Top Plants for Indoor Gardening

Written by Stacy Lyon

Why do I love indoor plants so much?

They clean the interior air of my home, they are pleasing to all of my senses and they allow me to bring a little bit of outdoors into my living space.

And…wait for it …they are easy-to-care for!

Three factors contribute to indoor plant success.Correct light, just the right amount of watering and room temperature.To make it easy, light requirements for plants usually fall into three categories: low, medium and high.

Two plants that I love to grow in low light, which is an interior of a room or northern

light, are the Neanthe Bella Palm (Chamaedorea elegans) and the Neon Pothos (Scindapsus aures). Both are hardy, usually thrive by watering thoroughly once a week and one grows upright and the other one trails.

Moving on to medium light requirements, which is usually an eastern or southern exposure without being in direct sunlight. I favor two plants that that are structurally beautiful and super easy-to-grow because they take very little watering.The snake plant (Sansevieria) and the ZZ plant (Zamioculcas zamifolia) are upright structurally and only need to be watered once a month.

Plants that require high light or direct southern or western exposure are sun loving succulents of any kind. My favorites here are the Haworthia and the String of Pearls (Senecio rowleyanus).  Both require very little water and high light.

Five must-have plants for the young and green at heart:

• Succulents. Why? They are small, they fit perfectly on a window sill. The only need to be watered twice a month. They are a great way to make a statement on a small budget.
• The Snake plant (Sansevieria). It's structurally beautiful. Grows in a variety of light conditions and needs to be watered only once a month.
• The Homalomena plant. Beautiful and green with heart shaped leaves. This plant will live in low and medium light and the leaves always stay nice and green with no browning at the tips.
• The Bird’s Nest fern (Asplenium nidus). One of the easiest ferns to grow in medium light. Watering once a week and you have this tropical beauty thriving in your living space.
• The Neon Pothos (Scindapsus aures). Lime green adds a pop to any dark corner.This low light plant likes to stay on the drier side and will trail wherever you want it to.

Indoor plants are a great way to bring the outdoors inside. Stop by Ravenna Gardens and we would be happy to talk more about the beauty and ease of indoor gardening.