I don't know about low light houseplants, but I do know that rosemary needs lots of light. It likes cool, bright conditions. So sorry! You could always set up a spot with a grow light, and give your plants artificial light. Then you could grow anything you want to.

I've personally had a lucky bamboo plant locked in a dark closet for several months which survived and even thrived in that environment without care or light. Also, golden pathos plants do well in artificial light and low light areas.

That bamboo must have done something VERY bad.

Sorry, can't offer any help, but LOL at patrick (the other one)'s comment about the bamboo. Interested in your suggestions on this topic as well!

Herbs will be tough, but there are plenty of low light plants out there that should do alright.

Umbrella and Culleus plants will grow in the shade (although the Culleus will loose the pretty maroon splotches on the leaves when in shadier areas) and can be easy to care fore. They are on the large size though. You can find a smaller plants if you prefer. Philodenron is difficult to kill and can do well inside away from the light - they're also smaller than the other two.

Go to a nursery (not Home Depot!) and asked about low-light plants. They should be able to give you a few suggestions and provide you with some that will do double duty as air-purifiers!

Mother-in-Law's Tongue, Snake plant, Cast Iron Plant.

And I Peace Lilies which I personally adore.

Rosemary really needs lots of sun.

I just read Patrick's comment, too funny.

Poor bamboo locked a corner.

Spider plants and dracaena also do well in low light.

I have both aloe and bamboo in the bathroom. The only light they get is when someone is in there. They have been doing fine for well over a year. I tried ivy, but after a couple of months it started to wilt.

I wouldn't bother with the rosemary. They like elbow room. And LOTS of light. I have basically had no luck with herbs in low-light situations.

Pothos and sanseveria both do ok with medium-to-little light, I have them in dim rooms and periodically give them a little "vacation" somewhere brighter to make sure they're doing ok. Dracaenas are worth a shot too as they are not fussy. I would start with one or two small ones and see how they work out, as long as they are kept watered you might get lucky! I would definitely not bother with herbs though.

Also, maybe ChristinaRose and I are in very different environments, but here philodendrons get monstrously large and coleus (not culleus) barely make it at all. Depending on the size of your place a philodendron may not be the kind of commitment you want in a starter plant.

Snake plants!! I have one in my cubicle at work that receives no light, other than the overheads. I have several others in my house that have survived dark corners for years. They also require little water and are usually very affordable.

Zamioculcas zamifolia can get to a nice specimen sized plant even in lower light. When it doesn't get enough light or water it just stops growing, but it stays green and alive through it all.

Patrick! :D

I concur with dracaena and golden pothos. I have both in the center of my house where they receive very little indirect light, and the pothos is going nuts. Pretty plant, too!

Lucky bamboo is really a great low light plant. Its super easy to care for, you just add water as needed, and let it be, and it will thank you with beautiful green stocks and leaves.

Plastic plants to amazing in low light.

Peace lilies are great - I kill plants AND have a pretty dark place, and ours is still alive!

I second the peace lily suggestion. They're beautiful too. Rubber trees don't need much light either & they're really easy to care for--they seldom need water.

Plants that thrive in darkness are dead. Snake plants will do okay, but why not re-think this? Can you at least let it have some time in front of a window? Must it stay in the dark bathroom always? I'm not terribly worried about the suffering of plants, but why not just get something else--dried herb bundles?

as well as those mentioned above;
aglaonema
aspidistra (cast iron plant)
diffenbachia
ficus elastica (rubber tree)
also ferns and ivys often do quite well with limited lighting.

orchids will last a while without light although you won't get it to re-bloom so consider it disposable.

to increase your success rate I would recommend installing a gro bulb in a fixture and don't over water.

Please remember peace lilies are toxic to cats!

Going to have to second the suggestion of the ZZ plant (Zamioculcas Zamiifolia). It won't thrive in darkness (since plants need light), but it will thrive without sunlight. I currently have a ZZ plant in my windowless office which has done quiet well.

