5 of the Easiest Indoor Plants to Care For
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Keeping plants in your home has a number of benefits. Many plants are known to improve indoor air quality. They are also just plain nice to look at. Not all of us have a green thumb, however, and it can be discouraging to try growing beautiful indoor plants only to be met with death and disaster. There’s hope, though: there are plenty of plants that thrive indoors with little to no excess care. In fact, you might even say they thrive on neglect. Here are a few to choose from:
Peace Lily
The Peace Lily plant has beautiful dark green foliage and spiky white flowers. It’s a popular houseplant thanks to its low light and water needs. The plant is also quite accommodating in that it shows a visible droop in its leaves when it’s thirsty. Water a drooping Peace Lily, and you’ll see it perk right up within the hour.
Where to buy a Peace Lily: Find this large established Peace Lily on Amazon, or you can save a few dollars (and support a small business) when you buy a smaller plant on Etsy.
Jade Plant
Jade Plant is a succulent that needs very little care. In fact, it can thrive in almost all situations as long as it has enough soil to support its size. If you keep it well potted, you can pretty much forget about it beyond very occasional watering.
Where to buy a jade plant: Find some very affordable jade plants on Etsy, or you can find some cool ones on Amazon, like this bonsai style jade in a decorative pot.
Philodendron
Philodendron has very fresh looking heart shaped leaves and eventually grows into an ivy with long stems. It does just fine in low light with occasional watering and makes an excellent hanging plant. You can also help it grow upright by including stakes in its pot, and guiding its growth around the stakes.
Where to buy a Philadendron: There are so many types of Philadendron, there are loads of choices from small shops on Etsy; I'm partial to the heartleaf (my mom always had them when I was a kid) and the Monstera.
Spider Plant
Spider Plants do incredibly well in low light and grow pretty quickly, producing “baby” spider plants that propagate quite easily from cuttings, allowing you to have more plants in a short amount of time. They are a very popular choice for houseplants.
Where to buy a spider plant: This baby spider plant will cost you less than a cup of coffee, and you can get a larger one too! We have a spider plant here at home that started out as a school project for Max last year, and now it's an actual plant that needs a pot and everything! If I can do it, ANYONE CAN.
Fiddle-leaf Fig
Fiddle-leaf Fig trees are native to Africa, in areas that are very moist and warm. If you have a good place for one in your home, they can be very low-maintenance. Any sunny window is a good home for one: you can always provide moisture by spritzing its leaves with a spray bottle.
Where to buy a Fiddle-Leaf Fig: These are slightly more expensive than some of the others on our list, like this $40 one, but they're much larger and statement-ier plants, so they're worth the investment!
Questions To Consider When Adding Indoor Plants
Is anyone in my home allergic to these plants or plants closely related? Take a look at the botanical name of each plant and any allergies present in the home to see if there might be a correlation; often plant families can trigger known allergies
Is this plant toxic to pets? If you have pets, be sure that the houseplants you’re adding won’t be harmful to them.
Tools for Keeping Indoor Plants
When caring for indoor plants, there are a few must-have tools you should keep on hand:
Plant light
If you need to supplement light for your indoor plants, an electric source makes it very easy. This clip-on 3 arm adjustable plant light, for example, can be placed pretty much anywhere and set to give your plants a certain type and amount of light according to its needs. It’s a great tool because it’s easy to move around and use for plants all around your house.
Plant food
Indoor plants have additional nutrient needs since they aren’t getting the benefits of an established natural ecosystem. Fortunately, you can easily supplement nutrients with indoor plant food.
Spray bottle
Watering indoor plants with a spray bottle offers gentle hydration to both the leaves and soil. Indoor plants can often develop dry leaves if the air inside the home is conditioned, and keeping the leaves misted can help avoid those issues.
Watering syringe
Using a watering syringe is another great way to offer gentle moisture that isn’t too harsh for indoor plants. After all, overwatering is the #1 killer of indoor plants. Watering syringes keep the water level in your plants consistent, which is just what they need.
Indoor planters
Choose indoor planters that drain easily, since excess moisture can lead to root rot, a common killer of indoor plants. Containers that have holes in the bottom with a tray underneath work very well. Hanging plants is also a good choice whenever possible, to keep foliage up out of harm’s way. Use brackets to hang planters anywhere you’d hang art!
