By Rebecca
I love houseplants. I love that they help provide cleaner air, I love how they can soften the edges of a room, and I just plain love how they look. I don't have an extremely green thumb (I cannot keep an orchid alive to save my life), but I have found a few green plants that I have successfully kept alive and looking good! Here are my top three easy-to-care-for houseplants. If you want to see some others, Better Homes & Gardens has a great list as well.
First up, the Pothos. A timeless classic. Growing up, my mom had these and spider plants hanging up all over the house in macrame holders. Oh 1970s, you are such a delightful cliche. However, even in the present day, these are extremely easy to grow. They're super hardy and require water once a week or so. If you don't want them getting really long and creeping all over the place, you'll need to trim them.
Next up, we have the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree. These seem to be the plant darling of the design world right now. Pick up a copy of Elle Decor or Dwell and they are everywhere. Well, guess what? They are not only nice to look at, but they don't take much care or attention! I have one of these in my living room (not pictured below, sadly) and it requires basically nothing. I just dump some water in there every week or two and it sits there looking fabulous.
And finally, we have the Mother-in-Law Tongue plant. (Please note: this does not apply to my mother-in-law.) These look almost like a succulent with thicker leaves. I have easily gone at least three weeks without watering mine and have noticed zero difference. I have mine sitting on my hearth (again, not pictured below) and it adds a nice sculptural look to the room.
At this point, you may be thinking, "Rebecca, is being able to ignore houseplants your primary criterion for selecting them?" Why yes. Yes it is. I have two kids, a job, and about eight zillion lunches to make each week, so I enjoy having plants that I don't have to baby.
Do you have any other beautiful, ignore-able houseplants I should look into? Do tell!
{Photo credits: annies-gardens.com and habitually-chic.blogspot.com}
We had lots of mother in law's tongue plants when I was growing up. I should get one - I could use something taller in my plant collection.
I like the idea of hanging pothos plants. I'll have to do that.
Posted by: Average Jane | October 09, 2012 at 11:08 AM