5 Plants for your home jungle

I love plants and use them excessively in most rooms. They clean the air and add life and movement to a scheme. I don’t feel a room is complete without a lovely little pot plant!

If you are a house plant novice start with some basic house plant care.

• Water regularly but don’t drown them. Check once a week and if they are dry on top stick your finger into the soil to see if there is moisture present.  
• Most plants are happy in indirect sunlight, many are happy in a shady spot. Not many like full sun on a really bright window. There are exceptions of course; herbs, like basil for example, which love it. Some of my best performing plants sit on a bright window that happens to have privacy film on it so the sunlight is filtered. 
• Get to know which plants need a bit more attention simply by observing them over weeks and months and feed them occasionally to supply the nutrients they need.

SANSEVIERIA. 

Easy and statuesque, the Snake Plant is a lovely one to have around. One of the ultimate low maintenance house plants. 

Mine sits on a high kitchen shelf without anything fancy, such as sunlight, and asks nothing of me. I water it occasionally just because it seems the right thing to do although I never really know if it needs it. Those with better plant knowledge than myself have recommended watering only when the soil dries out, to prevent rot, and giving it around a month between.

PILEA DEPRESSA.

I really love this little plant, known also as Giant Baby’s Tears. It’s very reactive to it’s environment meaning it’s ideal if you form close relationships with your house plants and pay a lot of attention to what it’s telling you. Not ideal if you are going to neglect it as all it’s little leaves will fall off.

When I got this plant around a year ago, it was a fresh grass green colour and quite tender. After sussing out it’s habits, and discovering it is a bit of a diva, I have found it to be a really rewarding little thing. 

It has lovely trailing vine-like tendrils and at one point became quite leggy as it was growing so fast on it’s binge diet of water, warmth and sunlight. I pruned it back quite aggressively and it was quite simply delighted. Since then it has developed tiny pretty flowers and the colour has darkened to a lovely Racing Green. It turns it’s little faces toward the light and I have found it does well being rotated every couple of weeks to even out it’s growth. I would highly recommend this house plant!

CLUSIA.

I have had Clusia in both really dark rooms and in bright ones and it seems to be one of the easiest of all to care for. This might sound like an obvious thing to say about a pot plant, but it doesn’t really do anything. There’s not much response to lack of water, lack of light, more water, feed etc. It just exists in a pleasant little bubble of inactivity. It can produce flowers but I’ve never seen any on mine or others. I like it for it’s cartoon-like form and chilled out personality.

Because it is quite rigid and doesn’t move in any breeze or draft it’s a good idea to wipe the leaves with a soft damp cloth every now and then to remove dust. Growth seems slow but I have had one start to generate new leaves. This one is due to be repotted in the near future.

DRACAENA.

To show this hard worker some love I repotted it last week after it sat in our rental house for a year without much love and only sporadic watering. I wouldn’t say it is totally happy right now - it’s leaves are bright and green but are curling back on themselves in a display of something-isn’t-quite-right. It may be slight shock from being moved into a bigger pot but I’m just keeping my eye on it and misting the leaves periodically as a token gesture. It possibly hates me, we shall see. 

SPATHIPHYLLUM.

Widely known as a Peace Lily and often recommended for low light. When in flower these are a beautiful addition to any room.

Whilst they are easy to care for, they do require regular watering. One of mine has up to a litre of water a week when in flower. However it is easy to tell when this plant is unhappy, it will wilt and look really sad if it doesn’t get sufficient water and will yellow if it gets too much sun. 

Even though it’s sensitive in some ways I’ve found them pretty easy to place - one has lived in a south facing office with bright, in-direct sunlight and also in a darker dining room. In the darker room the leaves are glossy, a rich green and very healthy looking but I saw the best flowering on it when it was in the brighter environment. This will also love being in a bathroom as they like humidity. 

Having house plants is really rewarding but can take a bit of practice. I recommend selecting something that is low maintenance, but not so much so that it doesn’t seem to need anything as this tends to lead to them being forgotten completely. 

After you have got the hang of how much water and light they need, a treat for many house plants is to mist them. Misting slows the process of water loss through the leaves and can improve humidity. It’s not suitable for all house plants but along with working out how much water individual plants like you can try this out too. 

Happy house planting!