Life On Churchill

Top house plants that survived living with a mom who knows nothing about plants (and the ones that didn’t)

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Have you ever been visiting a friend or looking through Pinterest and were struck at how “put together” house plants can make a space? Me too! Especially since I grew up with a mom who could not keep plants alive for longer then a week (I assumed I was the same!).

Before you get too far into this blog post and think I’m super smart when I list all the fancy names of these plants, I have to be honest. I had to google common houseplants and match all of mine to find what they were called. When I bought my plants, I just went to the plant nursery, picked out the ones I thought looked cool, and brought them home. Some are still alive today, …. and some aren’t.

My minimal knowledge of plants continues when it comes to watering. They all get the same watering schedule. This has varied over time. I watered once a week for years but then found some of my plants didn’t tolerate that well. So I switched to every other week but that also didn’t work so well. I think the key is once a week but not too much water.

I used plant fertilizer every week for years, then found out house plants are only supposed to be fertilized in the summer. Thankfully my plants suggestions here are quite forgiving. So, if you notice they’re starting to look wilted or unwell, you can just change up what you’re doing and they’ll typically either improve or worsen in time to let you know if your changes worked.

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Side note, if you think you can just google it and figure out what your plant needs….good luck to you. Every time I’ve googled a plant, for example “why is ___ plant wilting”, I always get the same answer: either under or overwatering it. So, you’ll have to be your own plant doctor and figure out what works for your home/lighting/watering routine.

Let’s jump in! Here are my top house plants that survived (and the ones that didn’t) living with a mom who knows nothing about plants.

Plants that made it – hooray!

Peperomia ‘Hope’: Peperomia hybrid

This plant is my FAVOURITE!

So easy to take care of, super resilient, and I love the look! I always get compliments and people asking me for cuttings.

Spider plant: chlorophytum comosum

These are the ULTIMATE beginner plants! They were my first ever house plants. I don’t currently have any because mine have always done really well and gotten way too overgrown. Then I get frustrated with them and get rid of them. They are definitely the perfect starter plant for anyone who wants to try out house plants and automatically succeed, building confidence to try new plants!

Ferns

I also don’t have ferns right now because they do really well and get too overgrown for the space I planned for them. If it was summer though I’d just pop them outside for some great outdoor décor – they’re such a full, luscious, easy going plant! Love them!

Succulents: Aloe Vera

Most succulents are going to be quite resilient and make a great option for house plants to scatter around your home.

Fiddle leaf fig: Ficus lyrata

I’ve had this plant (below) for 5 years! It started out with 3-4 leaves and it just keeps growing! Fiddle leaf figs change so much depending on the pot you have them in. I never really transplanted mine into a bigger pot so it seemed to just grow up and stay narrow. I like the look but if you want something different definitely pop yours into a bigger pot.

Parlour Palm Tree: Chamaedorea elegans

I’ve had this tree for 3 years and I also love it! I love the wider leaves because I feel like it gives a more full look then regular palms do. It also feels easier to make work in a space because it’s not as big as some palms can get too. This option was also a lot cheaper then a regular palm (however it did start out quite a bit smaller then it is now). I have found that my bottom leaves do yellow and fall off over time, but my understanding is that this is normal. As long as the top leaves are healthy and the tree is growing you’re good!

Common ivy: Hedera helix

You’ll notice that mine in this picture (left picture below) is growing in kind of strange directions. That is because I find when the hanging plants get too long, it seems like the weight of them is hard on the top of the plant. So at that point I tend to cut off the ends, place them in water until they grow nice roots (cuttings), throw out the rest of the plant, and plant my cuttings. This allows my plants to reset a bit and I find I end up with a nicer plant this way. You could also just keep an eye on your plants and keep trimming them back every so often. That all depends on where mom life finds you during this season! AKA if you find you can keep up with your house plants, or you’re just going to plan to procrastinate and start over when you have time (me!).

Inch plant: Tradescantia zebrina

(Pictured above with the lantern & watering can)

This is another plant that I tend to let get too long/heavy and need to start over. You’ll see that the tops of mine are getting a little sparse but the bottom looks great!

Philodendron

(Pictured above with the “N”)

My friends all rave about this plant so I asked for some cuttings from my sister in law. Mine is staying alive but not growing much. However, it’s also winter so I’m going to put it out in the summer and see how things go!

Plants that didn’t make it

‘Mother of Thousands’: Pilea depressa

This one I definitely over watered and all the leaves fell off within a week. This was also right around the time that I had my first child, so it definitely got a bit neglected and then I tried to compensate with overwatering. However, the plants I listed above would have been able to tolerate a bit of neglect better then this one did. Something to keep in mind!

String of pearls: Senecio rowleyanus

This one was one that I tried out a few cuttings from my sister in law. This was when I only watered every other week and I think it just wasn’t enough for this plant. However, my two Philodendron pots of cuttings have been tolerating that fine, so the string of pearls may just be a little more finicky then some other house plant options. I have also heard from some of my friends that their string of pearls also didn’t do as well as their other house plants.

There’s one other one that I cannot remember and it’s driving me crazy! It was another one that was supposed to be super easy but mine did not make it. I’ll have to stop in to my local plant nursery to see if it jogs my memory and then update this post!

Thanks for stopping by!

If you clicked on this post, I think we could be friends. This is probably the most practical, uneducated but realistic post on houseplants out there. Definitely would make my plant loving friends CRINGE!

I’d love to hear from you what you thought, and if you have any more tips & stories to share about your experience growing your own houseplants.

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