houseplants, tried & true

July 2, 2018

Some thoughts on houseplants…I can summarize my approach by saying: choose 2 or 3 varieties that are practically indestructible and repeat these throughout the house. I know, pretty boring, right? While I have a fairly green thumb when it comes to outdoor gardening, I did not inherit my Mom’s knack for maintaining a glorious array of houseplants. However, I have found a few plants that seem to do well regardless of how much attention they may or may not receive. I call these my no-fail houseplants.

Peace lilies (scientific name: Spathiphyllum) – I have progeny (is that the right word?) still going from a plant that was given to me in 1997 or 1998, can’t remember which year but it was one of those. This plant is outside for the summer.

Schlefflera (scientific name: Schefflera arboricola) – for many years, the man and I maintained a few of these plants and they just got too big, unwieldy and spindly. We ended up ditching them a few years back and here is one that I considered buying over the weekend.

Philodendron (that is also the scientific name) – can’t remember when or how I came about getting one of these, but we now have several pots of them from that one plant. They are so easy to propagate and maintain. The are a vining plant and thrive when their container is hanging.

All of the above plants can take a lot of neglect and bounce right back. Also, they do not seem to be too picky regarding lighting conditions.

Recently I’ve expanded my houseplant collection to include a couple of other plants. They came in very small containers and I have placed them on a window ledge and hope to keep them small with pruning. I love them in these galvanized containers. This window ledge is in one of our bathrooms and gets a decent amount of sunlight.

Ivy (Hedera helix ‘Bettina’) – I believe that this is the same ivy that can be grown outdoors as a landscaping ground cover. Can’t wait to see how it does indoors!

Begonia rex – from what I’ve read, this one may not be such an easy care plant. One of my very favorite gardening resource sites, Missouri Botanical Garden, has this to say. I thought it was so pretty and for $3.99, I will give it a try.