This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Do you like greenery? Would you like to add some beautiful indoor plants to your decor, but don’t want to spend all your time tending to them? Here is a selection of plants that require minimal care… and that will grow almost in spite of you!
The question that undoubtedly comes up most often in garden centers is this: which plants are easy to maintain? Why ? The reason is simple and obvious! People don’t want to complicate their lives or spend hours caring for their plants. We all want to succeed in our adoption project and be able to keep the chosen plants for a long time. Luckily, there are several easy-to-care-for varieties, which is nothing short of a piece of cake. These plants like normal indoor temperatures and have a high tolerance for dry air (so they don’t require any spraying), they don’t require fertilizer, and when it comes to repotting, they don’t. need before 10 years or more! Here are five that perfectly represent the category of plants that will require no effort from you.
AGLAONEMA (Aglaonema spp.)
Its common name may lack a bit of bite, but it is a very beautiful plant, usually with thick lanceolate leaves of a strongly silver-marbled green. Some modern hybrids are even nicely tinged with red or pink. Behind the arching leaves, fleshy stems that grow very slowly. Thus, the plant can remain in the same pot for 10 years, or even more. The aglaonema prefers medium light, so well lit at all times, but it can tolerate low light.
SPIDER PLANT, OR PHALANGER (Chlorophytum comosum)
The mother plant produces many narrow, linear, grass-like leaves, green or streaked with white or cream, then a series of light yellow stolons (arching stems) bearing countless spider babies, sometimes dotted with small white flowers . Often, babies carry babies in turn, and their babies also carry babies… So the runners can reach the floor. The spider plant tolerates low light, but then produces few new shoots. Medium or bright lighting will ensure a good amount of babies.
FRAGRANT DRACENA, OR FRAGRANT DRAGONNIER (Dracaena fragrans)
An attractive indoor tree with long, broad lanceolate leaves on a thick, rough brown stem, sometimes visible, sometimes well hidden by the arching leaves. It is somewhat reminiscent of a corn plant by its port. The leaves can be green, streaked with yellow, or entirely chartreuse yellow, depending on the cultivar. Very mature specimens occasionally produce very fragrant white or pinkish flowers…at night only. The fragrant dracena prefers medium to bright light, but can tolerate low light.
CYLINDRICAL SANSEVIERE (Sansevieria cylindrica)
With its leathery and pointed cylindrical leaves, gray green often mottled with dark green, this plant is reminiscent of green carrots growing upside down. It grows in a fan, but we are often offered an arrangement of leaf cuttings placed individually or braided for a surprise effect. Over time, the natural form of the plant will take over. It also blooms, giving green-white tubular flowers, but only after a few years. Cylindrical sansevière tolerates all light, from low to bright.
ASPIDISTRA, OR PLANT OF THE WINE MERCHANTS (Aspidistra elatior)
It is called “plant of the wine merchants” because it seems that it can tolerate the lighting of a wine cellar. That might be a bit of a stretch, but probably no houseplant is that shade-tolerant. The good news ? It can tolerate the sun too. Its wide, arching leaves, of a very dark green, come out of the ground from sometimes partially exposed rhizomes. Some cultivars are streaked or speckled with creamy white. It is the most enduring of enduring plants! The aspidistra tolerates both shade and sun very well.