10 houseplants to make you happier at home (2024)

1 Snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) ‘Gold Flame’

An unkillable plant with cheery central leaves of banana yellow. This tough succulent has many stunning cultivars but this is my favourite.

2 Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema species)

There are a few foliage houseplants – crotons, caladiums, and coleus, for instance – that offer a riot of colour, but the algaonemas are probably the easiest to grow, tolerating more shade. Look for the pink-splashed ‘Ruby’ or if you prefer muted tones, the dappled ‘Peaco*ck’.

3 Flamingo flower (Anthurium andraeanum)

You cannot fail to smile at the sight of this delightfully kitsch and long-flowering plant. Either stick with the classic scarlet, or opt for one of the newer cultivars with blooms in pink, white or lime green.

4 Variegated strawberry saxifrage (Saxifraga stolonifera ‘Tricolor’)

I find pink foliage irresistible: this one has the added bonus of producing dozens of baby plants at the end of long pink runners known as stolons. Place it in a hanging basket or on a plant stand so it can trail its brood of babies, jellyfish-style.

5 Ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata)

Caudiciform plants (ones with woody, swollen bases) are all the rage, but many are expensive and hard to source. This one is widely available and can turn into a tall specimen plant that will cope with the dry air of your living room in a way most palms won’t (and despite the common name, it’s not actually a palm).

6 Fishbone cactus (Epiphyllum anguliger)

This trailing succulent wins the award for the coolest looking leaves, which appear to have been cut with a pair of giant pinking shears. Once mature, it produces large white flowers, too.

7 Easter lily cactus (Echinopsis subdenudata)

If you love cacti but hate the spikes, this species is for you. It produces huge white lily-like flowers that smell of washing powder but last only a day and a night.

8 Venus slipper orchid (Paphiopedilum)

No flower suits the word “voluptuous” better than this. It’s no harder to care for than the ubiquitous moth orchid, but its meaty blooms are much more of a showstopper.

9 Mini Monstera (Rhaphidophora tetrasperma)

If you don’t have room for a swiss cheese plant but love its elaborate leaves, this is a great substitute. If it scrambles too far, just hack it back.

10 Panda plant (Kalanchoe tomentosa)

See Also

Plants to help ease the mind - Thrive

I do love a plant with fuzzy, tactile leaves: this succulent has silvery foliage tipped with chocolate. It’s easy to care for when placed on a sunny windowsill, ideally within stroking distance.

Jane Perrone is crowdfunding Legends Of The Leaf, a book on houseplants. See janeperrone.com for details.

Want to grow something joyful and easy? Try lemongrass, says Alys Fowler

Something happens deep inside us when we grow plants, a glow of pleasure and satisfaction as each leaf, bud and stem emerges. One of the easiest, more joyful things to grow, wherever you live, is lemongrass. Many things can be propagated in a glass of water, but the bright, citrus-floral scent of lemongrass is like a shot of sunshine. Dried leaves are merely dust in comparison.

Buy a fresh stem, as green and firm as possible, with the longest best before date, and pop it in a glass with 5cm or so of water. Top it up whenever it starts to dry out and, a month or so later, roots will appear. Once these are about 2cm long, pot the plant in good, peat-free compost. Keep up this process, moving to a slightly larger pot every time white roots appear in the drainage holes, and you’ll find that you go from one stem to a multitude.

Lemongrass is a tropical, perennial grass that wants high temperatures – 18-33C is ideal, never below 10C. For most of us, that means inside the house. It needs bright conditions, such as a sunny windowsill and, in summer, needs to be permanently damp, so water every day. In winter, the soil needs to stay barely damp, not bone dry, so water once or twice a month.

If you start now and get good growth this summer, you should have a few fat stems by winter and many more next year. Don’t harvest until you have a substantial plant.

The homegrown leaves pack as good a flavour punch as any supermarket stem, and you can harvest them without disturbing the growth. For something so undemanding of the grower, lemongrass is rich in rewards – and think of the air miles you’ve saved.