I want to add some greenery to my apartment, but I’m not exactly Ms. Green Thumb. I’d like to start with three plants, maybe, and if they do well I’ll push my luck with more.
Two of the spots I have in mind get bright indirect light all afternoon. One of these spots would be for a hanging plant, a few feet from the windows; the other spot is up on a book shelf across the room. The third spot is in a “shaded” corner of the apartment that never gets particularly bright. It’s next to a bookshelf, so it could be either a plant that sits on the floor or on a plant stand.
My principal problem with houseplants is that I tend to forget to water :o , so plants that are sturdy enough to withstand a little neglect would be best for me.
I have a spider plant that has withstood the most egregious neglect imaginable. I leave it in a hot window and remember to water it roughly at the equinoxes and still it hangs in there. And when you do remember to take care of them, they’re reasonably attractive plants.
I grow plants. They’re really fun. The ones that are most difficult to kill are ivies and spiderplants, I have had success with them in all light conditions and I have frequently forgotten to water them.
In my experience these are the most common and sturdy varieties of ivy, they both will grow as much as you let them so they make nice hanging plants:
Pothos : water occasionally, they have pretty heart-shaped leaves that will be green/yellow/some combination, depending on the light levels.
The other kind you’ve probably seen growing outside somewhere, there are a number of variations that look kind of like this. They are dark green and the leaves have five or so points of varying length and thickness.
I echo Finagle’s suggestion of the humble spiderplant, I have had one that resurrected itself twice - I was certain it was dead, but with endless optimism I stripped off the dead bits and added water, and it kept on coming back !
Finally, succulents are also good - these are desert-type plants with fat, juicy leaves. They almost never need water (but they do need plenty of light, so maybe they’ll be good for your next apartment - or maybe a windowsill in this one?). Cacti are the most common but I don’t think they’re very pretty, I prefer my pretty Aloe Vera which has the additional bonus of being good for minor cuts and burns. I am also smitten with my jade plant, they require very little water, grow forever, and look most impressive.
Find yourself an Aspidistra, AKA The Cast Iron Plant. Thrives on neglect and can survive abuse. Chinese Evergreen[Aglanoema(sp.?)] is another good one, so is Diffenbachia. Any Philodendron would work for you too. A Jade Plant[Crassula] likes bright light, but no direct sun. Buy 'em small so they have a better chance to adapt. Big plants coming out of ideal greenhouse conditions sometimes give up the ghost.
For the shady spot, you can hardly go wrong with your basic Peace Lily. To combat your tendency not to water, place the pot inside a tray full of water.
Mother-in-law’s tongue is almost impossible to kill, and requires very little water - or much of anything else for that matter.
A peace lily might work in your shadier area. It will wilt when it wants water and then perk right back up. Fertilize a bit to keep it blooming. I second the pothos- very sturdy and is used a lot in offices and restaurants. I simply love the ponytail palm. It has a bulb to store water and prefers to go back and forth from drenched to completely dry. I’ve found that keeping the watering can out where I can see it is a good reminder. Also, get used to sticking your finger in the dirt. If it’s really dry an inch under the surface, it’s probably time to water. I usually alternate between quick, light waterings and more thorough ones every week and a half or so.
I third the pothos. Mine is unstoppable. It will wilt when it needs water and come back just fine. Try to water before it does though. I have found that it will resist spider mites too; they don’t seem to like the leaves.
Also try a goldfish (yellow orange flowers) or lipstick plant (red flowers). I haven’t been able to get mine to bloom yet but it keeps sending out tons of healthy and attractive dark green vines.
Thanksgiving, Christmas or any cactus in that genre do well too. I got about 4 months worth of flowers out of mine this year.
I have a mystery plant that I got in a two inch pot. I’ve never seen one before or since. It’s in a 6 inch pot now and just keeps growing. Whatever it is does great in bright shade. It has fuzzy, fleshy leaves about and 1 1/2 inches long. It keeps sending out light purple flowers that look something like lobelia but are two or three times the size. They sprout out from the main, leaf covered stems on long bare stems with two or three of the flowers at the end. The plant’s growth is so bushy that I had to thin it out. The cuttings root quickly in water. Anyone have an idea what it might be? I’d recommend it to Sunfish if I knew.
There are some plants that are ideal for filtering out toxins in the air, like formaldehyde, and are great to have as indoor plants. I wish I still had the website that listed them, I can’t even think of the term you’d use to search. However, I do remember that Peace Lily, Dracena and Pothos are some of those plants. I bought one of each of these for my work place and they are still alive and thriving even though they have missed a few waterings on occasion. They do get some light but we also have film on the windows so it’s not a sunny spot.
There are also some handy dandy doodads you can buy that you fill with water and stick in the flower pot so it can water itself.
Oh, and you must have a Bonsai, it’s very Feng Shui.
sunfish, do you have pets? I only ask because I recently got a cat (Say “hi” to Bishop!) and had to clear my apartment of several plants (calla lily, avacados). If you do have pets, here’s a list of plants toxic to them.
If that’s not a concern, I highly recommend the peace lily. Neither my roommate nor I managed to kill that thing in the two years we had it. I was only minorly forgetful in watering it, but my roommate let it go for weeks at a time…and yet it persisted.
There are some very good suggestions here, thanks! I’ve seen some of these plants before - in other places, where they were presumably well-cared for - and there are some new ones I’d never considered.
I have no pets to worry about, moi, and both my nephews are beyond the stage of putting everything in their mouths, so I don’t need to worry about potential toxicity, but that’s a good point I’ll pass on to a couple of friends. Bishop is a cutey - give him a rub between the ears for me.
Tiramisu, bonsais are Feng Shui?? Someone told me that about lucky bamboo (or whatever it’s called). I do love bonsais but I remember my mom’s as being somewhat, ahem, delicate in the watering department.
I’ll be going plant-shopping this weekend with this list in hand. If anyone has recommendations for other plants or specific varieties, please feel free to chime in.
