I aspire to have some live greenery around my house but I am hindered by a lack of knowledge and also a lack of motivation, haha. What's a good starter houseplant that doesn't need a ton of natural light, a ton of maintenance, and won't kill a cat and/or child. You should assume I know literally nothing about plants.
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@LadyDi: Check out The Sill!
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Ok, so keep in mind that I don't know about the safe for kids and cats b/c I don't have cats and my kids are old enough that I don't have to worry about them. I'm sure it would be an easy google though to see a listing of plants that are safe for kids/cats.
However, I have killed every plant that I have touched up until this past year. Now my house is full of them and I'm obsessed. I realized that my issue is that I was either completely overwatering or underwatering. No in between. All of my plants I've purchased at Home Depot, Trader Joe's, and Ikea. Let me tell you, Ikea is amazing for plants. You might just have to wait until summer. The easiest plants that I've been able to keep alive are snake plants, peace lily, ZZ plant, spider plant, dragon tree, calathea (prayer) plant, aloe, a few succulents, pothos, and now I can't remember the name of the ones I got at TJ's. The savior for me has been a thing I bought off of Amazon that helps me measure the moisture level of the soil. I check each Sunday. Some of my plants don't need to be watered every week, especially now that we're in winter. My giant snake plants only need to be watered once a month in the winter. Make sure that you have a pot that is able to drain so that you don't get root rot and you should be good to go.
I'm still looking for a good resource for cheap but cute pots. Any ideas?
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@Mommy Finger: You have given me hope! What did you get on amazon to measure the moisture? My birthday was the other day and my BFF sent me three cute little pots from Chive on amazon. Probably not the most affordable option but they are adorable and make a great gift! https://www.amazon.com/stores/Chive/PotsPlanters/page/3EB946B5-107B-421D-B7D3-F9E1E00AC95D?productGridPageIndex=2
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I have become slightly plant obsessed. My MIL gifted me a plant when each of my LO's were born, a spider plant and a pothos. Both alive and well.
My current plants -
Spider plant, Pothos, Aloe, Hen and Chicks, Peace lily, Prayer plant, and 2 orchids.I try to water weakly but it usually ends up being longer than that and I haven't killed any yet. The peace lily and pothos are on high shelves so no direct sunlight and both doing well.
I love the spider plant because it has 'babies' so one plant can make lots more.
The hardest one is the prayer plant, love it because the leaves fold up as if in prayer, but I've struggled with it the most, currently its leaves are pretty brown so it needs help.@Mommy Finger: I love Hobby Lobby and Home Goods for cute pots.
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@LadyDi: Don't think I got this exact one but it's one like this. It also measures light and the Ph of the soil but I only use it to measure the moisture.
@josina: Good call on those places! I'll have to take a look! Also, prayer plants are crazy. I had one that completely died on me and one that is thriving like crazy....like shooting up new leaves daily. And I don't think I treated them that differently.
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@Mommy Finger: Thank you!
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I don't remember what type of plants they are, but I have 4 that I got about a year and a half ago from Trader Joe's, and they are all doing awesome. The main thing for buying pots is only to get ones that have an insert or saucer - some way for water to drain. I've seen some really cute ones without a drain that I was tempted to buy, but it's not worth it.
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I am trying to become a plant lady too (so far, with minimal success
) but I have learned a lot from @happyhappyhouseplant on IG!
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A satin pothos has been my favorite in my house. Not too costly to get and its very low maintenance and so beautiful. I have two fiddle leaf figs. They were costly and so hard to keep going. My sister cut a stem of three monstera leaves for me. I have it in a large vase. The roots are growing like mad and it has grown two additional leaves. Its a wonder of nature and I love it so much. This was free to me and so low maintenance. Good luck! I love having house plants!
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Pothos are nearly impossible to kill - I have tried.
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There are lots of great options that have been mentioned here already, but I love growing herbs in the house. We have a pot with green and purple basil, oregano and mint that’s really attractive with the different colors and textures. They’re all pretty hardy, and smell great. I have phone reminders set for Wednesday and Sunday to water everything, but when I had my daughter nothing got watered for at least a month and the herbs in particular did fine.
I would also say if that even a plant that looks DEAD can make a come back. I thought for sure my lime tree had died when I got home from three weeks in the hospital with my daughter. It had like 3 leaves left but with some love it made a full recovery in a couple months even though citrus is notoriously hard to grow.
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@LadyDi: I am a bit of a crazy plant lady. We currently have 52 houseplants of all varieties. I would say succulents are the easiest houseplants.
Some of my favorites, and the easiest to care for, are our Snake Plants. They are a type of succulent and do well with little maintenance. Just make sure they never have soggy soil.
Air plants are also really pretty and easy starter plants. You just soak them every 1-2 weeks for an hour, and they do great!
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@erinbaderin: Ha! I almost killed a pothos...And the worst thing about it was that it was a plant that we got when my MIL passed away so no mental anguish there. Luckily my mom was able to bring it back to life and she just gave it back to me!.
@Chuckles: I totally agree with needing a drainage hole. That is my one issue with all of the pots at Ikea. BUT I did google how to add a drainage hole and you can buy a drill bit to add your own. DH was able to help me out in this area for a few that I purchased before I knew how important that was.
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@karenbme: Does your lime tree get fruit? Do you always keep it inside or do you put it out in the summer? I'd love to get a Meyer lemon tree or something like that.
Also, this is maybe a really dumb question, but do people dust their plants? I'm pretty good about dusting our house in general, but I never think to dust the plants, and I'm assuming it's bad for them at some point? Don't leaves breathe out of their surfaces or something?
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@Chuckles: I don’t dust mine, but I do spray them lightly, and it seems to keep the dust down.
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@Jessiemuller88: Good idea! And way faster than dusting
I did once pay DS to dust the plants, but that was mostly to give him something to do to keep him busy while I was trying to clean.
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@Chuckles: It does! It took a couple seasons from when I got it before it started setting fruit, and I only got one lime this year (because I practically killed it) but in a normal year I'll get 10-20. It's been a few years but I still feel so fancy going to get a lime from the tree. It sits next to a big southeast facing window, but I don't move it outside in the summer even though I probably should. My best advice is to get citrus specific potting soil. I started with just regular and it was very sad. Fruiting plants also need regular feeding, which makes a big difference in how much fruit we get. When we move into a bigger house my plan is to get it a lemon tree as a friend, but I have way too many house plants for our space right now. Also, I do dust my fiddle leaf fig when it's looking dusty but other than that I don't dust my plants, though I do occasionally spritz their leaves.
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@Jessiemuller88: I do have an air plant that’s been going strong for a few months
) but I have learned a lot from @happyhappyhouseplant on IG!
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