We've said it here before: plants bring life to all living spaces. If you're concerned about killing plants, we've consulted with our favorite plant expert, Debra Prinzing, to bring you the hardiest ones.
• 1 Dracaena marginata
"It's pretty sculptural," Debra says. "Good for the young and modern." She recommends getting two and putting them on your fireplace mantel or on your entry table. "It you had matching pots they would look really cool," she adds. These plants need to consistently have water in the pots, but you can taper back in the winter as long as they don't dry out. Ideally, they would be close to an east window for indirect light, and so they won't won't bake in the sun. If you're sick of green houseplants, these come in all kinds of different shades: variegated, burgandy, copper, etc.
Note: Toxic to cats, dogs and horses, says the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
• 2 Sansevieria (also known asMother-in-Law's tongue)
"That is the all-time indestructible houseplant. It is gorgeous. It's very modern," Debra Prinzing says. It's a great plant for someone who wants something contemporary, geometric and sculptural &mdash and it looks great in a pot. It likes bright light, but Debra has seen it survive in a shadowy spot in her home.
Note: Toxic to cats, dogs and horses, says the ASPCA.
• 3 Ficus
"This is a 1970s college dorm plant that is having a revival," Debra says. There's the tree type, known as rubber plants, and also the trailing ficus, which is called a Creeping Fig. These plants like humidity and bright light. If they look a little stressed, Debra recommends dragging them into the bathroom for a week to soak in shower humidity.
Note: Toxic to cats, dogs and horses, says the ASPCA.
• 4 Philodendron
This plant was also popular in the seventies. Debra calls it "the retro plant." It can live a long time and move from apartment to apartment with people," she says. It can climb up over your window, or over a railing on a loft. Debra warns that you need to prevent this plant from becoming root-bound by transplanting it to a larger pot every couple of years. You can cut back on this plant's watering in the winter, but if it starts to get dry, Debra suggests putting the pot on a tray with gravel, and to continue to put water in gravel &mdash it will create a mini-humid environment.
Note: Toxic to cats and dogs, says the ASPCA.
• 5 Bromeliad
This is a flowering pineapple, but Debra says that if you buy it in a flowering state, be prepared that it may not flower for you again. They only flower in perfect above-seventy-degree conditions. However, these are still beautiful with their silver-gray foliage. They need to sit in a bright spot away from direct sunlight, hopefully an east- or north-facing light. Debra often sees them in Trader Joe's, IKEA or Target.
MORE PLANT POSTS
• Bringing In Green: 10 Best Plants for Apartments
• Sansevieria: A Favorite Houseplant for Low Light
• Great Indoor Plant: Begonias
• Good questions: Low Light Plants?
• 5 Fragrant Plants for a Small Space
(Images: 1, 2, 4 and 5, PlantCare.com; 3, Loudonpedia)
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I (and I'm sure many others) would love to see a list of house plants for pet owners.
I would just love to have houseplants, but my cat has knocked over every single one I've brought in the house, smashing pottery, ruining the hardwood floors, and creating huge messes of dirt for me to clean up. How about a list of plants that have invisible barriers around them?
I too would LOVE to see a post on modern looking houseplants that are safe for pets!
Thanks for the list, I am surprised that you didn't include the ZZ plant, we sell a lot of them in our shop to people who need hard to kill plants and have had great success.
To the poster who needs a cat-safe plant, plant hangers are great and will keep your plants safe.
I recently adopted a four-foot dracaena with soil as dry as cement and leaves so withered they looked like straw. The plant was also so potbound that it fell over unless it was leaning against a wall. I am hardly a gardening expert, but I cut off the leaves and began to give the plant a good soak in the tub once a week. In a few months I had a lavish tree with an umbrella of arching, spikey leaves, exactly as your photo shows. The plant adores its indirect southern light. I still give it a soak every 7 days, and a light mist whenever I think of it. It is easily the most indestructible plant I have ever owned. (Incidentally, I repotted it ... and the plant didn't even go into shock.) I highly recommend this for people who have bad luck with green things -- unless they have pets, that is.
Just last week, I bookmaked the ASPA's list of toxic and non-toxic plants for dogs, cats and horses. And it's put together in a really smart, sensible way!
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/plants/nontoxic-plants.html
Orchids?
I have always had plants: love them. However, I just got a new kitten who has destroyed three plants in as many days.
I removed all the plants that were toxic to cats before she arrived -- but she's toxic to plants!
Do a lot of people have horses in their homes to worry about?
I have had tremendous luck with any house plant I bought at Ikea. I water them once a week tops and ignore them. They must put them in steroid soil or something.
lucky bamboo and mother-in-law's toung are the only plants i can't seem to kill. Everything else just dies. My apartment is dreadfully dark, and i just can't get anything to grow. I find that the largest problem is the soil of my plants often doesn't dry quickly enough. So pots will be moist weeks after I plant them.
Aren't ficus notorious for dropping all their leaves at the slightest stress? They may be hard to kill, but they seem inclined toward attempted suicide . . . .
Do you have enough drainage in your plants' pots, Jose? Maybe they need some rocks or something in the bottom of the pots to facilitate drainage.
yeah, I wouldn't recommend a ficus for those with black thumbs. they drop their leaves (and don't grow them back in the area they dropped them) if they go dry or if their sunlight changes (meaning you may have to move them around your house as the seasons change).
I also find it funny to describe sansevieria as 'very modern' considering they were all too common in the victorian era!
I have a cat and have many poisonous plants. she was curious about them at first, but a combination of training and keeping them out of easily accesible areas has left her and my plants healthy.
I've killed 3 out of 5 of these, plus orchids like someone else mentioned. Not sure if I dare risk the other 2. My silk flowers look fabulous, though!
Bamboo and spider plants haven't died in my neglectful home yet ... and, like other posters, I would love to see a list that includes more than one plant that's not harmful to pets.
Take "harmful to pets" with a grain of salt. I have 2 cats and all of the above mentioned plants in my house.
One cat chews the dracena marginata leaves she can reach, so I got a tall one that she can't get to. No problems. After checking out the mother-in-law's tongue, the philodendrons, and the ficuses, she's decided to ignore all of them. On the contrary, she chews bromeliads down to stumps -- they don't stand a chance with her around, but she doesn't seem harmed by her habit.
I'd recommend trying things out -- the cats may not react to the plants or may not be interested in them at all.
Regarding harmful plants, my parents have many plants that are considered toxic to animals, and also 3 cats. Occasionally they will chew on a leaf, vomit, and then leave that plant alone until they forget about the incident! But I suppose that is also because they seem only inclined to chew on plants lightly and not destroy/eat them completely anyway.
I'd also recommend Christmas/holiday cacti. I once accidentally left mine in my dorm room over winter break next to a window. They sure weren't happy about it, but both plants are still around and thriving 5 years later.
I have trouble keeping my herb garden alive, but have had incredible luck with my sago palm– it only wants water once a week, and lives in indirect light. And it looks like something out of the Jurassic period!
@Kimberly Sevilla This is a late post but I have to add my comment. My daughter and her husband had to put all their plants out of their two cats' (HARM'S) way by elevating them. The cats simply launched through the air to knock them all over the place. NOTHING was out of their reach.
Add to this list: Christmas (Thanksgiving, Easter) cactus and hoya. Water once a month, leave in cold dark rooms, cover them with dust, whatever. They don't care and keep on thriving.