House Plants: My Five Favorites

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been super excited after bringing home a beautiful house plant and then end up killing it just a few months later. Indoor plants are an amazing way to bring life and energy into your space, especially during the winter months, but keeping them alive can be incredibly confusing and frustrating. Like come on, you shouldn’t have to be a botanist to keep a cactus alive, right? I’ve killed my fair share of plants, but over time I’ve learned which plants are easiest to take care of and the subtle signs they show when they need something. It also helps that these plants are all stunning and can add character to any space in your home. Here are my top five favorite house plants and why…

1. Jade Plant

My absolute favorite succulents are Jade plants. Maybe I’m partial to Jade plants because I grew up around them or because Jade is my middle name, but they are also incredibly beautiful and fun to watch grow.

Light: Jade plants are succulents which means they need little water and lots of direct and indirect light. I like to put my Jade plants next to or close to my windows, so they get enough light throughout the day.

Water: The easiest way to kill a succulent (which I’ve done many times in the past) is to overwater it. I totally get it, as soon as your plant starts to die, you assume it needs more water. Stop! It’s probably dying because it has too much water. Jade plants are great because they let you know when they need moisture. Don’t water your Jade plant until the leaves at the top of the plant begin to soften. It is common for the leaves at the base of the plant to dry up and fall off when it’s growing. If the leaves at the top feel soft, water the plant until you see moisture in the saucer. Make sure to touch the leaves very carefully because they fall off easily. If the water doesn’t get soaked back up by the plant within the hour, empty it. You never want your succulent sitting in water, this is how it rots! I water my Jade plants (I have three!) approximately once every month, if not even more sparingly.

Pro tip: An easy way to start growing your own Jade plant is to take a small clipping from an existing plant. Put the clipping in a jar, so the base is completely submerged in water. Wait a few weeks to a month for roots to grow at the bottom of the clipping. It will probably begin to wilt and look sad, but that’s okay! It will come back to life once planted. Once roots approximately one inch or longer in length have grown on the clipping, you can plant it in a pot. After potting, make sure to water it right away using the method I explained above. Now you have a Jade of your own! Two of my Jade plants started like this after using clippings from my mom’s Jade plants (and one of those plants grew from a clipping from her mom’s plant, my grandma’s!).

2. Lucky Bamboo Plant

Lucky Bamboo plants represent prosperity and, well, luck (duh!). I absolutely love my Lucky Bamboo because it grows quickly and is extremely low maintenance. Psst… this is the easiest one to take care of out of the five in my opinion!

Light: Lucky Bamboo plants can survive with minimal indirect light which means that they can be located in areas of the house that most other plants can’t survive in. I have my Lucky Bamboo located on my kitchen counter to add life and greenery to a space that has no windows close by.

Water: Because we tend to kill house plants by overwatering them, the Lucky Bamboo is also great because it’s nearly impossible to overwater. The plant is potted inside a porous plastic pot which is then placed inside a ceramic pot of the same shape. The plastic pot must always be submerged in the water from the ceramic pot, and because of this unique set up, the only way to overwater the plant is to over-fill the ceramic pot! I water my plant about once a week and completely change out the water every few weeks.

3. Snake Plant

Snake plants have got to be one of the easiest plants to take care of on earth, and it helps that they are tall and beautiful too! I have three Snake plants, and they are all stylish and modern-looking while being so low-maintenance that I could forget about them for weeks, possibly months, and they would still be thriving. They also come in all sorts of color variations which makes it fun to pick out plants with different textures and colors for various areas of your home.

Light: Snake plants need indirect light, but they don’t seem to be super temperamental about how much indirect light they get. I have one plant right next to a window, one a few feet away from a window, and one across the room from a window, and they all seem to be doing equally well. This is nice because you can allocate spots for them around your house based on what looks the best without worrying about their health (something that always weighs on my mind).

Water: Snake plants also need very little water. I water mine every six weeks when the leaves start getting soft and the first inch or two of soil is dry. If you’re new to having house plants, I would recommend putting these plants in pots with a hole in the bottom to ensure your plant is never sitting in water. Again, this can cause your plant to rot! When you think your plant is dehydrated, water it all the way through ensuring that any excess water entering the saucer is removed. Like most indoor plants, if you overwater it, you will kill it! If you think the leaves feel soft and the top of the soil is dry, your plant probably needs water. I wouldn’t recommend watering any more than every two or three weeks in order to ensure you don’t overwater it.

4. Spider Plant

Spider plants are very easy to care for while being extremely attractive. For the most part, these plants need to be potted and hung from the ceiling of your home so that their leaves can cascade downward. Like Lucky Bamboo plants, Spider plants are hard to overwater and grow extremely quicky which makes them even more fun to have in your home.

Light: Spider plants love indirect light and should be hung close to a window. Make sure to rotate your plant every few weeks to guarantee that every side of the plant is getting enough light to thrive.

Water: Spider plants are hard to overwater because their soil should always be kept moist (but not soggy). In order to ensure that your Spider plant flourishes, water it approximately once a week as the soil begins to dry up. If the soil at the top of the plant is dry, water it while confirming that it is not sitting in water from the saucer for more than a few hours.

5. Aloe Plant

Of course, we had to include our namesake in the list of our favorite plants! Aloe Vera plants have incredible healing and health-related qualities and look great in any home. Styling these plants is easy due to their relatively small size. I have one Aloe plant hanging in a macrame plant swing and another in a fun pot by the window.

Light: Because Aloe plants are succulents, they need a good amount of light. I would recommend putting your plant next to a window for maximum indirect and potentially some direct light. Unfortunately, an Aloe plant will slowly begin to deteriorate if it is not able to get a good amount of light during the day.

Water: The upside of Aloe plants is that they need very little water. I water mine roughly once a month when the leaves begin to soften and the top of the soil dries out. Like the Snake and Jade plants, Aloe plants will die quickly if overwatered. I always air on the side of caution by underwatering a succulent rather than overwatering it. Once the plant begins to rot, it is much more difficult to bring back to life!

Pots:

While there are so many places to find pots to house your plants, I have a few favorites that always come in clutch!

1. Home Goods: As one of my favorite places for pretty much anything related to interior design, Home Goods is a great place to find stylish pots of all sizes for prices that are almost impossible to beat! The downside is that most of their pots don’t have holes in them, but it’s super easy to drill your own hole in the bottom. Don’t forget to find a saucer to match!

2. Home Depot: Although their selection rarely changes, Home Depot is a great place to find super cute pots. Almost all of their ceramic pots have holes in them, and a large quantity have attached saucers that come with. This is also my go-to place to find the classic terra cotta clay pots in that fabulous burnt orange color. They have all different styles and sizes to choose from, and you can bet almost any plant would thrive in one of these pots because of its breathable and organic material.

3. The garage: You would be surprised how many amazing things I have found by searching through my parents’ unorganized garage, it seriously feels like a treasure hunt! Ask you parents or grandparents (or whoever) if you can go through their garage. I bet you could find something that they never use that could be transformed into a unique pot or saucer in your home.

Please let us know your thoughts, and DM us on Instagram with any plant-related questions. And don’t forget to share with you friends and tag @aloehouseco in posts related to this blog!

-A