The only indoor house plants I have ever had any luck with are ikea. I have one right now that is long thin stems with palmy type leaves on the ends, have no idea what it is called, that has been living indoors nearly completely neglected for at least 3 years now! Mine have usually survived no less than a year. I'm terrible with houseplants, my husband calls them my "victims."

I bought two from IKEA. One is a Money Tree plant and is doing fabulous. The other is a Coffee Plant and is doing ok. What I don't like is that they don't mark what the plant is. It took me almost a year to figure out what my Coffee Plant was. I have found that Money Tree plants are hardy plants anyway. I have read that Coffee Plants are a little sensitive. So, it probably depends on what type of plant you buy.

I bought two Ikea plants with the plan of letting them stay in my apartment when I rented it out...but one of them, even after 4 years, has been so healthy and happy that I took it with me when I moved (it's a Bonsai Braided Money Tree).

I've had good and bad experiences. Some plants are miracles, others were just plain ridiculous. But I never got upset because they were always within the $5 price range.

We have a bonsai tree from Ikea and it's doing great!

I bought a sad looking little plant from ikea in 2004 for $1.59-- it is now a gigantic bush that i had to pawn off on my grandmother for space reasons-- she is constantly having to cut it back. Ikea plants have proven far heartier than plants I've received from floral deliveries, that's for sure! (and for the price, you can't go wrong)

I think the real problem with ikea is the beautiful plant pots they sell that don't drain well-- every plant I've ever planted in those has required a transplant to a much uglier but more functional pot.

My only Ikea plant experience----they had a bunch of plants in 3 inch pots that fit perfectly in a long white glass planter from a few aisles away. While I was picking my plants, I saw 4 other people go grab one of those planters and pop the mini-plants in. I'm such a trend setter.
Oh, they are now too large for that planter, but still thriving in other ones.

Well, I kill all plants. :P But most of of the ones I've gotten from Ikea are still doing okay.

I have some small plants that are doing pretty well, but I have a large plant that I got to fill in a large empty wall and within 3 weeks it was brown!

So my vote is that small plants are okay, but large plants do not do well, IMO.

I had one of the orchids for 3 years (its death was my own fault). I think it bloomed 3 times too for long periods of time. They just need to be re-potted when they are resting.

@melanie8, get a diamond bit drill and drill more holes. I keep meaning to do this since I keep finding pots without drains in them that I love.

I have found that plants from Ikea always come with bugs. A friend of mine bought a nice fern and it had spider mites. Booo

Plants die because they're not suited to whatever conditions you put them in. In 99% of cases, it has nothing to do with where they come from.

I have several large plants that came from IKEA. Can't beat their price...~$20 instead of hundreds from the plant nursery for the same thing.
Here's my best IKEA plant score:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/splatgirl/3192232841/in/set-185957/
It was fairly big when I bought it, and now, a year or so later it's about 12 feet tall. When I was looking around for a huge new pot for it a while ago, smaller versions of this same plant at the nursery were $300-$400, not counting, presumably, the cost of delivery.

The big pots they always stock at IKEA in the spring/summer are totally awesome deal, too.

oh yea, and I completely agree about the annoyingness of their plants not being labeled. makes it hard to know if the thing is at all suited to your conditions.

the only plants that i have not killed have been from ikea.

I bought a beautiful gardenia from Ikea, it died. I don't blame Ikea, though - they are notoriously hard to grow. I took very good care of it, but sometimes they just don't make it.

I should try again, you guys give me hope.

I've only gotten lucky bamboo from IKEA; it dies as fast from them as do the stalks I've gotten from other sources. I'd buy an IKEA plant that was a hardy variety; they look pretty good in the store. As others have mentioned, it's how you take care of them.

splatgirl-- Your giant plant looks awesome! Do you know what it is? Does it only produce leaves, or does it also bloom? To me it looks like it might be a Heliconia relative. It would be a nice surprise if it turned out to be Bird of Paradise or something like that :-)

My own experience with ikea plants has been on a much smaller scale. I bought two succulents, a cacti, and an ivy plant, and all are doing as well as can be expected for the conditions. I've had no trouble with bugs or other types of infections. I think as long as you have some idea of the requirements of the plant you are buying then IKEA is a great deal, but you can't beat a real nursery if you need growing advice.

I worked for a wholesaler that supplied Ikea with plant material.

they are the same exact plants that are sold to higher end plant retailers. Ikea buys in bulk hence the cheaper pricing, they are less expensive varieties (not always, but often)and they are potted into different grow containers. usually the only differences between the two (high end vs. ikea) are varieties available and the potting techniques. the plants i sold all came from the same green houses. the green house i sold for was in florida and we also sold to a "depot" store, a "wall" store and other big block retailers that shall remain nameless as well as the SAME plants to local florists!

poinsettia at a wall store - $3.99, the SAME EXACT pointsettia at a florist - $12.99!

