A schefflera can spend its first couple of years getting tall and thin, reaching for the ceiling while staying bare and leggy near the base. Cutting it back hard, further than seems safe, usually gets it pushing out new growth from nearly every cut point within a couple of months, turning into the full, bushy … Read more
Fittonia is small enough to fit inside a glass terrarium, and it’s the kind of plant people don’t expect much from — until it keeps going and outgrows its container. It’s an easy recommendation for anyone who wants something colorful but is nervous about killing it. The vivid vein patterns do most of the work, … Read more
An alocasia that goes completely bare one November, every single leaf gone within a couple of weeks, can look like a dead plant, and plenty of people nearly compost the whole pot. The better move is to leave it alone through winter: new growth typically shows up in early spring, unfurling from what had looked … Read more
Peperomia varieties barely look related to each other: one has thick, round, watermelon-patterned leaves, another has crinkled, ridged foliage that looks almost like a brain, and a third trails with tiny, closely-packed leaves along thin stems. This is one of the more genuinely diverse genera around, but the care across all of them is reassuringly … Read more
Tradescantia is an easy first plant to propagate: a few inches of stem snapped off a hanging basket and dropped into a glass of water will often root within days, and a single cutting can eventually become several separate hanging plants. This is genuinely one of the most forgiving, fastest-multiplying houseplants. Care factor What it … Read more
Give an arrowhead plant a moss pole and it can transform from a small trailing plant with cute heart-shaped leaves into a much bigger, more dramatic climber with deeply lobed leaves, far larger than the originals. It’s genuinely one of the more shape-shifting houseplants out there, and that adaptability is part of what makes it … Read more
A Chinese evergreen is a good pick for the darkest corner of an apartment, a spot where nearly everything else tends to give up and get leggy or die outright. It’s slow growing but consistently healthy there, which is exactly the reputation that makes it a go-to choice for low-light spots. Light Chinese evergreen tolerates … Read more
A dieffenbachia that has grown tall and leggy with a bare lower stem doesn’t have to be tossed. The whole cane can be cut into a few sections and each one rooted in water, with gloves on the whole time given the sap, and over a few months an awkward, top-heavy single plant becomes several … Read more
Ming aralia doesn’t appreciate being moved, and the lesson is an easy one to learn the hard way. Left in the exact same spot for a long stretch, it turns out to be one of the lowest-maintenance houseplants, which surprises people given its reputation as a difficult, finicky species. Light Bright, indirect light suits ming … Read more
Rhipsalis is often described as basically a cactus you can forget about. Forgotten in the desert-cactus sense, with sparse water and blasting sun, it shrivels and bleaches within a month. This trailing, spineless cactus grows wild on tree branches in rainforest canopies, and treated more like a fern than a succulent, it turns out to … Read more