I also agree with FantasticMrFaux.... perhaps a dried plant or even a fake plant would be fine. I know fake plants seem corny but if you are careful in selecting them from the right vendors they do look quite real and provide the same visual pleasantries provided by real plants.

One important thing to consider if you have a gluttonous cat like mine or are prone to ingesting house plants during drinking binges or what have you: is that thing going to hurt me or mine?

They may have a low toxicity but Sansevieria plants (like real life mother-in-law tongues and some snakes) are poisonous. So watch out for those pets and babies.

I still go <a href:>here</a> first before buying plants for my pet-filled house even though I don't live in Denver anymore.

I have both a mother-in-law's-tongue as well as a jade plant in my office - the space gets no natural light, just artificial. They have been thriving.

Great question. Both of my bathrooms do not have windows, but I'd love having some plants in there. Will be trying it out!

Wow, your responses are heartwarming! Including the artificial plant - believe me, I've considered it. I thought about getting tissue paper flowers, but was advised by a special person to bring something LIVE into the bedroom :)

The bamboo saga is impressive indeed.

Ok, I'll forget rosemary - what about lavender? And meanwhile, I'm going to print out your suggestions to aid my research. Hugs to all!

Snake plant!

Zamioculcas for sure.

I love my snake plant, which lives in a partially shaded corner of my living room. A caveat - if properly taken care of, snake plants will live FOREVER and eventually get very big and heavy - not necessarily a great option if you're a renter and move every year or two.

The one I have was passed down to me from my parents. He's 43 years old, about 2 feet in diameter, and still going (really, really) strong. Oh, and his name is Spot.

That thing is going to outlive me.

Such interesting advice against rosemary! In my sad experience trying to grow herbs in an apt with only north/northeastern exposure (and a plant light--which didn't seem to help at all, except to give me really long-stemmed, small-leaved herbs), rosemary was the *only* herb that survived. After everything including the sage died, my rosemary is still around three years later. It gets bright light in the morning for a couple hours, but that is pretty much it. If you have your heart set on rosemary in your bedroom, I'd try a small pot this summer and see how it goes.

I'd also recommend aloe. My mom kept a pot in their bathroom, which only had a teeny tiny window that was really high up, and it did well. Taking her cue, I bought a small pot and it has quadrupled in size since in the same room as the rosemary.

ferns!

Mother-in-Law's tongue

saraband, that's really interesting, I am guessing it's that couple of hours of bright light in the morning that saves it.

And there are a LOT of popular houseplants that are toxic to pets. So it is worth checking up on most of them beforehand if you have curious/nibble-prone pets.

I have to disagree about the umbrella tree doing well in low light. I had mine in a sunny window, and it was thriving. When I moved it to a shelf with indirect light, it got all wilty - put it back in the sunny window and it's growing galore!

I have one plant doing very well in a dimly lit hallway - unfortunately, I don't know the name of it. It's that pretty generic looking houseplant with wide, dark green leaves. It often grows long limbs/vines that spill out onto the ground. I water it once a week, and that's about it. When a section gets too long, I clip it and stick it in water... then I have another plant! Anyone know the name of this plant?

Lavender needs similar growing conditions as rosemary - a fair amount of sun and "elbow room" as someone here nicely put it. But if you have your heart set on rosemary or lavender, why not give either a try?

You wouldn't have much to lose except $3-4. Maybe get a little plant light bulb too?

aglaonema

@larchgirl Most orchids like brighter light, some even like full sun. Depends on the types. Phalenopsis (I probably just butchered the spelling, sorry) do ok in "low light" which isn't anywhere near as low as you and I would think, some other types do too.

I would recommend ferns. Boston Ferns and some of the broader leafed varieties do well in my north-facing office with tinted windows. My Peace Lily is happy there, too. Perk if you have cats: ferns aren't toxic to cats, except Asparagus Ferns, which aren't actually ferns.

