Check out all our blog posts on Indoor gardening.
A Boston fern stays alive and lush when you give it bright, indirect light, soil that stays evenly moist without turning soggy, and humid air around 50% or higher. To keep a Boston fern alive, water it whenever the top inch of soil feels dry, keep it in filtered light between 60 and 75°F, and … Read more >>
Yes, many ferns survive winter just fine. Hardy ferns like ostrich, lady, and Christmas ferns go dormant in the ground and come back in spring, while tropical ferns like Boston ferns need to come indoors before nights drop below 50°F. The species you grow and your USDA zone decide which group your fern falls into. … Read more >>
Houseplants can help your mood, but in a modest way. Small studies link indoor plants for mental health to calmer feelings, lower stress after mental work, and a sense of comfort at home, so a few easy plants are a reasonable, low-cost addition to your mental wellness habits. They aren’t a cure for anxiety or … Read more >>
Spider mites on areca palm leaves start as a faint, dusty speckling on the feathery leaflets. Left alone, they spread into fine webbing and yellow fronds. The good news is that a mite problem on a Dypsis lutescens is very fixable when you catch it at the speckling stage. My advice is to isolate the … Read more >>
Lemongrass needs at least six hours of direct sun a day, and it grows best with eight or more. For thick, flavorful stalks, I’d give lemongrass a spot with six to eight or more hours of direct sunlight, adding afternoon shade only in desert heat. That rule holds in garden beds, in pots, and indoors. … Read more >>
For most American homes, I’d pick the cat palm if your room gets moderate light and you want a fuller plant that stays around 3 to 6 feet tall. I’d pick the areca palm if you have a bright window and want a taller, feathery palm that can reach 6 to 8 feet indoors. Both … Read more >>
Most areca palm benefits you’ll notice at home are the everyday ones: a soft, tropical look, a pet-safe plant for homes with cats and dogs, and a pleasant bit of green that can make a room feel calmer. The big claims about cleaning your air or humidifying a whole house don’t hold up well once … Read more >>
The best ZZ plant companion plants are snake plant and haworthia, because they’re among the few common houseplants that also like to dry out completely between waterings. Pothos, Chinese evergreen, cast iron plant, dracaena, hoya, and peperomia also look great beside a ZZ, as long as each one sits in its own pot with its … Read more >>
Pothos is the plant I’d pick first if you want a room to look full fast. Golden pothos is the best fast-growing indoor plant for most homes because it handles average indoor light and can trail a foot or more a month in spring and summer when it gets bright, indirect light. Close behind it … Read more >>
For most homes, the best indoor plants that like direct sunlight are desert and dry-climate plants. Aloe, jade, echeveria, ponytail palm, bird of paradise, tropical hibiscus, rosemary and Meyer lemon all grow best when sun lands right on their leaves for several hours a day. If you have an unobstructed south- or west-facing window, I’d … Read more >>