I was watering my few remaining houseplants when I realized that one of them is now at least 11 years old. Its the only survivor from all of the plants I took from the ancestral home after my dad died. It must have a very strong constitution since I’ve brutaly killed many other plants these last few decades. Whats the longest you’ve had a houseplant live for?
It’s about 20. My mom’s boss, who I was friends with and used to housesit for, gave me a pothos when I left for college. She died a couple of years later, but I always think of her when I water it. Thank you, Ruthie!
It’s looking a little shabby these days, but that’s because I just trimmed it back last week. Maybe it needs to be repotted; it’s been ten years, after all. I have quite a few others that are over a decade, including a large ficus that has escaped his pot at the bottom. I need to bust it loose and repot him too, but I can’t afford any more height on it right now, unless I get a taller office.
I have one spider plant that is at least 15 years old. And a Christmas cactus whose origin is lost in antiquity, but there’s a real chance that it was given to me by my college roommate which would make it at least 25 years old.
Both plants have proven to be more indestructible than the cheerleader on Heroes. They seem to thrive on neglect.
My oldest is 13 years old.
I’ve owned this particular ficus for 12 yrs. My grandmother owned it since at least 1989. I know because I lived with her for part of college that year. She may have had it much longer. I don’t remember.
I just got into potted plants a few years ago, so my oldest is now…probably 2-3 years old.
I’ve had my Christmas cactus for eight years. The blooms get better every year!
I have the philodendron that an aunt gave my mom as a moving gift in 1959.
I have a cactus from my first house, probably bought in 1986 or so.
I’ve got some mother-in-law’s tongue that’s over 40 - my mom got it in the mid-sixties. It’s actually older than that - she was given her original plant by someone who split up an existing plant. So we’ve really got no idea how old it actually is. (Oddly enough, we were just talking about this the other day. My life and the Dope are always having these bizarre synchronicities.)
I’ve had a Cymbidium orchid since high school; about 32 years. I gave a section of it away and then my part died. The person I gave it to gave me a section back. Does that count?
I have a section of a clover that was brought back from WWII by my husband’s uncle.
I’ve had a rubber plant since my wedding in 2003. That was a cutting from my mother’s plant, and she got that one for her anniversary in 1970. It was a cutting from her mother’s rubber plant, received on her wedding day in 1939. I’m not sure if it was new or not then. I just hope I can keep mine alive until I have kids getting married. I’m not sure if I want the pressure.
I’ve got a viney, ivy-type thing in a hanging basket. It’s at least 11-12 years old. I’ve had it that long; a friend gave it to me and I don’t know how long she had it before that.
I have a jade plant that a friend gave me as a halloween gift (it came in a little pumpkin about 2 inches across). That was about 20 years ago. The trunk is now about 10 inches around and it takes 2 people to life the plant and pot. It has flowered 2 times in 20 years. I’ve never met anyone that had their jade plant flower. The flowers are delicate lacey little things. Quite beautiful.
11 1/2 year old pothos. It’s also my only house plant (although I did plant a cutting from it a couple of years ago).
What’s kinda interesting is that I had the room it’s in painted two years ago. I set it outside, and it was briefly exposed to a freeze (hey, it’s Houston; who expects that?). A few of the leaves were half killed by the freeze before I got it inside. Those half-dead leaves are still on the plant.
Well, I had a purple wandering jew named Gertrude which I raised from a baby when I was in college, starting in '86. She moved with me, and two years ago I gave her to my father because we moved overseas. Gertrude is now I hear very happy in his office, with her very long vines woven through the slats of the blinds.
My oldest houseplant is about 20 years old and is from the parent plant that it came from was in 1979. That one died about 3 years ago when I couldn’t care for my plants decent.
Mine are only about 3 years old-- in this incarnation. But one of them was a cutting from a plant which my mother has had for about 30 years. (The other one is a part of a plant she’s had as long as AI can remember, which is a slightly shorter time.)
I have a plant that belonged to my grandmother–she died in 1984 and I inherited it. It’s some sort of philodendron that gets really leggy, so I cut big chunks of it off and root them in water then either replant them with the rest of the plant or give them away. There are probably eight or ten pieces of “Grandma plant” out there flourishing along with the one I have. It almost died on the trip from Cali to Oregon ten years ago, but I repotted it and now it’s flipping huge. I also have a peace lily that’s over ten years old and a schefflera and a coffee plant that are almost the same age. I used to be the death of houseplants, but I guess now I’m doing something right–maybe it’s all the incidental spraying they get when I’m discouraging the cat from yowling at the window!