Best Indoor Houseplant For Beginners

Snake Plant - Houseplant

As an interior landscape technician, I get a lot of questions from people during the work day. Some want to know why their plant is not doing well. Others ask what the little bugs on their plant are and how to get rid of them. Some people want to know the best way to prune or propagate their houseplants.

Another common houseplant question is: What is the best houseplant to get if I have never had an indoor plant before?

That is one of the easiest questions to answer as it doesn't require finding out alot of other information. The answer to this question is undoubtably...The Snake Plant!

Snake plants are great indoor plants as they will tolerate an owner that doesn't pay them much attention. They will live in lower light but they will become thin and leggy over time if the light is not sufficient.

However, if you are one of those people that likes to water their plants everyday, you should not get a Snake plant! There are not many indoor plants that will last long with everyday watering!

Snake plants are known as Sansevieria. The long tall foliage looks something like a snake and that is no doubt where the name Snake plants come from. Another name is Mother-In-Law Tongue. Someone will have to explain that one to me.

Anyway, if you are looking for a houseplant that does not need a lot of attention, try a Snake plant. Read about Snake Plant care, Sansevieria houseplants...

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House Plants for Beginners - This Plant is Not For You

My New Variegated English Ivy 

Thinking About Getting a New House Plant?

If you are thinking about getting a new house plant, you should consider carefully before you purchase a new one, especially if you are a little new to house plant care.

Pictured here is one of my new plants, a Hedera helix or English Ivy.  Looks nice and healthy, right? 

For the most part, it is. However, before I bought it I made sure to check for spider mites.

I found what I expected to find...Spider mites!

I have been caring for indoor plants for over 20 years and I can't remember any time that I had a new English Ivy that did NOT have spider mites.

English Ivy usually come from the growers looking pretty clean and spider mites are hard to detect at first unless you know what to look for (and where to look). But they reproduce rapidly, especially in hot, dry places and can do quite a lot of damage to your house plants. Before you know it your English Ivy will be looking pretty bad and you will wonder what you did wrong.

List of best indoor plants for just about everyone...

As soon as I got this one home, I put it in my bathtub, turned on the shower and used the hand-held sprayer to give it a good shower, especially on the undersides of the leaves.

A few days later those pesky little bugs were showing up again. (I knew they would) Truthfully, I intended to plant this plant in a clay container and put it out on my patio and leave it there. I got it for the photo with the intention to use it as an outdoor container plant.

My outdoor English Ivy always does so well, it needs minimal care and spider mites never seem to trouble it.

I like trouble free indoor plants and, although some may disagree with me, English Ivy is not my idea of a trouble free indoor plant.

English Ivy can be great indoor plants if you can get one that has no spider mites. Problem is, that is uncommon (but not impossible).

Anyway, this is just some information for people new to indoor plants, to let you know you may want to avoid English Ivy.

 Here is a list of some of the best indoor house plants, especially for beginners...  

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Easy House Plant - The Dracaena Warneckii

Dracaena Warneckii

One of the easiest to care for indoor house plants is the Dracaena Warneckii. Besides being an easy care house plant it also quite attractive and will survive in lower light situations and tolerate some watering mistakes and a little neglect. Of course, you should not neglect your house plants and you should provide the best lighting and watering that you can.

To illustrate my point I have a little indoor plant story or two to tell. I just love to tell silly plant stories!

The first interior landscape company that I worked for as an interior plant technician was Tiffany's Decorative Plants in Fremont, California. This company no longer exists as it was eventually bought out by the larger interior landscape company called Ambius.

Back to my Warneckii story...
One of the accounts that I serviced for Tiffany's was a french restaurant called Papillon on Mission Blvd. in Fremont, California. Intended to be a romantic place to eat, the interior was so dark in one of the dining rooms that I had to find the plants almost by feel, even with the lights on. If you have ever eaten there you will know what I mean.

There was very limited lighting. Dracaena Warneckii was the only large interior plant we could find that would live more than a month or so in this poor lighting. We used Warneckii Canes which were about five feet tall. They would eventually lose almost all of their foliage but would look pretty good for six months or more. Then they would be replaced and returned to the greenhouse to recuperate or be sold at a plant sale.

Another interior landscape account that I serviced in San Jose had a Dracaena Warneckii in an out of the way office that I missed for almost three months. The office occupant eventually called it to my attention. Although it had not been watered for three months, it was still alive and growing and just needed some dried up lower leaves removed.

You can see why I have it on my list of best indoor house plants. It is really tolerant of some neglect and low light. I do recommend that you always provide the best light, watering and care for all of your indoor plants so they will look their best.
Read more about Dracaena Warneckii house plant and its care....

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