Elsa 
You hang a gorgeous basket by the front door, and two weeks later a house finch is sitting on a tidy little nest right in the middle of your petunias. It’s sweet, but it’s also a problem when you need to water. If you want to keep birds out of hanging plants, the trick is … Read more >>
Houseplants don’t clean the air in a typical American home in any way you’d notice. Air purifying plants absorb tiny amounts of chemicals in sealed lab chambers, but in a real house, normal air leaking in and out does far more cleaning than any number of pots you’d want on your shelves. I still think … Read more >>
The main ZZ plant varieties are the classic green form, near-black ‘Raven’, compact ‘Zenzi’, dwarf ‘Zamicro’, round-leaved ‘Lucky Classic’, yellow-flushing ‘Chameleon’, and rare variegated forms. For most homes, I’d pick classic green or ‘Raven’ for a floor plant, and ‘Zenzi’ or ‘Zamicro’ for a desk or shelf, because all of them share the same tough, … Read more >>
Brown tips on areca palm leaves almost always mean the narrow leaflets are losing water faster than the roots can replace it, or that salts and fluoride are piling up at the very ends of the leaves. The fix is to find the specific cause (dry air, uneven watering, tap water minerals, too much fertilizer, … Read more >>
Areca palm leaves turning yellow almost always point to a watering problem, most often soggy soil, followed by light that’s too strong or too weak, a magnesium or potassium shortage, cold drafts, pests, or salty tap water. One old frond yellowing at the base of a cane is normal aging. Several fronds fading at once … Read more >>
Yellow ZZ leaves almost always mean too much water. Here is how to tell the cause, fix rotting rhizomes and decide whether to cut yellow leaves off.
The right pot size for areca palm roots is a container just 1 to 2 inches wider than the current root ball, with drainage holes in the bottom. A palm in a 10-inch nursery pot, for example, should move into an 11- or 12-inch pot, never straight into a 16-inch planter. Areca palm (Dypsis lutescens, … Read more >>
Water a ZZ plant only when the soil is fully dry: about every 2 weeks in summer and once a month in winter. Here is how to tell, plus signs of trouble.
ZZ plants grow best in bright, indirect light and survive low light. Here is how to find the right spot and spot signs of too much or too little.
ZZ plants need fast-draining soil. Cactus mix works well, or add perlite to regular potting mix. Here is a DIY recipe and pot advice.