While I did take care of geraniums that my mom brought home from Home Depot when I was 6 years old (and then yelled at my brother for forgetting to water my periwinkles when I was away at summer camp), my own plant collection actually started only a couple years ago. I started with air plants in my dorm room during college, then picked up aloe vera twins from a supermarket and tiny succulents from a friend. Now, I’ve got Etsy and the USA Plant Purge facebook group to enable my burgeoning desire to make my living space an indoor jungle. Current plant count: 35!

What’s not to love about plants? Plants clean the air (caveat: NASA’s study was conducted by packing plants into small, sealed chambers and injecting VOCs like formaldehyde), give you something green to look at, increase the humidity in your home, and provide a sense of accomplishment whenever a new leaf unfurls. I’ve always wanted a pet dog, but since I live in an urban apartment that doesn’t allow pets and have a work schedule that requires me to travel every week, lower-maintenance plants are my next best alternative.

MY TOP RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEGINNERS

Most plants only need to be watered once every 7-14 days so don’t worry if you’re not the type to check on your plants every day. My recommendations account for ease of care, aesthetics, price, and attainability. I own at least one of each kind of plant on this list.

Important Note: For any plant, I recommend looking for pots that have drainage holes at the bottom so excess water can escape. Otherwise, you have to be really careful about how much water you pour, lest it pool at the bottom forever and rot the roots. I’ve found that most decorative pots don’t have drainage. To work around this, I keep plants in their plastic nursery “grow pot” with holes, and plop them, pot and all, into the decorative outer containers. Now you’ve got form—attractive outer pot—and function—inner pot with drainage.

When it's watering time, I pour cupfuls of water till it comes running out of the drainage holes—no need to measure. Room temp tap water is fine unless you’ve got calatheas (which need dechlorinated water—you can buy a bottle of liquid water dechlorinator from any fish store) or carnivorous plants (need distilled water). Then, I’ll tip out any excess water that’s sitting in the outer cachepot. ALWAYS dump out extra water after watering. Roots in waterlogged soil can’t get the oxygen they need and will rot and turn mushy & black.

SNAKE PLANT

Very hard to kill. Kinda like a succulent in that they can survive long periods without water. In fact, you're only supposed to water when the soil is 100% dry; sans are prone to root rot, where the soil stays too soggy and drowns the roots. My 10 inch basket of snake plants, 4 ft tall, gets watered once a month. Yellow, drooping leaves may be a sign of overwatering.
Thrives in bright light (like in front of a window) and will grow new leaves faster but manages just fine in low light (like bedroom, hallway). Slow grower in lower light.
Lots of different varieties you can buy, from green with green brands (sansevieria zeylanica) to green with yellow bands (sansevieria laurentii), that won’t break the bank.
Great at cleaning the air (see 10 best air purifying plants).
Mildly toxic to pets if ingested. Snake plants are spiky and pretty tough so may be fine to have around the house if you have an older, less curious pet.
Snake plants are pretty common so they’re relatively cheap. Of course, the rarer varieties will cost you more. A typical laurentii or zeylanica should run you about $10/rosette. Whale fin sans, on the other hand, is about $30-50 per single paddle-shaped leaf.
Care tips at Joy Us Garden. See 23 Types of Snake Plants over at Balcony Garden Web.

MONSTERA DELICIOSA

You’ve probably seen monstera leaf print on phone cases, shirts, and wall prints. They’re a trendy gal.
Likes medium indirect light (so further from a window is fine, about halfway across the living room is where I have mine). Strong direct light may burn the leaves. If you can see the sun when standing where the plant is = direct light = too much sun. However, morning sun is weaker than afternoon sun, so direct light is less problematic if you have east-facing windows. Yellowing leaves = can be overwatering, an old leaf that’s past its prime, or underwatering.
As the plant ages, new leaves naturally emerge with splits, also known as fenestrations. “Teen” monsteras will grow holes but not full splits. Fully adult monsteras will have double rows of fenestrations.
Water when the top 2-4 inches of soil are dry. The easiest way to tell is to stick your finger into the soil. It’s annoying to have to wash your hands after, but it’s the most accurate way to sense moisture. If clumps of soil stick to your finger 2 inches down, wait to water. You can also use a chopstick as a moisture probe. I got one of these $15 2-pronged moisture meters and it’s worth every penny (even though I won it for free from a plant raffle).
Monsteras are naturally drought-tolerant, so it’s okay to not have a regular watering schedule. As with any plant, don’t let the plant sit in standing water or overly soggy soil. It’s always better to under-water than over-water.
Mine pops out a new leaf every 2-3 weeks or so--always a hoot to watch it peek out from an existing leaf’s stem and then unfurl. Check out this time-lapse of a leaf unfurling.
Mildly toxic to pets if ingested.
Growing in popularity, so most online stores and plant shops sell them. Mine from The Sill was $30 during Black Friday for an 8 inch pot, including pot & saucer. Affiliate link for 10% off your purchase. Variegated varieties, such as monstera albo (green + white), thai constellation (green + cream), mint (green + light green), and aurea (green + yellow) will cost you a pretty penny—upwards of $200 for 1-2 leaves.
More care tips for monsteras at Bloomscape.

