We have literally not a single plant in our apartment, and I’m sick of it! We need some green! But I have no idea what to start with.
FWIW we’re in the far nordics near the arctic circle, so conditions in places like windows vary quite wildly throughout the year, from occasionaly hot and long summer days to cold and very short winter days.
Not really fuzzed about beautiful flowers, just leaves, vines, will keep us happy. Maybe succulents?
Would appreciate any advice :)
It sounds like you want a pothos! Golden pothos is the most easily available, but it also comes in other fun colors that are a bit rarer (like neon green or white/green variegated). It doesn’t need a lot of light or water and grows vigorously.
I’m not a fan of succulents as “beginner” plants, since they require SO much light. It’s a lot easier to give a plant more water than more light.
Other plants you might try are snake plant, ZZ plant, spider plant, or a hoya.
Be aware that many houseplants are mildly toxic to pets, so keep them out of reach.
Praise for the pothos! I love their cascade of green lushness. One of the only indoor plants I’ve had success with. Plus so easy to propagate.
I have a bioactive terrarium which houses isopods, springtails, pothos and some random trees the former mealworms spread about from a pod decoration I put in. The pothos grows so quickly that it needs frequent trimming. Fortunately, I stuff the trimnings under a log for the isopods to break down so it gets recycled eventually.
I placed one pothos in an herb sized pot. It’s completely root bound now but it’s anchored itself to the soil through the drainage hole in the pot, along with a few more anchor roots along the vine. It’s interesting to me to see how it’s able to spread and survive so well.
It can also survive in either full water or soil. It’s a very difficult plant to accidentally kill. Best of all, it was free. Just clipped a vine with a few leaves from a former housemate’s plant and stuck it in water until roots started growing. It’s just that simple to propagate it.
The grass growing in a pot on my window sill can definitely take notes from my pothos plant. It’s in a constant state of dying but refuses to give up.
Okay that’s amazing. I’m not sure how big your terrarium but with the mention of logs and trees I’m picturing it with a little bench you can sit on whilst feeding the inevitable birds that will be attached to it’s glory.
It’d only a 20 gallon terrarium. It was my initial enclosure for my leopard gecko. After I upgraded in size for my gecko, I was planning to make it a bioactive herb garden. The isopods ate all the herbs but somehow the trees started growing. I just threw in some pothos and now it’s more of a jungle. I created a stand to raise the top mesh and grow lights so that the trees have a bit more space to grow.
The trees are just about a foot tall and I keep them trimmed to that height now. The biggest tree is forming bark around the base now and is about 5cm thick now.
I do wish I had some birds nesting in there, a little more biodiversity is always welcomed hahaha
No pets, so that’s not an issue. Pothos look really great, and seems interesting that they can be grown in such a variety of ways, like in water. Thanks, good one!
I’d like to add here, since you appreciate the variety of growing mediums, check out growing your houseplants in LECA (kiln-fired clay balls).
An alternative to soil substrates, and I won’t claim to be an expert on it at all. We do have around 300 tropical houseplants, though. And I’d say a good 50% are in LECA only and thriving!
Best of luck with whichever route you try!
More pothos love. I have one that is well over 30 years old, and it’s easy to take cuttings to make more plants. I have a schefflera of the same vintage, also easy to take care of. Peace lilies are good air cleaners, and they visibly wilt when they need water. I water my plants once per week.
Came here to suggest that! I also just discovered, houseplants@mander.xyz when searching for a house plants sub
I agree with this post except for the succulent bit. Cheap LED lights can provide enough light to grow and prop succulents. They are hardy and withstand a fair amount of neglect. I live in zone 4-5. I setup my succulent collection in the garage over winter with 12/12 light. It was cold enough some froze completely and had bits die off. If the picture posts you can see they survived all that torture.