Indoor plants come with many benefits for the people who keep them in their homes and offices. Plants can be great as part of your decor, but remember that they also have other great benefits like helping to keep you in a better mood and be more productive and even cleaning the air around you!
If you haven’t had houseplants or indoor plants before and want to start keeping plants of your own, there are some key things that you should consider.
What Indoor Plants Are Good for Beginners?
In general, the best plants for beginners all possess a similar set of characteristics. If you are a beginner at growing indoor plants, you will want to choose plants that are:
- Hardy
- Not highly susceptible to damage from lack of or too much water
- Not highly susceptible to damage from lack of or too much direct sunlight
- Drought resistant
- Non-Toxic if you have small children or pets
Of course, many people will also want to start with plants that are inexpensive so that they will be easy to replace if something should go wrong and they don’t make it.
What Is the Easiest Indoor Plant to Keep Alive?
There are actually quite a few plants that would fall under the category of easy to keep alive, or in other words, are very hardy. For example, many people start with an aloe plant. Aloe plants go well in a kitchen environment and can work well as a small lone potted plant. This makes them ideal as a “starter.”
Another option that many people like is the spider plant. It is a nice-looking plant that requires little in the way of care. This makes it a great option for beginners because it breeds an early success that makes people want to try and grow more.
What Is the Most Low Maintenance Indoor Plant?
Plants like the poinsettia and the florist’s azalea are notoriously hard to grow and bloom because their maintenance requirements are so strict. They need very specific amounts of water and sunlight at very specific times and intervals to grow correctly. Unfortunately, many people do not have the time and resources necessary to help these types of plants grow to their full potential.
When looking for a low-maintenance plant, you will want to find the opposite qualities. Plants like the ZZ Plant and the Snake Plant, as well as many succulents, are very low maintenance by comparison. These plants grow very well even if you miss watering them for a couple of days or they get a bit too much direct sunlight.
What Plants Should a Beginner Start With?
Here are six specific plants that you can start with as a beginner that you should be able to manage fairly well without a ton of experience with plants.
Hoya Kerrii
Hoya Kerrii are a great plant to start with because they are hardy plants. Generally, they like a lot of bright but indirect light, and they want to dry out between waterings. This means if you have put them in a good space to grow in terms of their lighting, you won’t have much to worry about when it comes to caring for them.
Because they do like to dry out between waterings, missing a day or so on the watering isn’t going to hurt the plant. The issue comes when you get excited about having a new plant and water it too much.
Hoya Kerhii will bloom, and they have lovely flowers. However, you will need to wait for the plant to mature, and they prefer to be root bound in their container before they bloom.
Money Tree
Money Trees are another plant that is popular because they are easy to care for, and they do not generally cost a lot of money to purchase. In addition, legend has it that they bring luck and prosperity to the home they reside in, which is just a fun anecdote that serves to make them more popular.
They do like a lot of indirect but very bright light and will only need a soaking watering once every week or two.
ZZ Plant
The ZZ Plant or the Zanzibar or officially the Zamioculcas zamiifolia is well-liked by beginners because it is a super hardy plant. While it likes lots of indirect bright light and moderate watering, it can survive without these things for months at times. Additionally, it is one of the plants that specialize in purifying the air around it in your home or office.
The only real drawback of the ZZ Plant is that they are toxic to both people and pets. This is easy to work around, but can be an issue with small children or especially curious pets.
Sansevieria Snake Plant
People love the Sansevieria Snake Plant because it is not a very picky plant. It can grow in almost any type of light, and they only need to be watered every couple of weeks, or just monthly during winter months or when the plant is not getting as much light.
While you won’t have any issues with this plant being toxic or poisonous to humans, you will need to be careful with it around any pets.
Golden Pothos
The Golden Pothos is a very common houseplant across the United States because it is so easy to care for. It is noteworthy for being the first plant many people remember growing. Also known as Devil’s Ivy, the plant grows quickly and has gorgeous green and white leaves.
Spider Plant
Spider plants grow fast and look very impressive while only requiring the very basics in care when it comes to watering and light needs. They even have “babies” as new spider plants grow from shoots off of the original plant. Getting one of these as a friend is a common way to start keeping houseplants.
Start With An Inexpensive Indoor Plant Today
Growing your own plant can be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling, and they make an excellent addition to any space. While beginning growing can seem scary to some, with a low-maintenance and inexpensive plant, it doesn’t have to be.
When starting out growing, it is best to shop with a place like Soil and Clay so that you get the best prices on whatever plant you decide you want to try. If you are shopping for your first indoor plant, check out Soil and Clay today!
