Being new to gardening can be a daunting task. Many of us have tried and failed in the world of building up a collection of indoor house plants. Thankfully there are a whole bunch of indoor plants which we would classify as hard to kill house plants. Of course, there is the change that you will kill a plant if you treat it like absolute crap but if you are like me you’re after plants that are easy to maintain and are hard to kill.
The following list is 10 Hard to kill indoor plants.
- Aloe Vera
- African Violets
- Baby’s Tear
- Jade
- Flapjack Kalanchoe
- Hens and Chicks
- Bromeliads
- Pothos
- Peace Lilies
- Schefflera
Aloe Vera
Hard to kill indoor plants number one is the aloe vera plant comes from the succulent plant family and is well know due to its medicinal uses, especially in creams and shampoos. The Aloe vera originates in the middle east around the Arabian Peninsula and is found in many tropical climates. As mentioned previous, while it’s used as a general plant for decorative purposes it also has a very large agriculture footprint due to its involvement in medical use.
The Aloe Vera has a distinctive cactus look and grows its thick green leaves from the base which can grow up to fifty centimetres in length. They leave grow in a rosette style formation. The leaves themselves are quite smooth with the edges of the leaf lines with sharpish teeth.
The strength of this plant is that carries around 220 active inter alia within them, like minerals, enzymes, amino acids, vitamins and polysaccharides which has made it so popular for agriculture harvesting.
Caring for Aloe Vera
The plants are extremely easy to care for and thrive particularly well in dry conditions. When potting these plants its best to use cactus specific potting soil. They, in particular, cannot stand a high amount of water which sits at the top so the soil has to drain well. As for light, go for gold, place them in direct bright sunlight and thrive in windows that particularly get a lot of sunlight during the day. These plants are best kept away from the dark places in your home. In a sentence, lots of light not a lot of water.
African Violets
Hard to kill indoor plants number 2 is the African Violet. As the name suggests these plants originate from Africa. Specifically from Tanzania and the southeastern part of Kenya through the tropical east African jungle. While they are a common plant in outdoor areas, they make a perfect plant to grow indoors due to both it’s light and watering requirements. They also do not grow to large sizes and at most grow to around 15 centimetres tall and 30 centimetres wide.
Caring for African Violets
One of the main reasons that takes the African Violet into the hard to kill category is that it has both a low requirement for water and low requirements for sunlight. As for watering goes its best to water this plant from the bottom up and placing the water in the bottom tray allowing it to absorb the water from the bottom. This also prevents the water from hitting the leaves which can cause some spotting on the leaves.
As for sunlight, it doesn’t require direct sunlight and can thrive in lower light levels. The only catch to this if you’re looking for the flowers to blossom you may need a little more light and it’s also best to allow the roots to dry out and then water, this will trigger the flowers to blossom.
Baby’s Tear
Another hard to kill indoor plants is Babys Tears. While the Babys Tears plant is a delicate looking plant it is actually quite a hardy plant. They have tiny round leaves in either bright green or yellow in colour. These leaves are bean-shaped and grow along fragile long stems. It grows close to the ground in a mat like formation.
These plants originate from the northern Mediterranean area, around Italy and its nearby islands. It has obviously been distributed around the world and has become a favourite as an ornamental plant and makes for an easy to maintain indoor house plant.
Caring for Baby Tears
While this plant does not require direct sunlight, exposure to moderate light does help the plant thrive. Thet can be potted into every day potting mix and its best to keep the soil in a lightly moist condition. So not so much watering is required. It also enjoys a good amount of humidity so placing in higher places around the home if you live in colder temperatures will help it to get the humidity it requires or you can mist it on the occassion to help with this.
Jade Plant
Also known as the lucky plant or money tree it also belongs to the family of succulents. The next of our hard to kill indoor plants. Another plant which is native to African nations such as Mozambique and South Africa, but can be found all around the world due to its ease of maintenance and it’s hard to kill properties.
It is an evergreen plant with dark brown thick branch and it has thick, shiny leave which grows along these branches. The leaves are a vibrant jade colour and can get a red tinge to them if they are overexposed to high levels of sunlight.
Caring for Jade Plants
One of the reasons that the Jade plant is on this list is due to durability and it little needs for watering. It’s not the type of plant that you need to water on a routine but it does still need some watering. The best way to know if you need to water the Jade Plant is by touching the top of the soil and if it is dry to touch you can water it.
You know you are not watering your plant enough if you see some leaves falling from the branches. While you don’t want it to get to that stage you should just check regularly by using the method described above.
