Guides / Houseplants
Houseplants
Plants for a windowsill, a shelf or a shaded corner. Light, watering and feeding for each one, plus the yellowing leaves and brown tips that send most people looking for a guide in the first place.
A
Air plant
Tillandsia xerographica
How to care for Tillandsia xerographica. Soaking rather than watering, why it must be dried upside down, mounting it without glue, and what happens after it flowers.
Alocasia
Alocasia amazonica
How to care for Alocasia x amazonica. Recognising winter dormancy rather than death, getting the watering right, treating spider mite, and why it drips water.
Aloe Vera
Aloe vera
How to grow aloe vera indoors. Watering, light, dividing the pups, the difference between the gel and the yellow sap, and whether it is safe for pets.
Amaryllis
Hippeastrum vittatum
How to grow amaryllis, Hippeastrum vittatum. Planting the bulb half exposed, getting it to flower a second year, and the dormancy that most people skip.
Areca palm
Dypsis lutescens
How to care for Dypsis lutescens. Watering a palm sold as a clump of seedlings, why the tips go brown, treating spider mite, and never cutting the growing point.
Arrowhead plant
Syngonium auritum
How to grow syngonium, Syngonium auritum. The arrowhead plant, why the leaf shape changes as it matures, and keeping it bushy rather than climbing.
B
Bird of Paradise
Strelitzia reginae
How to grow Strelitzia reginae. Why it refuses to flower for years, the cool winter rest that triggers it, and the sunbird the flower was built for.
Bird's nest fern
Asplenium nidus
How to care for Asplenium nidus. Why you must never water into the central rosette, keeping the humidity up, treating scale, and leaving the new fronds alone.
Boston Fern
Nephrolepis exaltata
How to grow a Boston fern, Nephrolepis exaltata. The humidity it demands, why fronds shed in winter, propagating from runners, and the Victorian craze that made it famous.
C
Cast iron plant
Aspidistra elatior
How to care for Aspidistra elatior. The Victorian parlour plant that survives dark corners and cold hallways, why it grows so slowly, and the two things that kill it.
Chinese evergreen
Aglaonema commutatum
How to care for Aglaonema commutatum. Why cold does more damage than low light, watering it correctly, and why the pink varieties need brighter conditions than the green ones.
Chinese hibiscus
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
How to grow Chinese hibiscus, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Flowers that last a day, why bud drop happens, and keeping it through a British winter indoors.
Chinese Money Plant
Pilea peperomioides
How to grow Pilea peperomioides. Light, watering, why the leaves curl, and how to take the offsets that carried this plant across Europe before any nursery sold it.
Christmas Cactus
Schlumbergera truncata
How to grow and reflower a Christmas cactus. Why it is not a desert cactus, how to tell it from a Thanksgiving cactus, and what causes bud drop.
Coleus
Plectranthus scutellarioides
How to grow coleus, Plectranthus scutellarioides. Pinching out the flowers to keep the leaves, taking cuttings that root in a week, and overwintering it.
Corn plant
Dracaena fragrans
How to grow corn plant, Dracaena fragrans. The brown leaf tips that everyone gets, cutting a bare cane back to force new shoots, and its toxicity to cats.
Croton
Codiaeum variegatum
How to care for Codiaeum variegatum. Why it drops every leaf when you move it, the light it needs for colour, treating red spider mite, and settling a new plant.
Crown of thorns
Euphorbia milii
How to grow crown of thorns, Euphorbia milii. The caustic milky sap, flowering almost all year in good light, and the spines that make it a poor choice near children.
D
Devil's Ivy
Epipremnum aureum
How to grow pothos, Epipremnum aureum. Keeping the variegation, propagating in water, why a climbing plant grows different leaves, and the calcium oxalate that makes it toxic.
Dragon Tree
Dracaena marginata
How to grow Dracaena marginata. Why tap water browns the tips, cutting a leggy cane to make it branch, and the saponins that affect cats.
Dumb cane
Dieffenbachia seguine
How to care for Dieffenbachia seguine. Handling it safely, keeping it from going leggy, air-layering a bare stem, and where the name comes from.
F
Fiddle Leaf Fig
Ficus lyrata
How to grow Ficus lyrata. Why it drops leaves when moved, telling root rot brown spots from sunburn ones, and how to make a single stem branch.
Flaming Katy
Kalanchoe blossfeldiana
How to care for Kalanchoe blossfeldiana. Watering a succulent that is sold in flower, deadheading, and the long dark nights that make it bloom a second time.
Flamingo Flower
Anthurium andraeanum
How to care for Anthurium andraeanum, the flamingo flower. Why the red part is a leaf, the chunky compost it needs instead of ordinary potting soil, and how to get it flowering again.
H
Heartleaf Philodendron
Philodendron hederaceum
How to care for Philodendron hederaceum. How to tell it apart from pothos for certain, why climbing gives bigger leaves than trailing, and how it behaves around pets.
