5 Easiest Houseplants To Grow

There are quite a few houseplants that I have in my home that seem to be “Divas” and I will talk about those in a separate post, but for today, I would like to narrow down a list to five of the easiest houseplants to grow. Now these are the ones that have behaved well for me and you may have had a different experience, but I really think this is a list that could help beginners.

None of these are hard to find, and they are affordable houseplants, so try them out and I am sure you may find that you have a new favorite.

Fiddle Leaf Fig – Ficus lyrata

Starting with this plant that I have had for less than a year, I really like the Fiddle Leaf Fig and I think it has been very easy to care for. My daughter brought it home one day and we planned immediately to repot it into a large round white ceramic pot.

I felt this was one that could look good while it was smaller, but still support it as it got taller. It will eventually have to become a floor plant.

We have potted it in well draining soil and only water it when it is dry, either by pushing the water meter into the soil several inches down or putting a finger into the soil. The leaves are huge and do need to be dusted every few months, but it has grown so much!  I have shown it in several videos and we have not had any problems with it at all.

Do you feel this is an easy houseplant? I fed it with Schultz All Purpose Plant Food that goes into the water I water it with, so it got a dose each watering. Here is the post about my fertilizing method. I don’t feed during the late fall and winter, but will start feeding again in March.

Split-Leaf philodendron – Monstera Deliciosa

We got this plant last spring at the same time as we got the Fiddle Leaf Fig. They were fairly equal in size, but have grown huge over the past nine months.  During the time we’ve had this one, we re-potted it twice. We put it in large planter but later decided it was growing so fast, we needed a larger one. So it was transplanted for the second time in a few months. Why a bigger pot? “…bigger pots promote larger leaves.”

During the transplant, we saw how huge the root system was so I knew this one would take a lot of water. But I water it only when the meter shows dry about 6 inches down into the pot. (This is based on how large the pot is. I want the top of the soil to be dried out by about 25%.) Needless to say, this plant takes a lot of water.

I have it in a west-facing window but not directly in front of the window, so it gets medium light. This seems to suit her since she is thriving at the moment. She is fed just like my other plants but only during the growing season. Here is Ohio USA, that would be about March to early October.

I have her as a floor plant right now, but if I find the right support table, I may elevate her against that dining room wall. I haven’t pruned her yet, but if she gets too big, I will take cuttings and root them in water.

5 Easiest Houseplants to Grow - Just My Experience

My YouTube Channel - Kim's Gardens

Chinese Evergreen – Aglaonema

I have this plant in a red variety, Red Aglaonema, and this is one of the best and easiest plants I have ever had. We did repot her when we first got her. I wasn’t sure how large she would get, so we put her in a medium sized planter and she just glows with her soft redness. I wrote about her more in this post.

This plant is so easy to care for and just brings on all the color I want. She looked so good at Christmas that I didn’t even need the poinsettias who, for me, just start dropping leaves as soon as I take them from the car and are bald sticks before I set them on the table. (Only exaggerating slightly.)

I water this plant every few weeks and it seems to like this practice. Checking to see if the top few inches are dry is a must. Just poke your fingers into the soil or use a meter. Most times, I do both just to see if my meter is still working properly.

She can be more reddish if she gets stronger light, but a sunny window it too much. Just give her bright indirect light or even medium light, and she will perform. Great side table or bedside plant, I think. A regular lamp will give her just enough light if you want to have it on all day in a darker room.

Flowering Maple – Abutilon

If I had to pick my #1 Favorite Houseplant, I think she would be the winner. A beautiful large green foliage plant with blooms coming all the time? What more could I ask of a houseplant? She has been so beautiful all year. When I purchased her last spring, she was only a sprig about 10-12 inches tall and she grew all summer long, blooming again and again.

I brought her inside (in the same planter) and she rested a few weeks and started more rounds of blooming. It was so wonderful. Blossoms inside the house are such a joy to have and hers are so welcome with that reddish-orange color. They are about 5-6 inches in diameter and last for several days. Buds are just super gorgeous. In fact, they are so pretty, I wish she stayed in bud longer.

Water is the same for her, every few weeks I push my fingers into the soil to see if it is dry for several inches down. Then I water her well. ( All of my plants are pretty large and in sometimes heavy planters, so they are watered in place.) Her leaves are so light that you can see them start to droop and know that watering is needed.

This is a lovely plant, and I have twice propagated in successfully. In fact, the little offspring have also bloomed. So I am going to propagate again so that I can have several outside on the main deck in the summer this year. I really would like to see how they do in the full sun. I know hummingbirds would be attracted to her blooms. But I will keep Momma inside so that I can enjoy her here.

Golden Pothos – Epipremnum aureum

This is such an easy plant I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t have a lot of them. They make great hanging plants or spreading plants ( I have mine down the center of the dining table), and it is so easy to propagate that you will find yourself giving clippings to friends to take home with them.

These pothos have green leaves with streaks of yellow gold in them, here and there, and just seem to grow with no effort on my part. They can be ignored for weeks and of course, will wilt, but that is your signal to water them well. With a drainage hole in the bottom, you can take them to the sink and let water pour into them until they are fully soaked. I have let mine stand for 5-10 minutes in a shallow bowl so that the draining water can still seep into places that perhaps were so overly dry that the water dribbled past them, meaning they just need a little extra time to soak it up.

After watering, let the pot sit in the sink until it no longer trickles from the bottom. I usually set mine in a saucer in case a little moisture remains. If you want your pothos to be bushier, then snip off the ends of the trailing vines and more branching will occur making it bushier.  In my video, you will see that the vines of mine are reaching toward the ends of the table and I really don’t want them longer, so I will begin pinching. When she gets too bushy, she needs to move to another location, such as a side table.

These will grow outside in mild climates and they really get large-leaved and long. My daughter went to Mexico on her honeymoon and they were all over the terraces and porches. Maybe I will try a cutting next year on my deck and see what happens with it.

Easy Plants to Grow In Your Home

These are some of my favorite easy houseplants to try, but any plant you see, just wing it and see what happens. Read up on what care it likes and try your best. You may end up with some of your own favorite houseplants to grow and then can share with us. I know there are many out there that I have never had and I sure would like some recommendations too!

Soon I am going to make a list of the Houseplant Divas which I find most difficult. Wouldn’t it be strange if some of my Impossible Divas would be the ones you find the easiest to grow?