Often the ikea plants have been just recently put into the green grower containers they are sold in and the root systems have been compromised. (this is not always the case as i've certainly seen a lot of root bound material but often enough to warrant mention). higher end material is often given a chance to grow-on once transplanted into a new container. By not having the opportunity to grow on the ikea plants sometimes just kick the bucket without any obvious reasons. they are just too stressed to go on.

I think ikea is a wonderful source for houseplants because they are so cheap and with some TLC in the begining and the correct cultural requirements they should thrive.

oh and drain holes are your friends! don't plant directly into the ceramic ikea containers unless you drill holes first or your plants will sit in water and the roots will drown.

my oldest ikea plant is a fern, his name is Fronck and he's twelve years old ;-)
two orchids i bought there are also doing well, even managed to get them to re-bloom.
on the other hand, the water plants i bought looked great in my roll-able pond http://tinyurl.com/dy6gyl but turned into slime after some time (couldn't get the water right i guess) so overall i'd say it's a good deal.

I've had amazing success (as has my mother) with the IKEA succulents, cacti, corn plants, and the bamboo. The other plants I've bought have died...money tree and some other smaller ones...but that was more likely my fault.

I have a plant I purchased at IKEA not long after moving into my home. That was 4 months shy of 8 years ago. I have 2 stalks of bamboo that are about 7 years old.

Haven't had any luck with the tiny plants they sell for $1. They've all died. I attribute their demise to the plant pots (also purchased at IKEA) without drainage. Must be careful not to overwater.

My lucky bamboo from Ikea was crazy awesome. (It's name was Jane.) It moved four times, from dorm room to dorm room, and stayed healthy all the while. I killed it dead though when I forgot to water it for 3 months. My fault, not Ikeas. :) I would say that it was the best plant I ever purchased. I would TOTALLY buy another plant there. :)

I've bought many plants from ikea, started off getting lucky bamboo that last only for so long, but fairly long.

Recently they started selling succulents, and oh my they looked so sad in the warehouse, but once i got them home they sprang right up. Sometime in January they had a bunch of Christmas cactus that looked like it was 5 days from dying. It took all i had no to buy them all up. I got one lucky fellow that is now doing great.

Just recently bought some smaller plants that are doing ok, though they are more typical house plants that I've never really had luck with, but I'll give it a go.

my mother - who is the least capable plant owner alive - bought a ponytail palm from ikea maybe eight years ago. she waters it about twice yearly and, on easter, my uncle comes over and plucks off any dead foliage.

despite our utter lack of care or concern for the poor thing, it seems to be thriving.

I just bought a succulent from IKEA with a super cute planter and I love it. We'll see how long it lasts.

I like IKEA plants. I live in a house surrounded by trees - making it rather dark. I feel that if a plant can survive in a rather dark store with no windows, it can survive in my house.

I should add that i share some of the frustration regarding many of their planters not having drainage holes. A few had them, a couple more are designed so you can add them after the fact but most don't give you an option. I've found the best way to add a whole is to put a piece or two of tape on the bottom and then use a hammer and Phillips screw driver to puncture a whole through the tape and the bottom of the pot. This works about 90% of the time. I'm sure a drill bit designed for glass/'ceramics would probably do a better job, but I don't have that available to me.

Have only bought one plant but it did well until I forgot to water it for a month. What I don't get are the copious silk flowers near the plant area. They are gross!

I have a lucky bamboo that's still going strong after six years. I also bought a cheap, sad little succulent, which is now one of my healthiest plants!

However, I will say that for the succulent, I replaced both its potting material and pot....Also, I take every potted plant I buy and loosen its roots before replanting or watering.

I bought 8 plants from Ikea. Only two survived.

hi Nancy Claire--I'm fairly certain it is some species of Musa (bannana). It's never bloomed, but I think that if it was going to, it would have, as it seems to love the conditions in here. It even survived a recent hardcore root severing repotting into a gigantic 30" dia. pot. Needless to say, it's now a permanent resident of that pot and this house, as it's way to big to try to move ever again.

The two large corn plants in my foyer are also $15 IKEA specials, and have done great for 2 years.

This is sooo awesome to me! I just bought two ikea plants, trying out my green thumb and just moved into a house! It's good to know all these tips people have left. I just turned around and my ceramic pot doesn't have holes! ahhh! Good to know, now that it's only been watered once, so it's not drowning just yet! ::crosses fingers:: I say yay! to ikea plants, they are wonderful prices... just like all ikea in my opinion.

