Low-maintenance choices for your home Low-maintenance plants are just the answer for indoor gardeners who travel or are away from home often. If you fall into the category of people who don't have a lot of time to devote to plant care, use this list of nearly foolproof suggestions next time you go plant shopping.
Very Easy Plants
(Many of these plants can go up to three weeks without water.)
- Barrel cactus has modified leaves with sharp spikes for protection in the wild.
- Cast-iron plant (Aspidistra) 'Milky Way' can handle low light (north-facing ), high light (but not direct sun) and extreme temperature changes; it's also drought-tolerant and slow-growing.
- Corn plant (Dracaena) is a slow-growing plant with a thick base to store water; it's available in many varieties and colors and can grow quite large.
- Jade plant is a popular succulent that's easy to propagate by planting leaves in the soil.
- Medicine plant (Aloe vera) is best known for its plump leaves that can provide a soothing gel for cuts and burns; the plant is fast-growing and displays a beautiful flower spike.
- Rabbit's ear (a member of the kalanchoe family) is a moderately fast grower (about three new leaves every two months) and has hairy leaves that help prevent against water loss due to evaporation.
- Ribbon plant (Sansevieria) is also known as mother-in-law's tongue or snake plant. A succulent, it has thick, waxy leaves and likes to be potbound. It is also excellent in the home as an air-cleaning plant.
Moderately Easy Plants
- Golden pothos is a member of the philodendron family; it is fast-growing and has striking variegated leaves.
- Heart-leaf philodendron (Philodendron scandens oxycardium) has--you guessed it--heart-shaped leaves. This variety dates back to the Victorian age, when people first started getting interested in houseplants. A houseplant favorite, philodendron is fast-growing and does well on a trellis or as a hanging plant.
- Rubber plant (Ficus elastica robusta) features leaves that darken to deep burgundy with more light exposure and revert to green in low-light conditions. Rubber plants like to dry out between waterings.
- Spider plant, or air plant, is extremely adaptable and propagates easily via "pups," or plantlets, that emerge on long stalks from the mother plant.
- Umbrella tree, or Hawaiian schefflera, is fast-growing and easy to contain in size by clipping the top leaves.
Guests Terry Rennolds
Owner, Little Eden Plantscaping
15550 W. 72nd Ave.
Arvada, CO 80007
Phone: 303-422-3336
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