Low-maintenance houseplant varieties and eco-friendly care practices.
While we enjoy the many ways summer immerses us in the outdoors—I can’t help but take a moment to delight in something that invites us indoors. Houseplants: those loyal companions that connect us to nature regardless of the season (and for those of us who live in Ohio, a significant stretch of the year).
Throughout history, people and cultures around the world, from ancient civilizations to Victorian-era Europeans, have had deep admiration for interior plants—valuing their benefits and usefulness, and finding symbolic meanings of spirituality, health, wealth, love and prosperity in their beauty. Even today, 66% of Americans surveyed in a 2020 study (Statista) said they own at least one houseplant, a surge in popularity prompted during the pandemic.
As my own personal assortment of houseplants has expanded room by room the last few years, I’ve come to know first-hand how integrating live plants into interior surroundings can make life better. Beyond enlivening our homes and workspaces with their cheerful beauty, indoor plants have been shown to help clean the air we breathe, improve sleep, boost moods, ease stress, enhance productivity and promote creativity. (What’s not to love about a list like that?) And you don’t have to have a green thumb, loads of time or disposable income to be a good “plant parent.”
Though my knowledge is shaped primarily around my own successes and failures, I have honed in on a list of low-maintenance varieties that are easy to find and versatile to different environments, along with some helpful ways to be more environmentally-minded when sourcing and caring for houseplants. The following is a closer look at five easy and attractive varieties, and a few eco-friendly tricks if you want to make the experience sustainable.
It doesn’t matter whether you have one or a dozen live plants in your interior surroundings—I hope you will find that the simple act of bringing nature into your home or workspace can be a small act of self care.
5 Houseplants to Love: Easy and Beautiful Varieties
Houseplant Care Tips:
1. Pothos (Neon, Golden, Marble, etc.) Pothos thrive best in indirect, bright light, but they are forgiving to lower light conditions. Let soil dry out slightly between waterings, about once a week.
2. Snake Plants Snake plants like medium to high, indirect light but can also thrive in low light. Too much water can cause root rot, so only water when soil dries out, about every other week.
3. Aloe Vera Bright, indirect light is best. As part of the succulent family, avoid overwatering. Water deeply about once or twice a month when soil is dry to the touch.
4. Zanzibar Gem (ZZ plant) Bright indirect light is optimal, but ZZ plants manage in low light conditions. Let soil dry between waterings, about every 2-3 weeks.
5. Lucky Bamboo Keep roots wet by filling a vase with stone pebbles, then add water as needed, about once a month.
Eco-Friendly Practices
Want to make caring for your houseplants more sustainable? Try these eco-friendly practices:
Propagation: Once you have some healthy starter plants, work with what you have to expand your collection. Different methods work best for different plants and may involve dividing, rooting a cutting or rooting a leaf. Practicing on pothos plants is an easy place to start— cut long, straggly vines just below the node (the raised area below where a leaf grows) at least 3-4 inches long, and place in water. After a few weeks, new roots will grow. Then plant in soil or leave in water indefinitely, changing water weekly.
Creative Containers: Plants can be potted in just about any container as long as the proper drainage measures are in place for water to soak through. Consider adding holes to the bottom of the container or layers of rocks/natural material. Even recycled materials, like a bucket of old golf balls, can work for container drainage.
Rain Barrel: There is a lot of satisfaction that comes from watering houseplants with water collected in a rain barrel. The key is convenient access. If your rain barrel is within close proximity to the door, you’re more likely to use it when your interior plants need a little rehydration.
Avoid Peat Moss: Though often considered a go-to add-in for container soils due to it's moisture-retaining ability, the process involved in harvesting peat moss has consequential impacts on the environment, from releasing carbon into the atmosphere to the destruction of habitats. Houseplants can get along without it.
Composting: Adding a layer of compost to the top of your houseplant soil is a free and earth-friendly way to help stimulate healthy growth and add a boost of nutrients beneficial to long-term health.
What are some of your favorite low-maintenance houseplants or eco-friendly care practices? Please reach out and share!
—Jill Span Hofbauer
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