Anyone know whether Ikea carries Dracaena Marginatas (a.k.a. dragon plants)? I've been looking for one that's affordable but healthy, and somewhat larger than a button.

I was just at the Emeryville IKEA last night and passed by the plants thinking "Their plants always wither /die off too quickly". I do very well with most of my other houseplants, but can't seem to keep the IKEA ones growing. Only one succulent has thrived, another sego palm has stayed the same since I bought it, and the rest (ranging from large palms to small cacti) have withered and died within six months unlike any other plants I buy.

How can you doubt the ability to thrive of a plant that lives in a windowless "Marketplace" until you bring it home?

Their prices on plants are amazing! I did manage to kill some succulent plants last year, but that was my own fault, since I watered them too often and they turned to mush.

I know everyone is trying to budget these days, but we should really try to support our local florists and nurseries. Typically, indoor plants don't cost more at those places than they do at Ikea. Also, most little shops seem more aware of where the plants came from, how best to take care of them, and how to save them if they aren't doing so well. I get really depressed at the thought of buying flowers in a big department store- regardless of price. It's so much nicer to have a relationship with local florists and nurseries and farms...

I found an unusual sansiviera (sp?) there a few years ago, one I'd only seen photos of, and it's doing great.

fyi, sago palms grow slow. like glacially slow. if you have one for a decade or two and it produces a new leaf, you're lucky.
Overall, it seems like it's completely hit or miss with regard to what plants IKEA has and when. Prolly depends on where you live, too.

Since they are seldom labeled and there's no expert advice on hand, I think the trick is knowing enough about plants to be able to spot those that are easy to grow.

I feed my Ikea plants on a diet of bitterness and neglect and still they thrive. It must be that hearty Swedish blood.

I have a lot of IKEA pots and almost every plant (none are from IKEA) I've put in them has died. I thought it was my brown thumb or the lighting in my house, but now I'm wondering if it's the pots. IKEA says you can put rocks in the bottom for drainage, which is what I've done, but I keep seeing the recommendation for the drain holes. Does anyone with a greener thumb than I know if the rocks are enough for drainage or if you really do need to drill drain holes? Thanks!

I never had a plant from Ikea that lived for more than 3 months. To counterpoint that I have been keeping a non-Ikea plant alive for 15 years now.

rosenatti, ikea definitely stocks dragon plants. the one i bought was about a foot tall (including leaves) when i bought it (about a couple of months ago) and it's been doing well. no major growth on the stems yet but the leaves have definitely gotten bushier!

I've bought a few plants from IKEA and they've mostly done well. Someone above mentioned that the bigger plants tend to do worse than the small ones, and I have to agree. I'm not a horticulturalist by any means, but the really big plants they stock don't seem to have well-developed roots.

I'll also echo everyone's frustration with the plant pots. My 'solution' (until my drill arrives) is to keep the plants in cheap plastic containers with the drain holes in them and then put those inside the IKEA cache pots.

I don't think I would ever buy an ikea plant. I don't think plants should be viewed as 'disposable' items that you can buy because they're cheap and just toss without a thought if it dies (the equivalent of much ikea furniture). think about what went into making the plant: the water, the manpower, the gas shipping them from florida or california...

though I'm also spoiled because I worked in a showroom whose partner company maintained plants. I was surrounded by large, beautiful, healthy, organically grown plants. not only did they arrive beautiful, but we had the staff with the knowledge to properly maintain them (which is the biggest difference between a specialty shop and a 'depot' type store). we had tons of customers that told us they only bought plants from us, despite our higher prices, because they were of a much higher quality.

I just wonder how many unsold plants ikea goes through? do they just order so many that they can keep them out for a week and toss what's left so they don't even have to bother taking care of them?

and regarding drainage... in general you should just keep the plants in the plastic nursery pots within the decorative one. line the bottom with plastic, fill it with foam chips or newspaper to get the plant to the right height, if necessary, then put in a plastic drainage tray (to prevent excess water from trickling out to your floor). check the tray now and then to remove festering water (it can get black and very stinky if left too long). you can top the pot with moss or rocks to disquise and plastic showing.

oh, and splatgirl, I think your plant is actually a bird of paradise (a non-flowering variety that is more commonly seen indoors). and sego palms can grow extremely fast with adequate light. we had to get rid of ours in our yard growing up because they outgrew the (very large) space within about 6 years. if given enough space, they usually put out a full new set of fronds at least yearly.

