By Bethany Hayes
Do you have a black thumb and feel like you kill everything you touch? That’s why so many think that growing house plants is too hard, but some plants are perfect for someone like you. It would be best if you had easy, hardy plants that can withstand severe abuse before death.
You need to find plants that prefer indirect light and an average indoor temperature suitable for most homes. You don’t want plants that need to be pampered or struggle to grow in moderate room light or temperature. Who wants to try to create a microclimate for each plant?
Not you!
So, if you frequently forget to water your plants, the following house plants are perfect for you.
Let’s take a look at the easiest house plants to grow — some of these can grow in many conditions and survive neglect.
Aloe Vera
Aloe vera plants are great for beginners, and the sap from the plants can be used as a skin moisturizer or to ease sunburns and minor wounds. Instead of buying bottles of aloe vera gel, grab a few plants to keep around your house.
Aloe vera is a succulent, so it needs little water, but it does prefer bright indirect sunlight to grow. That’s especially true if you live in a colder region.
These plants can grow for years in the same container — you don’t need to worry about repotting too often. Removing the leaves to use them is part of growing an aloe vera plant, but never remove more than a third of the plant at one time. That could cause severe damage. Instead, grab multiple plants!
Here’s our full guide to growing aloe vera plants.
Cast Iron Plant
Guess why this plant is called the cast iron plant? It can survive anything, just like cast iron pots. You can abuse it, but it still will push through it, even in the worst of conditions.
Cast-iron plants prefer to grow in low light conditions. It’s easy to identify the plant because it has pointed, sword-like leaves, typically measuring 2 feet long and 4 inches wide. The leaves tend to grow in a clump together, flowering from time to time.
Chinese Evergreen
Here is another forgiving, easy to grow house plant. The Chinese evergreen can adapt to most room conditions, but it prefers locations without drafts or temperatures above 60℉. You should pick an area that has low or indirect sunlight for ideal growth.
Don’t overwater Chinese evergreen. Let the soil dry out for several days before watering again. It’s better to underwater this plant.
Here’s our full guide to Chinese evergreen plants.
Christmas Cactus
Many people feel intimidated by growing cacti, but a Christmas cactus is an easy alternative. It’s a trailing cactus that produces deep pink or red flowers in the early winter. This plant can be quite a striking addition to add to your home.
For new gardeners, Christmas cactus is excellent to grow because they do best when you ignore them – seriously. The plant likes low light conditions, but if you want more flowers, introduce bright indirect light. Pruning the plant after blooming will keep it looking bushy and full of flowers.
If you want Christmas cactus to bloom earlier in December, try keeping it in complete darkness for 12 hours a night starting in mid-October. Then, when buds appear, you can bring it out. Another trick is to put it in colder temperatures, around 50 degrees Fahrenheit beginning in November.
Here is our full guide to Christmas cactus.
Dumb Cane
Many people love the look of dumb cane plants; they have attractive variegated leaves. Best of all, the plants aren’t hard to grow for newbies. Dumb cane prefers to grow in warmer spots, so you’ll want to keep it away from windows and drafts.
Please be careful growing dumb cane if you have children or pets. This plant exudes a milky sap that can irritate the skin. Most dangerously, if the sap is ingested, it can cause a temporary inability to speak.
Jade Plant
If you’ve spent any time researching easy house plants to grow, you’ve seen pictures of a jade plant. Jade plants stand out with its thick, glossy, smaller leaves. Without a doubt, it’s one of the easiest plants for anyone to grow.
To keep your jade plant healthy, make sure it has plenty of sunlight. That means you should find the brightest room to grow it. The hardest part about growing jade plants is figuring out how much water to give them.
If you give your plant too much water, the roots start to rot. Too little water causes the plants to wilt and drop their leaves. At the same time, jade plants can sometimes survive a month or longer without attention or water.
The best watering practice is to let the soil dry out completely before giving more water. Make sure you don’t let them sit dry too long; check the soil often.
Here’s our full guide to growing jade plants.
Lucky Bamboo
Not enough people grow bamboo plants — they seem to think they’re complicated. In reality, bamboo plants, such as Lucky bamboo (often called Dracaena), are easy to grow, even for new gardeners.