I'm also surprised that saraband had good luck with the rosemary. My guess is that it's also in a fairly cool spot--if it was a warm room, it would want more light because the heat would spur its growth, I think.

Lavender is going to want even more sun than the rosemary, in my experience. If you have your heart set on herbs, you could try mints or oreganos in the sunniest room. I bet you could get away with chives there, too. Those are the herbs in the shadiest spots of my garden, anyway--and the mints and oreganos (planted in a pot in the ground, to contain them) are even under trees and grape arbors.

As far as low-light goes, I can't say enough about ZZ Plants--they're so cool-looking, and tough! Snake plant, too... and I don't personally know any cats or dogs amongst my friends' and families' animals who even try to approach their tough leaves. Golden pothose, philodendrons, and even some of the funky begonias would do fine. I keep my spider plants in very little light, too.

Aside from the versatile "Snake Plant", you could try a "Peace Lily" or "Pothos Ivy". Both of these do well in low-light conditions. Good luck!

Is the room you want to put your plant in bright enough to read comfortably without turning a light on, but receives little or no direct sun? If so, then that is considered "low light" for the purposes of growing houseplants. If it's too dark to even do that, I'm not sure how much luck you will have growing a plant under those conditions, since almost all plants need at least a little bit of light in order to thrive.

The room with the few hours of brightness sounds like the most promising room to put your plants in. I have had good luck growing phalaenopsis orchids under low light conditions. They can even stand some direct morning sun, but do well with filtered or indirect light as well. Also, I have a money tree growing in an eastern facing window that only gets morning sun. Kentia and Lady palms do well in low light conditions, too.

Pothos. No question about it. My office moved into an interior office with absolutely no windows last year. I've had two pothos plants that spend 5 days a week in artificial light or total darkness. I move them to a sunny window for weekends. They are absolutely thriving! I'm constantly surprised at how well they do.

Pothos Ivy = "Devils vine" it barely needs light or water in the winter. It likes to drink in the summer, but save the Carona for you and your friends!

They are also easy to clone in a jar of water.

Never knew they were called pothos, but yeah, those little green vines can grow in anything.

african violet. got one as a gift and watered and sunned it like crazy. it died aggressively. the little plastic stick in the soil said it was to be kept out of sunlight. period.

oops.

>

Good question AnaJ - thank you for this explanation. There are brief spurts of time when I can read with the window exposed and no lights on. However, the windows are all UV resistant, so I assume the plant will not receive "real" sunlight. Maybe I underestimate the power of sunlight or don't understand plants as well as I should!

I am now seriously considering a plant light - though I am on a budget. Or an African violet! Thanks Lady J.

In Australia we have one called Zanzibar Gem.

It's glossy and gets tall and sculptural. We kept one in our bathroom which had only a small frosted window. It's still going strong after 5 years.

Most of my plants are alive today only because they don't need much sun or attention (spider plant, rubber tree, pathos) but I will add that we used to be able to grow basil in two narrow terra-cotta planters in our pretty dark alleyway window. It was the only herb that we could grow AND we would use. Granted, it wasn't big and bushy like a super healthy sun exposed basil, but it was good in pasta! Oh, and wheatgrass will grow anywhere and cats love to gnaw on it.

I have a Chinese Perfume Plant (can't remember the latin name) that is hard to kill in low-light and smells nice. I ordered it from Logee's if that helps.

If you get a little light, you could do a scented geranium (pelargonium), but they really need a little bit of light.

Dracaena. It can withstand anything, and will reward just the tiniest bit of artificial light and a dunking now and then (you can let it go dry as cement, and then soak it) with catherine wheels of thin, palmy leaves.

Philodendrons (though poisonous to cats) are also survivors. There's also a very pretty vine called a marble queen that grows in any light. Cast iron plants will hang on even in cold drafts and dim corners.

I can't even pronounce this one -- spathiphyllum -- but it actually hates bright (esp. southern light). Needs watering every day, though.

I haven't had much luck with spider plants in dim rooms; in my experience, they want some sun, even if it's indirect.

