In: Categories » Home and family » Interior decorating and repair » Hardy Houseplants
| Placing a few green plants around your home or office can brighten any room dramatically. But it only takes one or two droopy or brown plants to quickly achieve the opposite effect. If this is a familiar scenario, take heart. The key to consistently flourishing flora lies in selecting plants that can survive the conditions you’re able to provide. This may mean choosing plants that prefer low light, or sticking with plants that don’t insist on regular watering, if you’re forgetful. Here are eight hardy plants and a few suggestions about supplying their modest needs. 1. Aloe (Aloe barbadensis). Also known as the medicine plant because aloe helps soothe and heal burns, this graceful, long-armed succulent is a good choice for the kitchen. Wise cooks rub its sticky (and stinky) juice on burns. Aloe is about as low-maintenance as they come, but does need good light. Since it’s a member of the cactus family, you can let it go without water until it’s positively parched, then water sparingly. 2. Cast iron plant (Aspidistra elatior). This plant’s name alone should gladden the heart of even the most timid gardener. The cast iron plant has even been praised in song; “The Biggest Aspidistra in the World” is a testament to its wild popularity in the Victorian era and its habit of steady growth under all conditions. It has oblong, dark-green leaves that are long and pointed at the ends. The leaves arc outward from spears rising directly from the soil. It can serve as a demure table plant, or can be encouraged (with light, fertilizer, and ever-larger pots) to grow into a gargantuan specimen worthy of its song. 3. Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema ‘silver queen’). This easygoing plant will tolerate downright dim light, but can also thrive in direct sun. Its silvery green leaves look a bit like long pointed tongues and sprout from short stems, giving the medium-sized floor plant a bushy or shrublike appearance. Keep it out of drafts and water when the soil surface is dry, and the Chinese evergreen will brighten your dark corners for many years. 4. Ficus (Ficus benjamina). Sometimes called the weeping fig, this popular indoor plant is a staple of offices and living rooms. The graceful ficus has an undeserved reputation as a temperamental plant because sometimes it will “mysteriously” drop every leaf from its pale wood branches. There isn’t a mystery, really. The tree has been keeping a stiff upper lip under poor conditions for months or even years, and has finally used up its reserves. The ficus is the most “high maintenance” plant on this list, but its needs are simple: Give it good light, water moderately when it’s dry, and don’t move it unless absolutely necessary. Pop one of those fertilizer stakes into the soil and replace when necessary. With a little care, Ficus benjamina will grow slowly but steadily for years. 5. Golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum). If you are a forgetful waterer, this creamy yellow- and green-leafed plant is for you. Pothos likes to be drenched periodically and to dry out completely in between. It thrives in bright light (no direct sun), but can exist in shaded areas. With abundant light, pothos will grow quickly, but it tolerates cramped roots, so you needn’t repot it constantly. You can grow it large and use as a floor plant to fill in a lonely corner, or display it on a table, or in a hanging basket. Pinch new growth every now and then to encourage fullness. If it starts to look leggy or unhappy, just cut it way back and your pothos will become full and healthy all over again. 6. Mother-in-law’s tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata). This virtually indestructible plant got its popular name because of its long, sharp leaves. (You can tell your mother-in-law it is a snake plant, another common nickname.) Along with its cactus cousins, the snake plant prefers to stay fairly dry and likes abundant light. But it has been known to thrive in dim rooms and sometimes goes for as long as six weeks without water. Its deep-green leaves extend gracefully upward and it can grow from several inches to several feet high. 7. Split-leaf philodendron (Philodendron bipennifolium). The split-leaf looks nothing like its larger cousin, the tree philodendron. But the two have a few important qualities in common: a general toughness and tolerance for low light and infrequent watering. Its leaves start out tender and pale green but turn deep green and leathery, splitting into sections, as it grows. Water when the soil surface is dry. If it begins to look unhealthy, cut it back to the soil and give the roots a good soaking; the plant will reward your minimal efforts by starting all over again. 8. Tree philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum). Its large leaves are deeply cut in an almost frond- or fingerlike pattern and, as its name suggests, it makes a good floor plant. In fact, tree philodendrons are ideal for low-light areas where you want to fill in a bare spot and will grow very large if you keep repotting to larger containers. This plant will thrive under the absent-minded gardener, since it likes to be drenched and to dry out between binges.
|
legal disclaimer
1) Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article as well for any and all copyright infringements by authors and writers. E-articles is a free information resource. If you suspect this article for any copyright infringements, please read the Terms of service and contact us to investigate the problem.
