The best house plants add a lot of life to indoor spaces without adding extra hours to the day because they require as little fuss as possible. Their benefits are most notable in winter when the need for green, living things is the greatest. Only plastic plants are completely un-killable, but the following hard-to-kill eight need little, give a lot, and thrive under normal household conditions.
Aloe vera
A cut Aloe vera leaf exudes a substance that soothes minor burns, a quality that has made this succulent plant a longtime kitchen staple. Its other virtues include an attractive clump of erect, grey-green leaves with serrated edges that are complemented in summer by tall spikes of tubular yellow flowers. Aloes increase freely by offsets or pups, creating new plants that can be separated from the mother plants and given away to friends and family. Best of all, the plants accomplish all that on a minimum of water and care.
Place your aloe in bright, direct sunlight (at least 6-hours a day) and water only when the soil is nearly dry. Plants can withstand partial sun, but they will perform poorly in shade. When moving aloes outdoors in summer, slowly acclimate them to full sun conditions to avoid leaf scald.
Spider Plant
A favorite since Victorian times, spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) works well on tall plant stands or in hanging baskets that allow the perky spiders (offshoots of plantlets) to cascade over the sides. The long, slender leaves, which also help purify indoor air, may be all green or striped with white or yellow and arch gracefully outward. Tiny white summer flowers are a nice bonus, as are the stems of young spider-like plantlets that form at the flowering stems.
Detach and pot plantlet separately when they reach about 2-inches across or keep them tethered to the parent plant, and place each “spider” atop a small pot filled with Fafard Professional Potting Mix. It will root readily. Spider plants thrive in bright, indirect light. Water regularly but do not allow their soil to become too wet.
Christmas Cactus
The familiar Christmas or holiday cactus (Schlumbergera spp.) is sometimes also called crab cactus for its spreading growth habit. An epiphytic (tree-dwelling plant) cactus with arching, segmented leaves, it produces claw-like flowers of vivid red, pink, orange, cream, or purple at the ends of the stems in late fall to midwinter. These are true cacti, though they lack sharp spines.
Holiday cactus will flourish as long as they receive bright light and their yearly watering schedule is met. After flowering, plants should be watered very minimally for a period of three months. Then from mid-spring to summer, water them regularly when the soil feels dry down to 2-inches depth; in this time they will put on a new flush of foliage. In early fall, place them in a cool place and reduce watering once more, until you see flower buds on the plants. Then keep them regularly irrigated again until flowering ceases. (Click here to read more about growing Christmas cactus.)
Sansevieria
You may call it snake plant or even mother-in-law’s tongue, but whatever the common name, Sansevieria trifasciata is an indoor standby. Its bold, lance-shaped foliage stands erect, generally reaching about 2-feet tall in sunny indoor situations. If your snake plant summers outdoors, place the container in sun to light shade. The leaf markings that inspired the snake in its name are gray-green against a lighter green background. Though it rarely happens indoors, sansevieria produces greenish-white flowers in spring, followed by orange berries later. The plants appreciate regular watering from spring to fall but reduce watering significantly in winter.
English Ivy
Outdoors, English ivy (Hedera helix) can be lovely, but virtually uncontrollable. Grown indoors in containers, it has better manners. Numerous cultivars, including many with interesting variegation and smaller leaves, are available from garden centers. Because of its expansive nature, ivy works well as a filler for large containers or in hanging baskets. As with many other house plants, it prefers bright indirect light. Watering should be regular and the potting mixture should not be allowed to dry out. When the ivy becomes too unruly, simply trim it to shape. Vines need to grow to a great height to flower and fruit, so indoor specimens never flower.
Jade Plant
The jade plant (Crassula ovata), sometimes called a jade tree because of its gray trunk-like stems, is actually a branching, succulent shrub from southern Africa. The plump, glossy, oval-shaped leaves are its chief glory and sometimes have a slight reddish tinge, especially when grown in high sunlight. Indoor jades will occasionally produce small, starry, pinkish-white flowers as well. Container grown specimens may reach up to 30 inches tall and prefer bright light indoors and partial shade outside. Water when the soil feels dry down to a finger-length depth. (Click here to read more about jade plants.)
Golden Pothos
Golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is a striking foliage plant with big, heart-shaped leaves, marbled or golden-green. In the wild, it is a vigorous climbing vine, but as a civilized houseplant, it grows no more than 6- to 8-feet long. If you want it even smaller, it can also be kept in check by periodic trimming. Because of its good looks and vining nature, the big-leafed plant is useful for hanging baskets, plant stands, and large containers. Bright indirect light, evenly moist soil, and occasional stem pinching will keep it full and healthy.
Cast Iron Plant
True to its tough nickname, cast iron plant (Aspidistra elatior) can survive shade, neglect, and climate conditions that would send many other plants into fatal swoons. Like spider plant, it was beloved by Victorians and is still a hit today. With green or variegated lance-shaped leaves that sprout on long petioles or leaf stems, mature aspidistra may grow to 2 to 3 feet tall and wide. The plants grow slowly and flower infrequently indoors. If flowers appear, they are purple and lurk near beneath the leaves. Aspidistras grow best with regular watering but will survive with little moisture.
Care and Feeding
Hard-to-kill houseplants need little help to look great if you start with good care. Average house plants require a high-quality mix like Fafard® Professional Potting Mix or Fafard® Ultra Potting Mix with Extended Feed, to ensure good growth and success. Established plants should be fed intermittently with diluted all-purpose fertilizer. More succulent house plants, like aloe, snake plant, jade, and Christmas cactus require mix with excellent drainage, so lighten consider lightening the potting mix with equal amounts of perlite. Succulents are accustomed to lean rations and need little additional fertilizer.
