This type of post is purely subjective BUT I’m not a particularly attentive plant parent. All of these plants can (and have) go for a good month without having any attention paid to them.
By the way, the term ‘easy care’ isn’t a very useful measure in the world of plant care. If you have high humidity and bright light, you’ll find that most plants are easy care. If you live in a dry cave, you’ll struggle.
20. Pilea peperomioides
I mean, what’s not to love? They’re:
- Cheap
- Easy to find
- Propagate by growing another, separate pup that transition to a new pot like a dream
- Cool to look at
- Not that fussy in terms of care
The only issue I have with Pilea peperomioides (other than it being a PITA to spell) is that sometimes they just simply are having a bad time. They deteriorate for no reason, and then, months later when they look like shit, they bounce back.
19. Philodendron pink princess
There’s a good reason why PPP are so popular – they’re pink. That’s literally it.
Oh, and they’re SO easy to care for. Bright light means more pink, but they’re pretty happy in medium light. Water them when they’re dry.
They don’t even permanently revert (as far as I’m aware)! You can go from all dark leaves, give them a bit more light, and be rewarded with a load of variegation.
We love.
The only issue is the price ALTHOUGH that’s recovered a lot.
PPP is one of those plants that got incredibly popular in lockdown and the price shot up to reflect that. Plants that could be bought for a few quid in Australia were going for hundreds of dollars in the US.
‘Luckily’ here in the UK they weren’t really available from mainstream sellers until the prices had gone, and I got mine for a very economical £16.99.
18. Epipremnum treubii moonlight
This plant WANTS to grow. If you neglect it a bit, it will still do its best to produce new leaves. If you treat it very well; give it the best light and soil, sing to it, tell it it’s beautiful, it will grow a lot.
Like, a lot.
Usually either multiple growth points or bigger leaves, but sometimes both.
There are quite a few unscrupulous sellers out there that will try to convince you that these are rare. They are not, and they grow really quickly, so don’t worry if you can only find a little specimen.
17. Scindapsus pictus ‘silvery anne’
I seem to have, er, misplaced mine, so no picture (how does one lose a plant? I assume I gave it away) but they’re look like a regular scindapsus picus (or satin pothos) but with more silver concentrated on the tip of the leaf.
I prefer it to a regular satin pothos because they tend to grow less leggy but I love both because they grow quickly, curl up when they want watering and have pretty thick leaves that deter pests like thrips and spidermites.
16. Monstera deliciosa
If you’re new to plant care, or you want a big statement plant without much hassle, Monstera deliciosa is the one to go for.
The only issue with them is their absolute insistence on hosting a few thrips at all times.
They’re cheap (depending on the size), easy to propagate, super easy to get hold of, and quite hard to kill unless you’re a habitual overwaterer.
15. Maidenhair fern
I know, I know. They’re a pain.
APART FROM their habit of literally dying if you’re ten minutes later with the watering can, and their tendency to attract aphids, I LOVE maidenhair ferns. You do need high humidity, and they like brighter light than other ferns, BUT whilst their individual fronds die if you so much as look at them funny, the actual roots are pretty sturdy. I managed to reduce mine to a single frond before regrowing it into a gorgeous full plant.
(Did it then get aphids and die properly, yes, but I COULD have brought it back again. I just cba).
Great to grow in terrariums BUT they don’t like being sprayed or misted. The fronds will brown off.
14. Calathea orbifolia
We all go through phases of plants. The calathea stage is usually after the variegated monster stage, because they have equally pretty leaves but way cheaper.
But they’re also DIVAS.
I highly recommend you start with a Calathea Orbifolia. They’re gorgeous, but also slightly more forgiving than other types, I assume because they’ve got quite thick leaves.
Incidentally, they transition to leca/semi-hydro super easily (in my experience anyway).
Calathea are also great for people with pets/kids, though bear in mind that mine was irresistible to my rabbits, and it got eaten (despite there being many layers of barriers).
13. Ponytail palm
Do you like tiny trees that grow into big trees, but over the course of a hundred year? Do you like only having to water every couple of months if that?
I bloody love my ponytail palm The only issue is that it insists on getting in every shot of my YouTube videos, and try as I might to move all the leaves, one always muscles its way in.
Wow, considering they’re slow growers, mine has grown a tonne since I took the photo for the care sheet above.
I like to wait until the caudex gets squishy before I water, but if you choose to follow the same rule, be sure it’s squishy because it’s thirsty, not rotten. Buy one with a firm caudex, then water once it’s starts to soften. I like to bottom water so the soil gets thoroughly soaked, and then ignore it for a couple of months.
12. Rubber plant
It took me a long time to make friends with my rubber plants and work out what they needed. I have two, a variegated one and a burgundy one, and they both refused to grow much. I’d get a couple of small leaves every year, despite giving them good light, soil, and enough (but not too much)water.
From what I can gather, they just take time to settle. This year, two years after I bought them, they’ve started to grow well.