2) The E-articles directory team is not responsible for inaccuracies, falsehoods, or any other types of misinformation this tutorial may contain and will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by a user through the user's reliance on the information gained here. Please read the Terms of service
Useful tools and features
If you like this article (tutorial), please link to it from your web page using the information above. Linking to this page, this is the only way to help us improve our service, the same time providing your visitors with a way to improve their online experience.
related articles
Remodeling and reroofing are among the largest cash outlays you will make on your home. And if you make a mistake in hiring, you may do serious damage to your home, your finances, and your nerves. The secret to getting a job done well and on budget is to find a professional with a succession of happy clients to his name and then check him out as if he were proposing to your daughter. Here’s how: 1. Get referrals. Ask family and friends who’ve had work done on their houses for names of professionals they were satisfied with. If...
2. First Aid for Dying Plants
The secret to keeping plants alive is to recognize what’s killing them and fix it fast. This checklist describes the most common houseplant killers, helps you recognize symptoms, and explains how to apply a remedy before it’s too late. 1. Overwatering. This is the single most common cause of death for houseplants and generally happens for one of two reasons. Most often, we’re overly affectionate, giving plants too much of what they need. Sometimes, we’re overly efficient, regularly, but lethally, giving every plant the ...
3. Fall A Home Maintenance Checklist
Squirrels do it, birds do it—and you should do it too: make your nest warm, safe, and snug before the chills of winter set in. OUTSIDE THE HOUSE 1. Prune tree branches that touch the house. 2. Clean rain gutters and install wire strainers (to save yourself the trouble next year). 3. Clean and store outdoor furniture. 4. Remove window screens. 5. Put up storm windows. 6. Check windows for needed putty, weather stripping, or caulking. 7. Inspect roof for loose or missing shingles....
4. DO IT YOURSELF: FURNITURE REPAIR
Do it Yourself: 1) Wax your furniture- to build up the finish, cover scratches or damages, and to obtain a more durable and long-lasting improvement than oil polish. Apply a hard paste wax with 0000 steel wool using a few drops of water to help emulsify the wax, and apply it as thinly as possible, rubbing with the grain of the wood. When finished applying the wax, let it dry and harden for an hour or so, then wipe off all excess wax with a clean, unused dry steel wool pad. Complete the waxing by buffing with a clean pure cotton...
5. Guide to Stain and Spot Removal from Carpets and Upholstery
This is a general guide to spot and stain removal for common household stains. The guide is separated into categories of stains and the recommended procedures for that category. Please note that this guide is only to be used for recommendations and is not in any way comparable to professional spot removal. Some cleaning agents have health risks, and can cause carpets to discolor, delaminate, or even dissolve the fibers. With that said, Proceed at your own risk, and when in doubt, it’s always best to hire ...
6. Rug Styles
Getting the right blend of decor for your living room is something that we all struggle with from time to time. With a bewildering array of information and advice out there about what kind of furnishings to use, what colours are available and so on it’s easy to throw your hands in the air and say “I give up!!”. But don’t despair – you don’t have to change everything about a room in order to change its look. If stripping wallpaper and repainting is too onerous, or if buying a whole new furnitu...
7. Ways of Home Interior Decorating
Small spaces generally have a cozier and warm feel than large spaces. It is very easy to enhance this coziness with warm colors and lots of draperies and decorative pillows. It is also possible to give small room an airier and wider feel. The best idea to visually enlarge your room is to use light and bright colors. Cool colors as green and blue tend to recede from the eye and therefore give a larger feel to a room. This effect can be enhanced by painting the trims, borders and moldings in a lighter color than the walls. This ...
8. Office Plants can improve Employee Productivity: FACT!
Over the years there has been a lot of research conducted in order to establish if the use of office plants and foliage can help to improve worker productivity alongside improving the environment of an office. The results of these numerous studies proved unanimous and all produced similar results. Not only will the introduction of office plants into business premises improve the visual aesthetics and image of an office building but they will also work hard to improve the air quality and c...
9. Office Plants can improve the Health of Office Workers: FACT!
It is estimated that nearly one third of businesses in Europe suffer from high illness absences due to the inadequate indoor environments or climates. In 1999 the Confederation of British Industry published the results of a survey which found that 1 in 5 UK residents take time off due to stress alone. In economic terms this means that around 6.7 million working days were lost at a cost of nearly 7 million pounds to British industry in 1999 (Health and Safety Executive). As you can imagine this is not a good statistic fo...
10. Why Hire Office Plants
Owning a business can be tough and creating the right environment for your workforce can be an essential part of being successful. It is well known that keeping healthy happy employees is one way to ensure success. What is not so well known is that office plants can help you to create the right environment in the office. Over the years, there have been many academic studies that provide evidence to support the fact that the use of office plants has substantial benefits for your business and your employees. Indoor office plant...