Do you like houseplants?  Many people do – not only for how awesome they look bringing life to your home but the actual help they give the air we breathe is fantastic. The problem is that so many people are afraid of spending money on a plant that they fear they might kill. Sadly, many people have the impression that plants, all plants, any kind of plant are hard to take care of and if you do not know every little detail, they are sure to die fast! That is actually not true at all, while there are some plants that can require a little more interaction and care, there are also many that you hardly have to give any attention to, and they will still thrive. Instead of going over complex to take care of plants and easy ones, I am going to go over ones I believe should be at the top of everyone’s list of must-have houseplants!

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1. Snake Plant or “Mother-In-Laws Tounge” (Sanseveria)

This plant many people love, but I’m sure there are a few that think this plant is either creepy looking or simply just not attractive at all. There are a few different variations of the snake plant out there that involve a few different colors, but for the most part this plant pretty well always looks the same. While the snake plant is a pretty slow grower, they have to be the most simple plant EVER to take care of.

The above video is one of the first videos I ever took of the plant. I did not put the video there for much information but more of so you can see what the plant looks like from multiple angles. I have two different variations of the snake plant, the one you see in the video and then another one that REALLY resembles a snake because it is yellow on the edges! Cool right? I consider this plant super easy to grow because of how little care it requires, about the only way you can harm it is if you water it too much. This plant can easily go up to 3 or 4 weeks without a good watering. It is a slow grower as I mentioned but it is also very tough and sure to be a great houseplant for you. Some versions of the snake plant can get quite a few feet high! You can search our website here for more about snake plant propagation, it is pretty simple too! If you want to purchase a snake plant, you can currently check out this small licensed family-owned nursery over at WeaverFamilyFarms.com

2. Spider Plant

The spider plant is pretty cool, pretty tough, pretty easy to grow, and pretty fast growing. Why is it called a spider plant? Well, it somewhat resembles a spider when it is grown! In the right conditions, it also can produce “spider babies” that hand off the edges that can root and become full-size plants themselves when given the chance. They say this plant needs more light and should be a few years old before you typically see any spiderettes being produced.

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Yes, this plant is considered a faster-growing plant, it can actually be cut all the way down to the soil level, and it will fill back out typically in a couple of months. There are a few different variations to this houseplant that will give the spider plant a few different looks, however, it is also called an “airplane plant”. This plant will usually look the best in a hanging pot where the leaves will eventually grow straight up but then with weight droop down over the edges all the way around the hanging pot. This plant does like a nice occasional watering when you think of it, usually once a week or so will do. It can live in lower light conditions but it will normally not produce baby spider plants in lower light levels, it needs higher light levels near a window for that – but too much direct sunlight can burn this plant. This plant is propagated via division or by rooting the spider babies this plant produces.

3. Croton

This is a plant I did not know about until recently, but I tell you what, the colors this plant has are absolutely beautiful. It has many different colors at all once – which is pretty cool for a house plant! This plant does like soil that is kept somewhat moist most of the time, but not soaking wet. This plant can tolerate lower light levels but normally likes a higher amount of light, near windows. It is known to show its best amount of colors when it is getting a good amount of light. The colors can fade or become dull when the croton plant is not getting enough light. All in all, if you are looking for a beautiful eye-catching indoor plant that has full color, this is the plant for you! The leaves of this plant can be toxic so make sure to keep children and animals away from this plant. It can also be propagated via stem cuttings in moist soil or water. Many people have used the stem of a leaf to get roots, however, while it might keep the leaf alive – it is said that it will never grow more leaves so you must propagate from an actual piece of the plant’s stem.

4. English Ivy

Ivy is usually a super fast-growing plant in the right conditions. This plant is also found growing outside around the USA, however, it is noted to be invasive in many areas. Many plants can be invasive if no attention is paid to it. This plant is very easy to grow, it can actually live in water for a very long time. This plant is propagated in water or in soil. The reason English Ivy can be invasive is that it can spread on its own and it can spread fast! But when grown as a houseplant there really is not anything to worry about. Wherever this vine grows, wherever the vine touches the soil, it will send down roots and make a whole new plant, thus it keeps spreading faster and faster. Boston Ivy is also a pretty plant, it is an Ivy too, of course, however Boston ivy is not evergreen like English Ivy is. This vining plant looks really cool in wall mounted pots or in hanging pots! I actually have some pots I got from Amazon that mount to the wall and they look like old metal buckets dumping water – I have my ivy growing in one and it make it look like its dumping out the ivy. like it would dump out water giving a “waterfall effect”. English Ivy sure does like the sun and it’s actually known to be hard to kill. You really cannot water this plant too much as it can thrive in water as well.

