Sept. 29 Column: The Five Easiest Houseplants To Grow
Now that we’re all transitioning to indoor pursuits, I’m focusing on the five easiest houseplants to grow. For this week’s column, I interviewed Spokane County Master Gardener Rhonda Elliott. She’s a great resource because she knows houseplants!
You can read my column below:
Houseplants need right amount of water, light to flourish.
Houseplants need right amount of water, light to flourish
by Susan Mulvihill
When fall arrives, gardeners transition from outdoor gardening to indoor activities. Yet they miss the connection they had with living plants. Tending houseplants is the perfect cure to this problem and can be just as enjoyable.
Spokane County Master Gardener Rhonda Elliott has the best of both worlds:
“I actually like growing vegetables more than anything else because I’m a cook, but houseplants are definitely a close second.”
As someone who was first drawn to houseplants at a very young age, and who currently has “about 50” of them, Elliott is an excellent resource on the care they require. She takes a pragmatic approach first.
“Growing a plant indoors is like growing one outdoors: it’s trial and error,” she related. “If you’re not into doing a bunch of research, just move it to a place in your house and see how it does. The plant will tell you it’s happy by putting on new growth.”
In addition to enjoying their beauty, humans receive benefits from having the plants inside their homes.
“When we’re indoors in closed spaces, we exhale carbon dioxide and the plants take that in because they love it,” Elliott explained. “So we’re in an oxygen-rich environment and while we might not notice it, we feel better. There is something about being around plants — whether it’s indoors or out — that just relaxes us and is a calming experience that we don’t get in our everyday lives.”
For those who have been wanting to grow houseplants, or are struggling with the ones they already have, Elliott’s straightforward advice centers around watering.
“The biggest mistake is not watering them, and the second biggest is watering them too much,” she advised. “The happy medium is to water your plants once a week on the same day, if you can. The plants will adjust to that schedule. As long as you don’t leave water in the saucers, they will be okay.”
Another issue is not putting a houseplant in its proper light environment. By reading the plant labels closely at the nursery or garden center, indoor gardeners can get their plants off to the best possible start.
Elliott recently shared her list of the five easiest houseplants to grow and why she recommends them:
Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)
Exposure: Low to medium light
Water: Once weekly
“Give this plant room to grow. Trimming it back forces it to grow more plus it’s very easy to start a new plant by taking a stem cuttings: remove most of the leaves from each cutting except a few on top and place them in a jar of water. Once the roots are about 1 1/2 inches long, you can pot them up.”
Rubber plant (Ficus elastica)
Exposure: Low light
Water: Once weekly
“They have sticky, milky sap that can be used to make rubber. Dust off the leaves once in a while since this allows them to get more light for growing. Rubber plants are slow-growers so they’ll stay in the same pot for a long time. There’s hardly anything you can do to kill them.”
Snake plant (Sanseveria trifasciata)
Exposure: Medium to high light
Water: Twice per month
“Because it is related to the succulent family, it does not need very much water. It’s almost impossible to kill a snake plant.”
Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
Exposure: Medium light
Water: Once weekly
“You can repot plant babies directly into a new pot, just keep them attached to the mother plant until you see new growth, which indicates they’re ready to grow on their own. Spider plants are really excellent at taking pollutants out of your living space and turning it into oxygen.”
African violet (Saintpaulia)
Exposure: Medium light
Water: Once weekly
“African violets flower readily. They’re perfect to grow in kitchens or bathrooms where there’s extra humidity. An east-facing window is ideal. They don’t need to be repotted very often and actually bloom even more if they’re somewhat root-bound.”
Elliott recommends feeding houseplants with a water-soluble fertilizer once per month from spring until fall, and then letting them rest.
If you’ve struggled with houseplants in the past, try again. By following Rhonda Elliott’s suggestions, it’s possible to be successful in cultivating these amazing plants.
“Growing houseplants is a way to bring nature inside,” she shared. “There’s something soothing and comforting and nurturing about growing plants indoors.”
Houseplant resources
For houseplant questions, or any gardening advice, contact the Spokane County Master Gardeners at 222 N. Havana St., via email at mgardener@spokanecounty.org or call (509) 477-2181. Reach Kootenai County Master Gardeners at 1808 N. Third, Coeur d’Alene, via email at kootenai@uidaho.edu or call (208) 446-1680.
Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy my column. I did take photos of the five houseplants Rhonda recommended and they are at the bottom of this post, so be sure to take a look.
You’ll also find this week’s “Everyone Can Grow a Garden” video below. I focused on when and how to harvest your winter squash and pumpkins. The best part is how to make them last longer than you thought possible with one easy, extra step!
Photos 1 and 2: Pothos and Rubber plant close-up.
Photos 3 and 4: Snake plant (Sanseveria) and Spider plant.
Photo 5: So many colorful options for African Violets!
I want to thank Stephanie O’Byrne, greenhouse manager at Manito Park, for allowing us to take photos for this article there. Such a beautiful place! If you look at the photo on the upper left of this post, that’s Spokesman-Review staff photographer, Dan Pelle, getting the best shot of Rhonda Elliott and the plants she has recommended. Thanks, Dan!