PEACE LILY

Does well in medium to low light, like snake plants. Has pretty white blooms when there's enough light, though the blooms will turn green if there’s too much light (fine for the plant, just an aesthetic consideration). Leaves will burn in direct light. Brown leaves = overwatering.
Water when soil is dry 1 inch down. Visibly droops when it needs water, so it’s good at providing visual watering reminders. Don't need to water any more often than when that occurs, about once a week. Will perk back up in 2-3 hours. Prone to root rot, so definitely don’t overwater (sensing a theme here?). Always tip out excess water sitting at the bottom of the pot (this applies to every plant ever).
Great at cleaning the air (see 10 best air purifying plants).
Relatively easy to find in stores and online, about ~$15-20 per 4-/6-inch pot. Peace lilies come in variegated versions as well. Expect to pay more for these.
Toxic to pets if ingested. Additional care tips available at ProFlowers.

POTHOS

Suitable in medium or low light. Water when top two inches of soil are dry. Yellowing leaves = overwatering.
Lots of varieties exist, from all green (jade pothos) to green with splashes of yellow (golden pothos) to marbled green & white (pearls & jade, njoy, marble queen).
Fast grower—you'll see new leaves every two weeks or so. You can train the leaves to grow upward along a wall (use push pins to support or clear Command hooks) or let them trail down from a shelf or elevated plant stand.
I have two golden pothos at home. They’re relatively cheap, ~$10-15 for a 4-/6- inch pot with lots of leaves. Silver pothos is on my wishlist.
Toxic to pets if ingested. More care tips at Gardening 101.

zz%2BWinston.jpg — 5. ZZ Plant

aka Zamioculcas zamiifolia

ZZ PLANT

Similar care to a snake plant—hard to kill. Grows faster in bright light but won’t complain if you keep it in low light. Water when soil is bone dry. Yellowing or brown leaves = overwatering. Long branches that arch out of the pot can be trimmed and placed back into the soil for a bushier look. The cut stems will grow roots of their own.
Leaves can be a mild irritant, so wash your hands after handling. Toxic to pets if ingested. Don’t let the toxicity prevent you from giving this easy care plant a try! For more info on toxicity, check out Smart Garden Guide.
ZZ plants are pretty common, so it shouldn’t cost you more than $30-45 for a 8-10” pot. The raven ZZ, whose foliage turns black as it matures, is about twice the price at most online stores, though Lowe’s and Home Depot may offer them for cheap.

More care tips at Gardenista.

Honorable mention

Succulents almost made this list, but they do best with 6-8 hours of full sun, which isn’t available in every dwelling. If lacking in light, they’ll grow “leggy”, with spaced out leaves to reach toward the sun. If you’ve got a sunny east-, west-, or south-facing window, succulents will do fine on your window sill. If you don’t know what direction your window faces, pull up your location on Google Maps and see which way the compass is pointing north.

FUSSY PLANTS TO AVOID AS A BEGINNER PLANT PARENT

Calatheas, fiddle leaf fig trees/bushes (and ficuses in general), carnivorous plants, alocasias, begonias, anthuriums, banana trees

BUYING PLANTS ONLINE

While I try to avoid ordering online because the loose dirt and crumpled leaves are messy + you pay extra for shipping + you don’t know exactly what you’ll get because photos can be deceiving, I do recommend browsing online to write down what you like since sites often have filters for your needs, like level of light/ maintenance/ pet-friendliness.

15 % off at Jordan’s Jungle with my referral link
- Jordan’s is by far my favorite plant shop. Reasonable prices, a huge variety, SMS text alerts for restocks, specials every day, a loyalty program with significant discounts, and free curbside pickup if you drive to their shop in Pawtucket, RI near Providence.
10% off at The Sill with my referral link
- My $30 8 inch monstera and $20 4inch calathea rattlesnake are from The Sill.
Bloomscape.com no referral link
- Their plants ship with containers and make great gifts, but their price point is a bit high, IMO.
7 Best Places to Buy Plants Online | The Spruce

HAPPY PLANT PARENTHOOD!

For any questions along your journey, whether it be recommendations or troubleshooting care, leave a comment below or Instagram message me @pearljade_ or my dedicated plant-stagram, @_plantedparenthood. I also recommend these accounts: @siloliage, @lostinplantopia, @helloplantlover, @plantannaplant, @lushlittlejungle.

5 Plants for Beginner Plant People