Thanks for the info, Sugafish! I see a happy little dragon plant in my future. If I manage not to kill it, someday it will be a happy big dragon plant. And then, with my luck, it will eat me.

it's ironic that my money tree just died. It was made up of multiple stems woven together, and one by one each stem died. Finally the last died alongside the failing economy and my bank account.

I purchased an aloe-plant a little less than a year ago, and it is the only plant brought into my home that has actually survived! Not only that, new sprouts are constantly popping out.

I've had 3 plants for about 6 months and they are doing great! I've never had plants before and have no idea what these ones are called either, since they didn't have labels. But they are fun to take care of. :)

I found that even though the plants at Ikea look healthy enough, more times then not they were new arrivals, overwatered at the store and once home, smell moldy due to rotting roots and have bugs. Half of mine survived. I prefer buying plants from the wholesale flower market. They are much cheaper, healtier and I can get advice on what plants to buy and how to take care of them, which Ikea doesn't offer.

I LOOOVE my Ikea plants!! they are so great I've had them for about 5 months and are still healthy. I would kill everything before. I believe they usually sell plants that are suited for indoors, so it's easy to take care of them and they don't need as much light as others.

Not only that but my boyfriend likes them so much he always wants to buy more.

Just want to echo what larchgirl above said about IKEA sourcing plants from local wholesalers - the same source your neighbourhood florists, big box stores, etc likely use.

For IKEA Montreal, many of the plants come from Planterra:
http://www.planterra.ca/index_e.html

IKEA generally offers better prices then their competitors, but the selection is usually limited to young, low-maintenance options or popular picks like orchids, and plant IDs/care tags may be missing.

If you have experience with houseplants, IKEA's great for finding bargains. On the flip side, many wholesalers (Planterra included) have staff willing to let plant lovers wander through the gigantic greenhouses and buy just ONE plant, not 1,000!

But if you need advice on how to ID/care for your purchases, either bring a gardening guru friend along shopping or stick to the florist.

I bought a nice little rosemary plant from Ikea-- you definitely can't beat their prices. However, this little fellow had acquired some sort of root-fungus and was dead within a month, thereby convincing my roommate that I have no skill with plants whatsoever. I ADORE their decorative pottery, though.

I have never bought plants from IKEA but I have 2 points to make:

1) For optimum feng shui, definitely replace any plants in your home or office that are straggly or dying/dead with lush new ones!

2) Home Depot used to replace any plants you bought from them that died within up to a year. Not sure if they still do that or not but it's worth checking out (save your receipts!)

Katy (http://fengshuibyfishgirl.com)

Ok, so what is with all the beautiful decorative pots with no drainage holes?!!?!? I have tried to find some but I haven't been successful and so I have just bought planters that are large enough to fit a smaller plastic pot inside it. That way I can dump out excess water.

Seriously. Don't all the plants in those pretty pots just DIE? Where would I get appropriately drainage-y ones?

Umm, the pretty, decorative pots are normally cache-pots - not sure what you call them in the US, sorry - but they're used to hide the plain plastic or terracotta nursery pot and collect the excess water draining out of the nursery pot. They aren't meant to be planted directly into ... even if you drilled drainage holes you've then have to sit them in something to capture the excess water. Its very typical in Europe - pretty much the only place you'd find decorate pots with drainage is at a garden center and they'd be intended for outside.

On the ikea plant side, I'm useless. It's somewhat feast or famine in our house and so far nothing has adapted. Don't blame it the plants though, unfortunately we go through a lot of plants!

All my Ikea plants died eventually :( My apartment is horribly dry.

Or perhaps it's just a "user error" and it's my fault somehow haha.

2 Money trees doing great after 4 years even though the housekeeper has almost killed them several times by putting them in the direct SoCal sun. 6 lucky bamboos from the 99 cent store are also 4 years old and doing great.

I've never bought Ikea plants but I get plants at the 99 cent store all the time. I have many which I bought as tiny things and now, 6 years later, are thriving (and three feet tall). They have wonderful succulents you can plant in the garden - in fact, most of their stuff is great in the garden.

Basic rule, use common sense. If it looks 3/4 dead, don't buy it! If it's a short lived seasonal plant, don't expect it to live out the year.

I bought a Schefflera plant (umbrella tree) from Ikea 2 weeks ago. Was healthy and looking great when we left the store. During week one, i noticed that some of the leaves were turning brown and falling off. As time went on, this began happening more rapidly and now the plant's stems and entire sections of leaves are brown and rotting. I didn't over water and although our apartment is hotter right now than the store, I can't image that killed the plant so quickly.

I'm afraid it has a fungus or something that's causing the plant to rot.

Total bummer.