Ferns can grow in shade, if you're lucky, but they don't like dry air. Not one bit.

(As you can tell, I once lived in a dark place, but I had lots of greenery in there.)

Most herbs are originally from Mediterranean climates, so think of that when considering growing conditions. Mints will take more abuse, but they don't release their scent unless touched.

Fuchsia will do okay in moderately low light, but if you're determined to have flowers/scent in the bath, why not just put cut flowers in there?

Plants need sunlight for photosynthesis, as we all recall from 3rd grade. Deprived it, plants can't really process nutrients, so a plant in very low light is just dying very slowly.

http://www.mcwdn.org/Plants/Photosynthsis.html

People need it too for Vitamin D, which our bodies don't store.

If its that bad and you want fragrance, why not just get cut flowers? I usually have white lilies in my dark bedroom and I love them!

I'm dealing with a similar situation - low/no natural light in most rooms (bathroom gets none except for overhead) plus one plant-fancying feline.

Check out the attached link for the top "growing clean air" plants - the bottom of the page has a limited list of cat & dog safe plants. The staff at my local nursery showed me the low light ones (prayer plant, spider, rubber, several of the palms, begonia at a stretch). http://www.earthcouncil.net/freshair.htm

Plants and I do not have a great history (major black thumb) but I've had good luck with 2 varieties of the prayer plant - great look with very low maintenance.

I suggest the bright green pothos (I have a lovely one in my windowless office) or the purple and green wandering Jew (I have them in several dark nooks). Both are easy to grow or start from cuttings, just break or cut off a piece and put it in a pretty bottle. I keep three pothos cuttings in my office in individual clear bottles (planting them in the potted one and taking new cuttings as necessary) and get lots of compliments.

african violets are great. they like low light and generally love being ignored. i have buckets of thriving african violets that i only water when the soil is all shriveled up (i put them in the sink and then forget about them again). they get very little light where i have them. they re-bloom.

people who say african violets are hard to grow are trying too hard :D

Bamboo. Definetly bamboo. I live in Vegas so my apt is constantly dark to keep the heat out. I've had the best luck with bamboo. You can pick it up cheap if you but it loose (without a decorative and often expensive container). I have most of mine in glasses I bought at the dollar store and they look great!

Splurge and get a ZZ plant:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art40827.asp

"Most herbs are originally from Mediterranean climates, so think of that when considering growing conditions."

Ha - thank you. Mediterranean is definitely what I strive for, but my bedroom can't help being a northeastern Yank. :)

phillodendrun *sp* is what i've been growing for years. i purchased it as a small plant for $2.50 from target a few years ago...accidentally left it at my parent's house for 1 semester of college.
when i got back, it hadn't been watered since i left and was in a dark room, yet there is was...still as healthy and happy as the day i left it.

it grows at a rapid rate and i just purchased 2 more small plants for my bathroom. the best part of them being in there is the steam from the hot shower is more than enough to water it.

good luck!

putting a plant in a low light environment is like putting a dog in cage for the rest of its life - it just ain't right.

Not that I care if your plant dies, but I think it will look unnatural & forced.

off topic-but I am on here everyday posting comments so I feel like I can ask this question :) I sent in a question to the editor a couple of months ago about some advice concerning my dining room. Every day I look to see if it's posted and it has not. I ask because I am really wanting the AT advice!! I am holding off on some DIY work because I really want the advice of my AT friends. Anyone know the time it usually takes before you "good question" actually gets posted?? Thanks!

Did you submit a photo with it?

Patrick-I did submit a photo, actually 3 photos b/c it was kind of a three pronged question. :(( Maybe I could just send you the pics patrick and you could give me your opinion lol!

Oooh, I didn't know that snake plants can handle low light.
Lucky Bamboo LIKES being in the dark, so it's not "cruel." Another way to get the "green vibe" throughout the apartment? Bunches of Eucalyptus. Smells great, too...

Now i know why my snake plants do so well. Great info thanks!