Hoya
Hoya carnosa
How to care for Hoya carnosa, the wax plant. Never cutting off the flower spur, keeping it pot-bound so it blooms, and the winter rest that sets the buds.
L
Living stones
Lithops lesliei
How to grow living stones, Lithops lesliei. The strict watering calendar, why you must not water while it splits, and the annual leaf change.
Lucky bamboo
Dracaena sanderiana
How to grow lucky bamboo, Dracaena sanderiana. It is not bamboo, why tap water yellows the tips, and moving it from water into compost.
M
Maidenhair Fern
Adiantum raddianum
How to care for Adiantum raddianum. Why it crisps in an ordinary room, the one thing that revives a fern you think you have killed, and how it differs from the rare British native.
Mexican Snowball
Echeveria elegans
How to grow Echeveria elegans. Keeping the rosette tight, why you must not touch the leaves, watering without rotting the centre, and beheading a stretched plant.
Moth Orchid
Phalaenopsis amabilis
How to grow a moth orchid, Phalaenopsis. Watering an epiphyte, reading the roots, the temperature drop that triggers a new spike, and where to cut the old one.
Mother of thousands
Kalanchoe daigremontiana
How to grow mother of thousands, Kalanchoe daigremontiana. The plantlets that drop off everywhere, the cardiac glycosides that kill livestock, and containing it.
N
Nerve plant
Fittonia albivenis
How to care for Fittonia albivenis. The plant that faints when it dries out, keeping the humidity it demands, growing it in a terrarium, and pinching to keep it bushy.
Noble dendrobium
Dendrobium nobile
How to grow Dendrobium nobile. The cool dry winter rest that makes it flower, why the old canes must be kept, and the keikis that grow instead of buds.
P
Peace Lily
Spathiphyllum wallisii
How to care for Spathiphyllum wallisii. Why it wilts on purpose, what brown tips are telling you, why a shop-bought plant often refuses to flower again, and how it behaves around cats.
Pencil cactus
Euphorbia tirucalli
How to grow pencil cactus, Euphorbia tirucalli. Not a cactus, the seriously caustic sap, and why 'Firesticks' needs full sun to keep its colour.
Poinsettia
Euphorbia pulcherrima
How to buy a poinsettia that lasts, keep it alive past January, and get the bracts to colour up again. Plus the truth about whether poinsettias are poisonous.
Polka dot begonia
Begonia maculata
How to care for Begonia maculata. Pruning to stop it going leggy, watering a cane begonia without rotting it, keeping the spots bold, and rooting cuttings.
Ponytail palm
Beaucarnea recurvata
How to grow ponytail palm, Beaucarnea recurvata. The swollen base that stores water, why it needs watering monthly rather than weekly, and its slow growth.
Prayer Plant
Maranta leuconeura
How to care for Maranta leuconeura. Why the leaves fold up at night, what causes the crispy edges everyone gets, and one of the few striking houseplants that is safe with cats.
R
Round-Leaf Calathea
Goeppertia orbifolia
How to grow Goeppertia orbifolia. Why tap water browns the edges, the humidity level it needs, why the leaves move at night, and the name change nobody announced.
Rubber Plant
Ficus elastica
How to care for Ficus elastica. Why it drops leaves when you move it, what the red sheath on new growth is, how to stop it becoming a bare pole, and the latex problem.
S
Sago palm
Cycas revoluta
How to care for Cycas revoluta. Watering a cycad that stores its own water, the one flush of fronds a year, treating cycad scale, and why it is lethal to dogs.
Snake Plant
Dracaena trifasciata
How to grow a snake plant, Dracaena trifasciata. Watering, light, why variegated cuttings turn green, and what the air-purifying claims are worth.
Spider Plant
Chlorophytum comosum
How to grow a spider plant, Chlorophytum comosum. Fixing brown tips, rooting the babies, and whether it is safe for cats.
Staghorn fern
Platycerium bifurcatum
How to grow staghorn fern, Platycerium bifurcatum. Mounting it on a board, why the brown shield fronds must be left alone, and watering by soaking.
String of hearts
Ceropegia woodii
How to care for Ceropegia woodii. Watering a semi-succulent trailer, getting tight leaf spacing rather than bare threads, and propagating from the beads on the stems.
String of pearls
Curio rowleyanus
How to care for Curio rowleyanus. Watering a succulent that dies from kindness, using a shallow pot for the shallow roots, and reading the pearls for what the plant needs.
Swiss Cheese Plant
Monstera deliciosa
How to grow and care for Monstera deliciosa, the Swiss cheese plant. Watering, light, feeding, common problems, and whether it is safe around pets.
Z
Zebra haworthia
Haworthiopsis fasciata
How to care for Haworthiopsis fasciata. The succulent that tolerates a shaded windowsill, watering it correctly, removing offsets, and telling it from Haworthiopsis attenuata.
ZZ Plant
Zamioculcas zamiifolia
How to care for Zamioculcas zamiifolia. Why the rhizome makes it almost unkillable, the only mistake that does kill it, how to propagate from a single leaflet, and the cancer myth.
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