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@Home: 10 Low Maintenance Plants For Your Home

By MONIQUE HENRY

Indoor plants add beauty and life to your home. Plus, there are so many health benefits to having plants inside your home like improving the quality of the air, and they’re also an  inexpensive way to decorate your home.

Check out our top ten low maintenance plants for your home:

Snake plant

What Jamaicans call “Mother-In-Law’s Tongue”, this plant has tall, stiff leaves with yellow edges. This plant is great for placing on a dining table, a coffee table or a stand in the corner of your living room as it’s not just a beauty, but it also purifies the air as well. The best part is that this plant can easily survive neglect for weeks, so if you forget to water it a day or two, it will still flourish.

 

Peperomia

 

These shiny leaved-plants are small and adorable, great for end tables, dining tables or small entrance tables. They enjoy low lighting and indoor temperatures, which make them an ideal decor inside your home. You don’t have to water them often. In fact, it’s best to allow them to dry completely before watering them again.

Pothos

 

The pothos plant has trailing stems and leafy vines that can grow up to ten feet. This plant can also go a day or two without water, but cannot survive a drought, so if you’re going abroad for a month, it’s best to leave your precious plant with a friend or neighbour so it will be alive when you get back. What’s interesting about this potted plant is that it has air-purifying qualities that strip and absorb toxins from materials such as carpets and drapes, so they’re fantastic to keep in the house if you have dust allergies or upper respiratory conditions.

 

Ficus

 

The ficus plant has shiny leaves that add cheer and pizzazz to any room. They have beautifully braided stems, which make them perfect as decor pieces in your living room or home office. These plants thrive well in bright sunlight and dry soil, but still need water whenever the soil seems a little parched.

English Ivy

 

If you’re looking for a great hanging plant, then the English Ivy is perfect! The vines trail down any furniture for romantic and timeless elegance. These beauties also purify the air and help to filter the household cleaning products and airborne faecal matter. They enjoy moist soil and cool temperatures.  

Peace Lily

With thick dark green leaves and exquisite white blooming flowers, this plant is excellent for achieving peace in your home. It prefers humidity and low lights, so it’s easier to grow in spaces like your living rooms and bedrooms. It tolerates moist soil and standard temperatures. 

Bromeliad

 

It’s believed that this plant and pineapples are cousins since they both are from the Bromeliaceae family. Like the pineapple, it produces ‘pups’ or side shoots and is prized for its thick foliage, which grows in a natural rosette with wide, sword-shaped leaves. This flower grows around a central ‘cup’ that catches water. Bromeliad plants bring the tropics into your home, which is perfect since it’s drought tolerant and gets most of its moisture and food from its leaves. Here’s a tip: Keep the ‘cup’ the plant forms in the centre filled with water.

 

Fiddle-leaf fig

 

Talking about bringing the great outdoors, inside. This indoor tree has large, green leaves that form the outline of a fiddle or violin and is a rare species of the ficus plant. Its dramatic leave cluster at the top of the a narrow trunk and fits perfectly in the living room between chairs or beside your new sofa. This plant enjoys bright, indirect light and should be watered when the top of the soil loses moisture.

Areca palm

 

This indoor palm is an excellent decorative piece, bringing a tropical, beachy-feel into your hone. Its lush, graceful, feather-shaped fronds make it a centrepiece for any room. This plant can grow up to about seven feet, but you can control the size with the right-sized pot. It does well in direct light and dry soil, so that watering can be infrequent.      

Heart leaf

 

This house plant has, you guessed it, heart-shaped leaves, which emerge bronze but quickly turn green. It’s a trailing plant that can trail up to four feet, as it creeps down shelves, poles and furniture. It’s tolerant of dry air but prefers humidity, and its soil should be kept lightly moist. It thrives in a range of lighting conditions but prefers indirect light, which makes it an excellent addition to your home office or dining room.  

 Are there other plants that you keep in your home? Tell us about them below!