Houseplants are a wonderful addition to any home, but sometimes it’s just some darn hard to keep them alive! Anyone that’s had an indoor plant has had to deal with a houseplant dying. But, with this list of hard to kill houseplants, we want to give you a little more hope!
Did you know that in the White House there sits a plant that has been in office longer than most presidents and staffers at the oval office! The indoor Swedish ivy, which has survived since 1961, is proof that plants are robust and essential. For all plant lovers or hobbyists who wish to delve into in-house gardening, it might be best, to begin with, hard to kill plants.
Table of Contents
Why you should have houseplants
Houseplants have many benefits that should make you rush to the nearest gardening store and buy one. If you don’t have a houseplant, this is what you might be missing out on:
- Houseplants are good for your health. A NASA study found that they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen into our environment.
- Houseplants increase productivity and improve your concentration by up to 15%
- Houseplants reduce stress and jack up your mood
- Homes with green plant decor look better and are more comfortable
- Plants can be used for therapeutic care and help mental health
- You do not have to be an expert to care for plants
Easy houseplant care
Caring for your houseplants is vital because healthy plants look really good. They also give you a psychological sense of accomplishment linked to boosting your morale and self-esteem. To care for plants;
- Avoid overwatering them by ensuring you use regular recommended watering intervals. You could manually insert your finger into the soil and hold off watering until it is almost dry.
- Expose the plants to sufficient sunlight. Even though some low-light houseplants can survive with only artificial lighting conditions, plants look and grow better when exposed to natural light from the sun. You could place the plant in a strategic position, such as close to the window, to receive sunlight for the recommended lengths of time per day.
- Keep plants away from heating vents and air drafts.
- Since indoor plants are unexposed to the outdoor world of predators, some insects and pests may find comfort and safety in the leaves and stems of your home plants. You could purchase and spray a recommended safe insecticide or create your own using soap and water. If you have the time, you could take the plant outside for long hours and let the natural predators do their work.
- Keep on shifting the plant to a larger pot whenever the need arises. Once a year, check to see if the roots are entangled. Entanglement could cause suffocation which might kill the plant.
Stop killing your plants!
Plants, just like us, require primary care. They eat, grow, get sick and recover just like any human. Some unique houseplants can require very special care and growing conditions.
Here are some innocent practices that can injure and kill your houseplants, whether we do these things knowingly or unknowingly:
- Failing to water them consistently
- Overwatering them
- Not enough or too much light
- Over-fertilizing the plant
- Exposing plants to direct heat
- Ignoring pests and diseases
You should avoid such practices if you want your plants to survive or, better, get hard to kill plants such as those listed below.
Hard to kill houseplants for beginners
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with houseplants when you find out that there are over 10,000 different species. But don’t worry—we narrowed it down for you! Here is a list of 15 plants that can be grown in your home and will survive even the most forgetful plant parents like us.
If this is your first time venturing into houseplants, do not worry. We have curated a list of hard to kill plants for beginners. These are easy houseplants that have a higher survival rate with a low care demand.
1. Pothos
Care for a pothos plant is pretty straightforward and undemanding. The plant has its own unique way of adding some lovely green to your home. Pothos plants do well in bright indirect light and low light and have no problem with nutrient-rich or nutrient-poor soil. They can be grown in dry soil or in vases of water.
2. Chinese Money Plant
The Chinese Money Plant looks cute and has bright green pancake-shaped leaves. The plant is easy to grow and thrives well in well-drained soil. It is, therefore, suitable to plant them in a pot with sufficient holes. The leaves love bright light but not direct sunlight. To balance the leaf sizes, put it in a bright unshaded corner. Shade makes the leaves grow more prominent. Rotate the plant once a week to prevent lopsidedness.
3. Spider Plant
Spider plants are excellent beginner plants and popular with children. They are known for purifying air rapidly by actively removing formaldehyde in the atmosphere.
It is considered one of the most adaptable houseplants. It can survive in any condition and suffers from few problems. Spider plants prefer to dry out in between watering cycles and also enjoy cooler temperatures. The plant even produces little babies, also known as spiderettes, that looks really lovely when hanging from a basket as a trailing plant. These babies can also be cut off and grown in pots of their own.
