Calathea has a reputation as too fussy for a reason: a single winter of crispy, curling leaves is enough to make many people give up on the whole genus. The plants are often fine, though — with a humidifier running nearby and distilled water instead of straight from the tap, the same plant that looked … Read more
Two plants labeled croton can look completely different: one with narrow, twisted leaves splashed with yellow and red, the other with broad, oak-shaped leaves in deep burgundy. Croton comes in an enormous range of cultivars, and the care is basically the same across all of them, so picking one comes down to which leaf shape … Read more
Chinese money plants are famous for being passed around: a tiny pup in a paper cup, pinched off someone else’s plant, is how most people end up with one. That’s basically the plant’s whole personality — it multiplies itself so readily that most people get one from a friend rather than a store, and a … Read more
A jade plant can live on a kitchen windowsill for decades, and by then the trunk has gone thick and woody, more like a miniature tree than the soft little succulent most people picture. The usual way to kill a young one is by babying it with too much water, treating it like a delicate … Read more
It’s easy to assume a money tree is some kind of succulent the first time you see that thick, braided trunk, and to water it accordingly, barely at all. The leaves start drooping within weeks, which reads as confirmation of overwatering, so watering gets backed off even further. The trunk isn’t a water-storage organ the … Read more
The way a prayer plant’s leaves fold upward every evening can look like a reaction to something done wrong. It takes a while to notice the pattern: they fold up like hands in prayer every night and open flat again every morning, on a schedule as reliable as a clock. Once you start watching for … Read more
A single leaf from an African violet can turn into several separate plants, which is the moment this plant wins most people over completely. Few houseplants multiply so reliably from one small piece with almost no effort. It’s the easiest, most satisfying propagation in this entire guide series. Care area What it needs Light Bright, … Read more
Potting an orchid in regular potting soil, because that’s what every other plant on the shelf is sitting in, is close to the fastest way to kill one: within a couple of months the roots can rot away almost entirely. Orchids aren’t like the rest of this guide series, they grow attached to tree bark … Read more
Cactus care runs almost backward from most of the plants in this guide series. The usual way to kill one is with kindness: watering it on the same weekly schedule as everything else on the windowsill, so that by the time the base goes soft it is too far gone to save. The biggest risk … Read more
Aloe vera is a popular home remedy for minor burns: slice off a lower leaf and smear the gel on the skin. There is a detail that is easy to get wrong, though — the yellowish layer just under the skin isn’t the soothing gel, it’s a separate compound (aloe latex) that can actually irritate … Read more