10 Best Indoor Plants for Every Room of Your Home

Indoor plants do way more than just look good. Plants improve moods and concentration while reducing stress. Some even purify the air. Learn which houseplants are the best fit for each room of your home.

October 21, 2020

By: Julie Martens Forney

Related To:

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Photo By: CostaFarms.com

Photo By: thejoyofplants.co.uk

Photo By: CostaFarms.com

Photo By: thejoyofplants.co.uk

Photo By: CostaFarms.com

Photo By: thejoyofplants.co.uk

Photo By: CostaFarms.com

Photo By: thejoyofplants.co.uk

Photo By: CostaFarms.com

Anthurium for the Kitchen

Invest in your well-being by dropping a little green on some greens — indoor plants, that is. Potted houseplants bring beauty to your inside spaces, generating feel-good benefits along the way. This tropical bloomer is Anthurium, a south-of-the-border gem with an easy-grows-it personality. It’s a great choice for a kitchen, where it can help remove indoor pollutants. The plant experts at Costa Farms recommend giving it a bright window for the most blooms. Otherwise, medium light yields healthy green leaves with fewer flowers.

Thanksgiving Cactus for a Shelf

Before the elf on the shelf arrives, give your holiday scenery an easy pick-me-up with the bright blooms of Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumbergera). Small pots of this no-fuss plant fit easily on shelves in any room of the house, adding a sizzling spot of color. Most holiday cacti come fully budded. Choose a plant with at least one open blossom so you get the color you want. Once the flower show ends, shift your plant to a window with medium to bright light for best growth and future blooms. Despite the name, this isn’t a true drought-loving cactus, so be sure to water it when soil feels dry to the touch.

Croton for the Foyer

Create a cheerful entry with a tropical punch of colorful leaves. Croton (Codiaeum) stages a year-round show with leaves in energizing shades, including green, gold, red and pink. Plants serve up the strongest hues when they receive bright light. Different croton varieties unfurl leaves with different shapes — thin and strappy, wide, cascading or twisted. Growers at Costa Farms suggest fertilizing croton during its strongest growing seasons: spring and summer. The rest of the year, skip the fertilizer. Water when soil is dry to the touch.

Rex Begonias in the Dining Room

Elegant Rex begonia plants (front and center back) suit the ambience of a traditional or casual dining room. The plant tends toward the short side, making it a perfect complement to a table or sideboard. Average to bright light keeps colorful foliage looking its best, and you can always shift plants from window ledge to serving table for a living centerpiece. Rex begonia (Begonia rex) succumbs to overwatering easily. Costa Farms’ experts recommend keeping soil on the dry side to avoid that issue. Instead of watering when soil is dry, wait one more day before giving plants a drink. The taller plant on the table is a Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema).

Orchids for the Living Room

Large, long-lasting blossoms make orchids a prize for any room of the house, but they really shine in a living room where you can relax and savor the beauty. They’re the right size for a tabletop (end, coffee, console, etc.). Orchids need bright light and grow best near a south- or east-facing window. They crave humidity, so it’s a good idea to grow them on a humidity tray, or take them into the bathroom when you’re showering. The No. 1 problem with orchids is overwatering. Avoid this by never letting an orchid sit in water. Empty drainage saucers shortly after watering.

Learn More : 8 Ways to Kill Your Orchid

Fiddle Leaf Fig for the Living Room

In the living room, include some floor plants — they easily hold their own among the larger furnishings. Fiddle leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) makes a stunning floor plant with its architectural leaves and towering height. It needs bright light to look its best. This tropical foliage plant is a living air purifier, removing unhealthy compounds from indoor spaces. Keep your fig happy by watering only when the top few inches of soil is dry. Shove your finger into soil to the middle knuckle to assess soil moisture. If leaf edges turn brown and crispy, the growers at Costa Farms suggest raising humidity around the fig by grouping it near other houseplants or using a humidity tray.

Learn More : How to Care for a Fiddle Leaf Fig

Money Tree for the Family Room

Plants are an easy way to jazz up your interior spaces on a budget, and few plants deliver like money tree (Pachira aquatica). Typically sold with braided trunks, this tropical beauty is said to bring good luck and fortune, making it a perfect choice for the family game room. Money plant grows best with bright light, the kind you’d find near an east- or south-facing window. Just remember to turn the plant weekly for even growth. It likes soil on the moist side, so if you tend to overwater plants, this could be a winner for you. To preserve a neat braid, snip any shoots that emerge along the trunks. Learn how to grow a money tree.

Dracaena for the Home Office

Houseplants in your home office are a must because they help you concentrate and focus. Even the smell of moist soil can boost your mood and reduce stress. Madagascar dragon tree (Dracaena marginata) is an air-purifying houseplant and fits easily into any home office decor. It offers green leaves edged in pink or red and is versatile, growing best in bright light but also low light (although colorful leaf edges may fade to green). Although this tough plant tolerates dry soil, the plant experts at Costa Farms suggest watering when the top inch of soil is dry. Brown leaf tips usually indicate low humidity. Try misting plants, grouping with other plants or using a humidity tray. The shorter plant on the desk is a Rex begonia.

Fern, Bromeliad or Ficus for the Bathroom

For the bathroom, choose plants that thrive in high humidity, including fern, bromeliad, variegated creeping fig (Ficus pumila) and Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema). Fine-tune your plant selections based on how much sunlight your bathroom receives. This collection of humidity-loving plants grows best in medium to bright light. If your bath lacks natural light, consider adding a plant light and houseplants that thrive in low to medium light, such as snake plant (Sansevieria), pothos or calathea.

Chinese Evergreen for the Guest Bedroom

Variegated leaves steal the spotlight with Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema). This variety is ‘Emerald Beauty.’ Like all Chinese evergreens, it has a bulletproof personality that makes it a great fit for a guest bedroom where you might not remember to water it as often. Chinese evergreen is a slow-growing plant, fitting neatly onto a bedside table when young and transitioning to a floor plant as its stems multiply to fill out the pot. Make this your go-to houseplant for low to medium light settings. The growers at Costa Farms suggest fertilizing once or twice in spring and summer, during the plant’s season of active growth.

10 Best Indoor Plants for Every Room of Your Home

Related To:

Shop This Look

Anthurium for the Kitchen

Thanksgiving Cactus for a Shelf

Croton for the Foyer

Rex Begonias in the Dining Room

Orchids for the Living Room

Fiddle Leaf Fig for the Living Room

Money Tree for the Family Room

Dracaena for the Home Office

Fern, Bromeliad or Ficus for the Bathroom

Chinese Evergreen for the Guest Bedroom

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