A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Need helping picking out house plant

See if you can tell me a house plant that matches these descriptions.

Can tolerate very low light levels for most of the year. Can be in a room that gets down to 50 F in the Winter. Doesn't need high humidity or a lot of water. Doesn't get over a foot tall.

I couldn't find one plant that fit all my criteria.

sorry

Spider plants, bromiliads, dracaena, sansevieria, some ferns, some pothos. These are the lowest light things I can think of. Spider plants are high on my list of some mighty tough plants.

But along with low light, they can't get over a foot tall and can't require high humidity.

And spider plants are still high on my list. Mine live in desert conditions with irregular watering about once a month.
Beyond that, they are making some nifty looking fake plants these days.

Are spider plants poisonous to cats?

Funny, I know. Really though, some situations will not support houseplants. I cannot grow them indoors.

According to the ASPCA, no.
http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/ask-the-expert/ask-the-expert-poison-control/spider-plants.aspx

Pothos are by far the hardiest plants

Orchids dont really need all that much light. You might want to try them.

I second the spider, mine rarely get watered and do fine in most conditions, The Christmas cactus (at least the way I treat mine) also do alright in those conditions, at least they haven't died yet.

yep, I have had them for years--& I have had them in an east facing window and in a west facing window...they really do not care---(although I think they did do better in the east facing window.

not to mmention they are forgiving if you forget to water..

And I do agree about the spider plant as well---very nice plant

Sounds like you need the "MOTHER-in LAW" Plant..it is a real toughy...low water requirements and low light.
This guy is much taller but sits beautifully in a corner with little or no attention to it at all...CORN PLANT..cousin to Dracena

I agree - I have one now for 36 years - bought it as a small plant in Alaska, moved it to Reno, and it's been here in NY for 25 years.

mine was part of a 4 plant pot that I got while in the hospital when I had my oldest--(she was 32 this last April)
so mine is almost as old as Lynnes's

OK, so first we need to figure out what you mean by low light. Most of the suggestions are good (and spider plants are not only not poisonous to cats, they love to eat them. At least mine do. Can't keep spiders in the house.), anyway, those are all good suggestions for MEDIUM LIGHT. A good way to tell what kind of light you have is if you can read a book comfortably, the light is medium; if you can barely read, its LOW; if you can't read at all, it's too low for live plants. So if you really have low light, the lowest-light plants are sanseveria (snake plant, or mother-in-law's tongue), and aspidistra (cast-iron plant). They both have small varieties, if you need a small plant. The trick to keeping low-light plants is to let them dry COMPLETELY all the way to the bottom of the pot, before you water again. This could take several weeks, even a couple of months. Test the soil every week with a wooden dowel or kebob skewer, as if you were testing a cake - soil sticking, feeling moisture with your fingers, not dry yet, don't water. When you do water, water thoroughly - let water run through into the drainage saucer. Plants that need slightly more light, but still low and small, would be small peacelilies, Chinese evergreen, or small dracaena species - corn plant, warneckei, janet craig, marginata. Water them essentially the same way, except don't let them get quite so dry as the sans.and asp. - there should be a little moisture in the soil when you water again.

Cast Iron plant (Aspidistra elatior) got a name by growing under the worst of conditions. This plant prefers low light and grows in a clump. Christmas cactus seems to do its best when ignored. It can handle low light, but you'll ger more flowers in bright light. You can force your Christmas cactus to bloom in December by keeping it in complete darkness for 12 hrs a night. More plants like Dragon tree and lucky bamboo, Mother-in-law's tongue or Snake plant and Pothos. Pothos is one of the easiest growing houseplant care.