Dracaena plants used to be a popular centerpiece; florists would surround the canes with blooms of different colors. You can find a range of plants in this category, and many of them are great house plants.
Lucky bamboo is often grown in water in the beginning until substantial roots form. Then, the plant is happier in soil. It grows best in bright light but tolerates low light, and you should let the soil dry out between waterings. If you accidentally let it go too long without water, the plant will start to wilt, but it pops back after watering again.
Magic Bells Plant
If you want a plant with striking colors and shapes, the magic bells plant is an excellent choice because it looks different from other plants! Magic bells plants bloom from late fall into the winter, so when your other plants are heading into dormancy, this plant is starting to shine.
Since magic bells plants are part of the succulent family, they’re easy to grow and resilient to most conditions. As it grows, you can prune from time to time, which does help restart the growth process.
Mother-in-Law’s Tongue (Snake Plant)
Sometimes referred to as a snake plant, Mother-in-Law’s tongue received its name because of its long, sharp, pointed leaves. It has an extended life span, so they last for a long time.
Snake plants are easy to grow, tolerating low light and little water. If you water too much, the plants will rot, so less is more in this case. Depending on your humidity levels, you might not need to water often at all in the winter.
If you opt to grow the variegated forms, they need to be provided with more light, and they can be harder to grow for new gardeners.
Here’s our full guide to the snake plant.
Peace Lily
Most people recognize a peace lily when they see it; the flower is the most beautiful part of the plant. It has white flowers that are long, thin, and white, along with a white leaf-like structure called a spathe. The spathe starts off white and gradually fades to yellow or green as the plant gets older.
Peace lily plants prefer warm, humid conditions, but it can adapt to most situations and locations. Make sure you don’t put the plants near any place with a draft or rooms without heat in the winter.
Here’s our full guide to the peace lily plant.
Pothos (Devil’s Ivy)
Have you tried house plants before (perhaps some of this list) and still manage to kill them? You aren’t alone! Pothos often tops the list for black thumb gardeners who desperately want some greenery inside.
Pothos feels impossible to kill, and it’s downright one of the easiest plants to grow. These are trailing plants that can reach up to 10 feet long; many gardeners prefer to grow them in hanging baskets, letting them trailing downward. Pruning is an essential part of growing pothos; it helps to keep your plants fuller at the base.
It’s best to let your pothos plants dry out between each water. If you let it dry too long, you’ll know quickly because the leaves will wilt, eventually drying and falling off. Pothos are tolerant of most light conditions, even artificial lights.
Here’s our full guide to growing pothos.
Purple Shamrock
If you’re looking for a house plant that will stand out, take a look at purple shamrock, or oxalis triangularis. The plant has deep purple, triangular leaves that are unique and stand out next to all of your green-leaved plants.
Purple shamrock plants seem to stay alive when other plants will not. The plants do well in indirect sunlight; if you try to put these plants in direct sunlight, the leaves close in the sun. Water every few days, letting the soil dry out between waterings.
You should know that this plant becomes dormant during the winter. So, don’t stress that you killed it – you didn’t. It’s going to bounce back when the weather changes and warms.
Spider Plant
Here is the plant that keeps on giving to you. It’s rare to see a spider plant without babies attached to the plant. Spider plants are often grown in hanging baskets because they can get 2.5 feet wide and 3 feet long.
Spider plant roots can quickly fill a pot, so you will need to repot every few years. Then, when you see the little spider plant babies hanging off of the plant, you can cut them off and plant them on their own for a brand new plant. Plants that propagate quickly are one way to expand your house plants’ inventory without spending too much money.
Here’s our complete guide to the spider plant.
Final Thoughts
You don’t have to give up your dream of living with tons of house plants everywhere. All you have to do is pick a few of the easiest house plants anyone can grow. All 13 of these plants are easy to grow and perfect for new gardeners. You don’t have to worry about your black thumb killing all of these plants – they can survive the abuse.
Learn more about easy house plants you can grow here:
https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/selecting-indoor-plants
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