English Ivy outdoors is very much known for its ability to even climb up and down surfaces such as a brick wall on its own, being able to reach records of over 80 feet! If you would like to get some English ivy or other plants of your own – you can head over to our family farm website WeaverFamilyFarms.com if we have any currently for sale during the time of you reading this article.

5. Heart Leaf Philodendron

Ahhhh Yes, a very popular house plant that almost everyone has seen but not very many people typically know the name Philodendron. This is a plant that vines and can grow almost anywhere in your house, they typically will grow faster in a bit more higher light, but they will also grow in areas of your home that have not much light at all. There are quite a few kinds of philodendron out there, but the one I have because I loved the looks the most is this heart leaf version where the leaves are shaped in hearts – pretty cool if you ask me! These are usually pretty simple to propagate at home and they will typically root fine in a cup of water in a couple of weeks time. This is another must have plant on the list that will help filter the air inside your home just as the others!

6. Jade

Jade is a very new one to me, so as of right now I do not have a whole lot to say about it. I became interested in the Jade plant when I first heard about it and then finally ordered my own jade plant. I was able to divide that plant into 3 smaller plants as soon as it arrived which is always nice. I think it is cool that these can be propagated via stem cuttings as well as just planting one of the mature leaves! When these start to get some growth, they actually look like a miniature tree growing in your house which is pretty unique to most houseplants. This is considered a succulent. A succulent is typically a plant that has enlarged version of leaves that usually contain moisture such as a cactus, aloe vera plant, snake plant, etc. Jade plant is one i would consider to be fine if you forget about it for a while, normally they only like to be watered about once a month or so just like aloe vera or a cactus plant, to much water will kill these plants.  If you left for a 3 weeks vacation, when you get back home, your Jade plant would most likely look exactly like it did when you left, not needing water often can be a useful trait to some . These are also known are rather slow growing.

7. Aloe Vera

Aloe Vera, this HAS to be a plant that everyone has heard of and probably even knows what it is. Maybe some are not aware that Aloe is a plant, but everyone knows that you can buy Aloe gel at the store that is good for sunburns, etc – It helps cool the skin. Some also claim that you can eat aloe and it can help your body in many ways (that is something I do not have information on currently) These are succulents such as jade, cactus, snake plant and so on. They require water only about once a month in winter and once every 3 weeks or so in the summer time of year. The gen that is found inside these leaves are pure aloe vera, when you buy aloe at the store it is usually watered down with other stuff and is not pure aloe vera. I remember when I was a child, my grandma has an aloe vera plant and could use some of the gel right from the leaves of her aloe vera plant on a burn and it instantly cooled it down. Not much is more cool than having a plant at home that is easy to take care of and has medical properties. This is one someone will either say is an ugly plant, or they will like the plant. It for sure has a unique look to it. This plant can be propagated via producing “pups” or division.

8. Mint Plant

So the mint plant may not be the most beautiful plant that you can grow inside your home, and even though most of us think of mint as something that smells really good, while this plant does smell good I have never been able to smell the plant more than a couple foot away from it. It is hard to explain the smell of a mint plant, I almost consider it to smell like minty lettuce maybe as funny as that sounds. It has a very strong vegetation smell with a big of mint smell as well. There are multiple kinds of mint, the one i have is just your basic mint. It does grow somewhat quick compared to most, tends to be easy to take cuttings to root more and it can grow a couple foot big and fill out an area pretty quickly. You can use these leaves for cooking, you can even chew on the leaves raw, tastes like a minty salad to me – I am not much of a veggie eater so I do not care for the taste much, although someday I would like to try and get some of the flavor from the mint plant I have. I also plan to sell some mint plants in the future! This plant should rank pretty high on the “useful plants list”.

9. Peace Lilly

Im not a HUGE fan of this plant by any means, however the peace lilly is VERY popular and almost everyone has heard and seen of this plant. I do not really have anything against it because im not a huge fan of how it looks, it is pretty but not one that makes my jaw drop like some do. The biggest con in my opinion about this plant is the fact that is requires quite a bit of water compared to most house plants people look for. You could go on a family vacation for a week or so and come back to your peace lilly looking like death. The base of the plant should never stay WET but the roots can actually live and thrive in water and some people choose to have these plants growing in water where only the roots are in the water though, not the whole plant or root rot can happen. These can be propagated via division. The Peace Lilly is mostly known for its unique beautiful blooms that it can have inside your home, if you are a fan of indoor plants that flower, this one might be on your must have list. While the peace lilly can grow in low light just fine, it will typically only flower, or flower the best in areas where it get a good amount of indirect sunlight, as direct sun can fry the leaves of a peace lilly.

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