4. Air Plant
Air plants are a strange-looking group, but this plant is naturally supposed to grow “in the air.” No pot or soil is needed! They are SUPER easy to care for. You can actually get away with just be dipping them in water for a short while every 10 days, and the plants would do just fine. This is a plant you could neglect without any noticeable repercussions.
5. Peace Lily
This has to be one of the easiest hard-to-kill houseplants there is! If you tend to overwater plants, this is one of the hard-to-kill plants for you. Peace lilies could grow even in aquariums, so you do not have to worry about root rot from being overwatered. The plant will tell you when it needs watering and get very droopy leaves. But a bit of water and it will recover very quickly. They also do well in low-light conditions.
6. Dragon Tree
The indoor Dragon Tree (or Dracaena Marginata) has sword-like red-edged leaves that look stunning in any room. The plant is drought-resistant, easy to care for, and nearly indestructible, and thus an easy houseplant. It has tiny beautiful white flowers during spring. It thrives best in indirect bright light – so perfect for an office or darker room. Ensure you wait till the soil is dry before watering.
7. Kalanchoe
This is a water-holding succulent which blooms with tiny colorful bell-shaped flowers and has no regard for weather changes. The blooms last for several weeks and occur numerous times throughout the year. To improve the frequency of blooming, water well and prune the flower spikes when they have finished flowering.
8. ZZ Plant
Zamioculcas Zamiifolia or the ZZ Plant, is an indoor drought-resistant plant that tolerates low lighting without throwing a fit. Its waxy, smooth leaves reflect light to brighten rooms, and it grows slowly to a height and width of two to three feet so that it doesn’t outgrow its containers quickly. The plant is one of the most popular plants. It can even be seen on various Instagram posts posing like a celebrity.
9. Snake Plant
The Snake Plant is one hard nut that can go for a whole month without asking for water. The leaves are spikey and have a beautiful snake-like look. They have a unique look that looks great in a modern room or office. Fun fact… it’s also sometimes called Mother-in-Law’s Tongue!
10. Philodendron
There are so many different types of philodendron. The one thing they all have in common is they are big houseplants with beautiful, shiny, large leaves. The “love” plant adapts steadily to indoors with medium or bright light requirements and grows FAST with good care. If leaves start falling off, remember it is natural as they shed leaves to develop new ones. Avoid overwatering, which can cause yellowing of the leaves.
11. Jade Plant
The jade plant can be grown in office and home interiors. They need good sunlight; otherwise, they become stunted. It’s also easy to propagate to grow even more Jade Plants but snipping off a few leaves.
12. Aloe
The aloe plant has a lot of aesthetic and health benefits (one of our favorite stress relieving plants). When taken fresh, it is said to remove acne and promote oral health, but it’s most useful for treating sunburn! As it’s a succulent it demands little attention and can survive being underwatered.
13. Calathea
Calathea Lancifolia, also known as the rattlesnake plant, has a pattern that will compliment a wild home design. It can be placed on a tabletop and can be neglected for days without drooping.
14. Christmas Cactus
The Christmas Cactus is very popular because when it blooms, it produces very colorful flowers (and it flowers around the holidays). The plant grows well in standard succulent soil mixtures and requires well-drained soil. They do well in humid areas such as the kitchen or bathroom.
15. Bromeliad
Bromeliad plants provide an exotic touch to your house and bring a sense of the tropics and sun-kissed climates. They need infrequent watering and can grow even in shallow pots without much fuss. In nature, they grow in shaded areas under trees, so they are OK with that darker area in your home too.
Try a Hard-to-Kill Houseplant!
Many of us dream about a life with more plants. A place where there is always greenery and fresh air, but we don’t live in that kind of world. Instead, many of us are stuck with an office, or home full of drywall and carpeting. If you’re looking for something to bring some life into your living space without the hassle of taking care of them on a daily basis, try one (or all) of the 15 hard to kill houseplants above!
