have shared thus far. The good news is that this one lets you know when it needs water by wilting. So whenever I notice it looking wilted, I water it and it perks right back up. It’s been very hardy in that sense. Even though this one does take a little extra watering, I’m including it on the list because it’s a hard one to kill. As long as you don’t lock it in a room where you’ll never see it and if you keep a reasonably good eye on when it starts looking wilted, this one will pull through.
6. Air Plant
I’m including these on the list because they are generally easy enough to keep alive, although as a disclaimer to cat owners, I’m convinced that cats have the magic touch to kill these puppies. Perhaps its the fact that they slightly resemble spiders, but our cat has killed 2 out of 3 of them. When I first got this plant, I bought 3 identical ones and not only has my cat managed to knock over 2 out of 3 of them causing the concrete planter to literally disappear (I’ve pulled every piece of furniture out of the entryway to paint the walls and the mini concrete planter still didn’t turn up), but she ripped one apart and the other I saved, but it died outside of its little personal planter. So i’m not quite sure what the trick is to these, but I’d say you’re probably better off if you don’t have a crazy cat in your house. The lone air plant has done well. I’ve had this one for about 9 months. When I think to water the plants in the entryway, I just pull this guy out of the concrete planter and submerge it in the water for about 10 seconds, then I take it out and let it air-dry. Barring any CATastrophes (pun intended) these make good indoor house plants.
I bought these plants with the concrete planters from Frae and Co’s Etsy shop.
7. Plastic Succulents
I know I said I wasn’t including succulents in this post, but these are plastic succulents. And no, that isn’t a species of succulent, it’s just the material they are made out of – as in, non-living, “fake” houseplants. They aren’t air-purifying, but they are hypoallergenic (as long as you keep them dusted). I wasn’t planning to include any fake plants in this post, but then I stopped by Target yesterday to pick up a few things and I found these babies in the discount section – you know, that little area right off to the side with tons of $1, $3, and $5 items that tricks you into spending $30 on small trinkets/decor/kids toys because everything is such a steal? It gets me every time. But $3 a piece for these?!? I was very close to buying 10 of them right there! I’m proud to announce that I only bought 3 of them and I haven’t gone back to buy more… yet. I seriously love succulents, but I just don’t understand all these people saying that they are easy to take care of. I have had probably 15 different types of succulents in my home just in the last year and a half and not one of them remains. So for now, I’m giving up hope on succulents and enjoying these maintenance-free $3 beauties.
8. Fiddle Leaf Fig
To be fair, I don’t technically have one of these inside my home yet, although I have heard good things about these making nice houseplants. I absolutely love the look of these and seriously want one in just about every room. Buying a mature one gets pretty pricey – I’ve seen prices ranging from $50 – $150 for one about the size pictured above. Fortunately for me, our backyard has 3 giant ones growing in it right now. Now I know it’s a bit different, but the trees we have in our backyard have not been touched/trimmed/watered/dusted since we moved in and although they have had the natural elements to help them along, they seem to be easy enough to keep alive judging on how much they’ve grown outside in just 1 1/2 years. To give you an idea here’s a before and after picture of them:
Before: This picture was taken in July 2015.
After: This picture was taken in January 2017
It’s a little hard to tell, but you can see that they have grown immensely if you check out the height in reference to the deck railing on the left. I’m currently attempting to propagate a couple clippings from these – pictured below:
I clipped off a decent sized chunk of leaves and it’s currently sitting in this pot of water. I’m hoping to encourage some root growth from this and then planning on transferring it to a pot with soil. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes, but if these grow even half as well as they have outside, then I’ll be happy I included them on the list. Also, I’m looking forward to possibly multiplying my fiddle leaf figs without dropping $50+ on ones from a garden store. I’m saving this post from Balcony Garden Web as a reference for caring for my fiddle leaf figs once they get potted.
What other indoor house plants have you had success with? I’d love suggestions on ones that I can add to my low maintenance indoor collection!