Whilst I’m glad they’ve finally gotten settled, plants like this are annoying, because the inevitable shifting around/adjusting humidity/changing soil that comes with having a plant that won’t grow probably delays the settling in, but…what choice do we have?
I generally advise waiting until a plant starts to actually deteriorate before changing it’s care.
Rubber plants are worth it for the hot pink cataphyll alone, and also I love the idea of having a massive one taking over my whole house.
11. Philodendron golden dragon
I mean, it just sounds cool.
There is some confusion about golden dragons and green dragons.
Green dragons aren’t really a thing – it’s usually a name given to plants that look like golden dragons, or horsehead philodendrons. No doubt the confusion arises because golden dragons aren’t golden. They do have a bit of kinda gold speckly variegation but it’s pretty sporadic. Those plants with a tonne of variegation are usually called something like Philodendron camoflage.
10. Hoya Carnosa Krimson Princess
The new leaves come in pink! Yay!
I tend to pick plants that are easy to care for and cheap over aesthetic points, but Hoya Carnosa Krimson Princess has it all. Literally, the only issue I have with it is that it takes forever to type out the name.
They grow like weeds, and if they don’t have enough light, they grow vines with no or tiny leaves. If this happens, increase the light.
Like many hoya, the plants you usually get are a load of cuttings in one pot. Most of the time, I lose a couple, but with HCKP they all grew, resulting in a very bushy plant. I love her. I’d love her to bloom, but the fact she has pink leaves and only likes to be watered when she’s dry is plenty.
By the way, Hoya are one of those plants that can go MONTHS without water, due to the succulent nature of their leaves BUT you’ll find you’ll get more growth if you water them pretty much as soon as they’re dry. If you put them in soil that dries out really quickly, and you keep on top of watering them, they grow quite quickly.
9. Alocasia Dragonscale
I don’t know if this is a universal experience, but this is the best alocasia. Mine doesn’t die back to the corm in winter, it puts out new growth all the time, and it looks so cool.
It would be my favourite plant if it didn’t constantly have thrips. Though the thrips have given it a cool variegated look to be fair.
8. Syngonium mottled
I love syngoniums in general because they’re very chill and collapse when thirsty (I mean, same) but the variegated ones look amazing. The mottles is my favourite because it’s the cheapest of the variegated syngoniums. Well done you if you don’t care about price, but I find expensive plans stressful!
7. Hoya bella
Yes, the leaves are more boring than HCKP but hoya bella blooms super easily (and by easily, I mean it just blooms without me having to intervene).
As long as you leave it alone once it has peduncles, you’ll more than likely get beautiful blooms.
They don’t look real.
6. Variegated Peace Lily
A little bit more interesting than a regular peace lily, and the variegation is stable…ish. Might reverted to green in lower light, but started producing variegated leaves again when I moved it.
The only thing is that it doesn’t seem to bloom. My green peace lily blooms quite often, but my variegated one…doesn’t.
I know it can bloom, because it was in flower when we bought it BUT it may well have been treated with a chemical to force that. It’s really not a big deal to me because I can take or leave spathe and spadix blooms – they’re pretty, but not particularly striking.
5. Peperomia hope
My number one recommendation for plant newbies. Peperomias grow quickly, and aren’t that picky about light conditions. They bloom (though the blooms are weird – like little vertical spikes) readily, have succulent leaves so they can take a bit of underwatering, and don’t seem to give two hoots about humidity.
4. Anthurium clarinervium
Looks cool, not too expensive (mine was £24.99), AND CRUCIALLY mine beat thrips.
I don’t mean it had thrips, and I treated them. I tried, but then kept forgetting. It got infested. Stopped growing. It’s (one) leaf looked like shit.
Went to look at it the other day and all the thrips are gone and it has two new leaves. I’m buzzing.
It took matters into it’s own hands! It’s a string independent plant that doesn’t need a human!
3. Philodendron Florida Green
This was my first ‘rare’ plant. It’s not rare by any means, but they don’t crop up too often in the UK. It’s also just thrown out a variegated leaf.
It’s just sport variegation (i.e. it’s a fluke and probs won’t happen again) but it’s still exciting. Easy to grow, cool leaf shape, cool red, bumpy stem… I just like it!
2. Monstera Thai Constellation
Like a Monstera albo, but cheaper, and won’t revert. A lot of people prefer sectoral variegation over the more speckly Thai variegation, but they can throw out some sectoral variegation as well, provided they’re given enough light.
Care is broadly the same as for regular Monstera deliciosa, BUT they’re waaaaay more prone to root rot.
1. Marble Queen Pothos
SHE’S MY FAVOURITE.
I just love them. They grow so fast and so happily in virtually any situation (you know, within reason).
Mine’s in this weird grey leca, and it grows so well. It also grew in cheap, store-bought soil. She’s a happy girl that loves to grow!