As for sunlight, this is one which you need to place front and centre into the windows that receive the most light. If they do not receive full sun they will most likely halt their growth and become limp. These make perfect for window seals and bright areas of the home.
Flapjack Kalanchoe
You will see a growing trend with these plants, the Flapjack also originates from Africa, in this case, native to Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa. No surprise this plants also belongs to the succulent family and is known for its rather large fleshy green with red tips leaves which form in a rosette formation. They are a very vibrant plant and will in the right conditions also produce a flowery stem through the centre of the plant. This is indeed hard to kill indoor` plants.
Caring for the Flapjack
As its other friends in the succulent family, this plant loves bright light so is perfect for direct sunlight in your windows which receive the most light. The brights lights will assist with its dintictive red edges on the leaves.
Will survive with some watering neglect but with its large leaves it gives off signs very early when it needs some water. Again do not over water as the waterlogged soil will kill this plant. It does enjoy the humidity so will thrive in the warmer months of the year.
Hens and Chicks
Surprise its another succulent! Native to Northern Africa and Europe. This plant does not grow in height and prefers to remain close to the ground. The leaves like most succulents are thick and fleshy and grow in a rosette formation. The reason they get their name is that these plants are self-propagating. Typically you will plant the original plant (the hen) and as time goes by it will create smaller versions of it itself (the chicks) and the process continues until all surface area is covered in your pot.
Caring for Hens and Chicks
Like most succulents and the reason it goes into the hard to kill category is that it doesn’t require much watering. When you do water never let water sit on the leaves as this can cause rot and kill them. Remember you don’t need to water this plant that often at all being quite drought resistant. This plant loves direct sun and the more sun the better it seems.
Bromeliads
Another super easy plant to care for is the Bromeliad, which makes it the perfect indoor house plant for the beginner. While its appearance may give off that vibe of high maintence, this is simply not the case. This plant is well know for its dense foliage which grows into a rosette formed plant. It’s wide leaves have sword shape look to with a scoop in them and grow around a central cup. In its natural environment this cup is how the plant catches water.
Caring for Bromeliads
Yes being hard to kill means its eay to care. This plant has a simple and natural guide to watering it. Simply pour water into the cup at the base of the leaves. As this plant like humidity it is suggested that it gets a bit of misting on the occassion and helps to be in higher locations in the house. As for light condition, keep it away from direct bright sunlight but it will thrive in a medium to bright area away from direct light.
Pothos
Pothos (aka Devils Ivy) is one of those plants on this list that is as close to un-killable as you can get. They can thrive in many types of environments. Pothos is popular because it can be grown just in straight up water on in dry soil. Pothos is a vine-like plant and will grow to very long lengths. This plant used to produce flowers but there has been recorded sighting of a flower from one of these plants since 1962. So unfortunately no flowers, but its super bright green colour will punch some life into any room.
Caring for the Pothos
As noted an extremely hard to kill plant, its only weakness like many plants in direct sunlight. But it will do well in medium to bright non-direct sunlight to very low light areas of your home. This plant needs hardly any water, even though yes it grows directly in water. You will only need to fertilise this plant maybe every 3 months. It can actually tolerate pretty poor soil but will adapt to its environment. In saying that does not transfer well from being grown directly in water to then being transferred to be grown in soil.
Peace Lilies
Peace lilies are a super tolerant plant that come in about 40 different types. It is a flowering every green perennial plant and is extremely hardy. Needing minimal care this plant is the ideal indoor house plant for the beginner. It will work with you to give signs of what it needs. Another fun fact about the peace lily is that is well known for its air purifying qualities.
Caring for Peace Lily
Watering is on a needs basis with this plant. An easy way is to touch the soil if its super dry give it a water. In actual fact, too much water is a bad thing for this plant. Being a tropical plant which grew in the lower undercarriage of the forest, it does not need much light at all so is perfect for those dark corners. Although note to get its stunning white blossoms it may need a little more light to get those beautiful white flowers to appear.
Schefflera
The Schefflera also known by the common name of umbrella tree is an evergreen tropical tree/shrub. They fall into the category of hard to kill as they do well in low light conditions. Outdoors these plants can grow upto 12 metres in height. They also make a great indoor plant which is also very low maintenance.
Caring for Schefflera
Yes, another super easy to care for plant and like its friend above the peace lily, over watering will do more damage than under watering. This plant also does doe require a lot of light. You will know if it is not getting enough light if it becomes a little limp and saggy, but simple fix, drag your plant into an area where it will receive more light and problem solved.
