A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Need house plant suggestions...

Since I cannot garden in the winter, and I have been known to had SAD(Seasonal affective Disorder) I really need to life in my house.
All I have now, is an ancient Christmas cactus, That has one and a half blooms on it, an African Violet, That blooms once in a while, and 2 over grown, ugly pot bound Devils ivy hanging over the tub in the bathroom. No light in there much, and they seem to grow. I need stuff that will live with not a ton of direct sun, Mostly northern and eastern exposures. Must have some green, anyone??

mother in law tongue/ snakeplant is an easy care that doesn't require a lot of light

What a great list of plants, Bill!

Diane - that is a terrific plant - my dad has some that are over 50 years old now!

Ditchy - the plants I have had for many many years without much if any direct sun are:

Numerous jade plants - some I bought, others I got cuttings from members here.

Pothos - like philodendrum, but easier for me to keep alive - I have one that is about 35 years old now.

Spider plants - also have one that is 35 years old now

Hoya - I have 3 huge plants that started from 3 different members here, one has bloomed twice for me the past year.

Diffenbachias

Umbrella plant

Those are just a few that have been with me for a while and have not had much sun over the years.

Thanks for that you guys, and the list Bill.
I hate that I do not have great plant growing light in the house. But I will give some of those a try.
I had a 20 yr old jade that was huge, and it subcummed to some strange jade disease. It was gorgeous!

Jades are cool but Difficult IMHO to keep. Try the mother in laws thounge. Another plant you might consiter is the arrowhead vine.

How about Prayer plants? (Marantas). They do well without a whole lot of light, and they're super cute to boot!

That's a very long and comprehensive list, and many of the plants are not really easy to grow. I would recommend that you look for plants that are listed for low or medium light, and are considered common foliage plants. The reason they are "common" is that they are cheap, easy to grow, and forgiving, thus are used frequently in commercial situations.
A partial list (starting with lowest light plants)...
Sanseveria (snake plant), ZZ, aspidistra (cast iron plant), pleiomele (solid green, not variegated), Dracaena massangeana (corn plant), pothos (devil's ivy), syngonium (arrow head vine), philodendron (heart leaf, pink lady, many others), peace lily, spider plant, aglaonema (Chinese evergreen), Strelitzia (white bird of paradise), neanthe bella palm, other palms (bamboo palm, areca, kentia), Beaucarnia recurvata ( ponytail palm), aralias (ming and balfour), orchids and bromeliads, schefflera (amate and arboricola)
There are others, I'm sure, but this should give you a start.
Oh yea, for this group of plants, don't trouble yourself about approximating the natural habitat...the other reason these plants are commonly used is that they are extremely adaptable, and will happily live with whatever heat/humidity you have. Main thing is that they have enough light, and not too much water. Low light plants expecially need to get almost dry to the bottom of the pot before they are watered again. For watering tips, here's a video link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBBh0RPPqu0

I would not put orchids on the list. Most (but certainly not all) orchids prefer bright light, and often, sun, in order to bloom. They aren't as difficult to grow as their reputation says, but they still need their needs met. Phals can grow with less sun, as can paphs. But cattleyas, dendrobiums, and many hyrbids must have at least some sun to be happy. Pebble trays are are also very desired, although not absolutely necessary if you have a humid environment.

Orchids are actually top on my list; in fact, I just bought 3 that are by my dining room windows...

How about an Arabian jasmine? Everyone told me it will die after the flowers drop and what not...that i'll never see another bloom etc (I have seen half dead ones in people's home but didn't care). Now I don't have a green thumb ok? I've also killed 2 phals before (only recently got the hang of it)... but I didn't listen. What I found out was this plant needs humidity, much like the Phals. So i had it sit on a pebbled bowl with some water (which I regularly refill) and kept watering in once/week. I've only fertilized it once, very weakly, with Miracle Gro all-purpose fertilizer for houseplants.

It sits on my kitchen peninsula, under a few pot lights (I live in a semi basement which has bonus of lots of indirect sun but the plant gets the pot lights unless I move it...which I don't). All I do is water it once/week and give it an occasional misting. I got the plant in June. It is full of buds again (more than when it was in the store) and has already gifted me with 4 flowers in the last 3/4 days. And the fragrance is SO good!

Hi,

I guess an exotic house plant, Bird of Paradise Plant (Strelitzia Reginae) would be a great choice,xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx have a look!

I have been growing 2 Birds of Paradise for about 6 years now - the leaves are very long and beautiful but I have yet to get any flowers. I read that they flower once they get 5 leaves growing out of the base - I have way more than that on each plant, and I water with blossom booster 10-52-10. Any advice?

Hi,

As per our experts at xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

you are using Blossom Booster way to much, you need to go to any supermarket and get grow-more and use that instead of blossom booster, your plant needs to have good amount of sunlight and fair amount of humidity and last but not the least you need to move the plant to smaller pot as that will stress the plant to grow flowers.

Hope it will help!

@plants N pots

if possible upload a picture of your plant here!

You're growing this strelitzia indoors, right? I don't have any experience with S. reginae, but I've cared for many S. nikolai, the white bird of paradise, and I've never seen one flower indoors, no matter how much light it has. I wonder if the reginae is the same?
As some other people have noted, you're fertilizing way too much. Four times a year should be more than enough. Also, the "high phosphorous for blooms" thing is pretty much a marketing ploy, and benefits the manufacturers far more than your plants. Research shows that plants use macro-nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium) in a ratio of 3:1:2. While it is true that phosphorous is used by the plant for making blooms, it only uses a limited amount. The unused fertilizer remains in the soil, gradually raising the salt level until the plant starts to fail.
You should probably repot the BOP into fresh soil, washing off as much of the old soil as possible. Alternatively, you should leach the soil (run water through equal to 5X the volume of soil in the pot).
The best thing you can do to get a plant to flower is to give it more light. I'd like to know if anyone has ever had a S. reginae flower indoors.