Low maintenance indoor plants
January 6, 2010 by admin
Filed under Gardening Tips, Indoor
People appreciate indoor plants for many reasons. To be sure, some houseplant aficionados love to give daily attention to their green, blossoming, leafy friends. Others have houseplants for the beauty of their blooms, verdant vegetation, or air purifying qualities, but lack the time or skill needed to keep their plants healthy and happy. This guide offers low maintenance indoor plants that will keep growing and blossoming even when you can’t give them the attention you’d like to.
1. Cast Iron Plant (Aspidistra elatior): The name screams for inclusion in this list! This plant boasts lots of attractive greenery, needs to be watered infrequently and pruned even less. It will go dormant for a time when completely neglected or placed outdoors, and can be brought back with watering and warmth. The Cast Iron plant is also disease and insect resistant.
2. Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum): This easy-to-please houseplant does well in a standard pot or in a hanging planter where it can let its spider-like stems grow long and loose. It will continually re-root itself, so that in a year or two the root ball will need to be divided. Hardy and durable, the Spider Plant is a low-maintenance pleaser.
3. Dragon tree (Dracaena marginata): Resembling a small palm tree, this low maintenance potted plant will grow to 10 feet or more with a bit of support, now and again watering, low to average amounts of light, and little else. Native to the rainforest floor where it must make the most of the light it receives, it will do just fine in your home or workplace when you show it just a bit of attention.
4. Christmas Cactus (Zygocactus or Schlumbergera): Want something that is as near to indestructible as a houseplant gets? Choose the Christmas cactus for a simple, beautiful touch of greenery on your desk, countertop, or bathroom vanity. Given minimal care, and subjected to cool temps and darkness, this desert-derived plant will reward you with stunning blooms or red and pink.
5. Mother-in-law’s tongue (Sansevieria): Despite an unfortunate name, this low maintenance indoor plant won’t complain when you give it the cold shoulder. It really does better with less light and very little watering, while delivering attractively long, slender leaves. This popular plant is known for its durability and easy propagation.
6. Prayer plant (Marantaceae): This flowering family of indoor plants boasts large leaves with intricately detailed markings in shades of white and pink, in addition to green. The Prayer plant thrives in low to average light conditions and requires watering once a week to every 10 days. Expect this indoor pollution fighter to provide years of low-maintenance beauty for your home or office.
7. Croton (Codiaeum variegatum): This shrub may reach 8 to 10 feet indoors, and boasts thick, leather-like evergreen leaves that turn lovely shades or yellow, and orange-red with seasonal changes. Male and female plants offer delicate flowers of white and yellow that give way to small, rubbery fruits. The Croton does well in average light and requires sparse watering and no pruning or general maintenance.
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