Tell me about your favorite house plants!!

I've never kept ornamental house plants. Or any house plants for that matter. My parents always had tons. The garden is going well outdoors and now the indoors needs some greening as well. I'm not at all interested in going to the nursery and buying random plants that look nice, but I have no idea where to start. I'd really appreciate a thread where everyone could post about the plants that they keep indoors, whether they be edible, medicinal, or just for show. Personally, I'm primarily interested in the type of plants that I couldn't or wouldn't grow outdoors. I plan to keep quite a few medicinal plants around, so I'd love to hear about those, but I'm also interested in plants you might keep simply because they look nice or you like them. Include any important growing and care information that you can, and a picture would be nice!

I'll get the ball rolling:

My favorite house plant from childhood was what was called a fig tree by my parents, but it was a ficus. it stood about 5ft tall and lived in front of various south facing windows. It had a name that I can't remember, and it was one of the first things my parents bought when they first moved in together. It was a very resilient plant and lived for upwards of 20 years.

Great topic, thanks for getting this one rolling-

My favorite is a Rubber Tree, Ficus Elastica. It absolutely thrives, despite my expertise at killing houseplants.

I also like my Crown of Thorns, Euphorbia Milii. Flowers all the time, continuously.

Finally, my Jade Plant, Crassula Ovata 'Gollums Fingers'. Totally unique jade plant, looks really cool as it grows big.

Lets hear about some more!

Meyer's Lemon (produces actual lemons!)
Green Peppers
Rosemary
Thai Basil
Friendship Lily (no idea what it really is)
Aloe Vera
Bonsai

Aloe Vera is my first choice every time. The fresh juice from a cut off leaf works a miraculous instant pain relief on small burns -- and helps some even on severe burns.

Aloe! It comes in handy for so many different things. And it's hardy if you have a busy life an me neglect a little indoor watering.

I don't have houseplants now, but I went through a bit of an insectivorous plant phase.
I find their mechanics and metabolism really interesting.
And I've never seen kids more interested in plants,
although convincing them not to 'feed' the pitcher-plant can be challenging

Mother of thousands aka Mexican hat plant is a good one. It's highly poisonous, and very invasive, but not in cold climates. It will end up in your other house plants, forcing you to embrace polyculture.

I also have begonias... Very durable and beautiful.

Citrus trees are nice. One of our pots has a pea plant, a grapefruit tree, two carrots flowering tall, mother of thousands, and a geranium. We did not plan it that way, but have become fearless with polyculture, and we get excited.

Don't forget about philodendron for a very easy air filter plant.

Ask around, a lot of these plants propagate easily, so some of your friends and neighbors might give them to you. If you happened to be in my neighborhood, I would hook ya up! If you sent me a self addressed stamped padded envelope, I could send you a bunch of mother of thousands plants.

I don't think you can have too many houseplants, although people I've lived with tend to disagree!

The ones I'd never be without -

Aloe vera - my current one is over three years old, and pretty large. Grow it in a small pot for its size, keep it on the dry side, and it doesn't need as much light as you'd think - it will sunburn if you keep it in a very sunny window.

Ficus benjamina - fig tree - I have the variegated one, it really lights up a light corner, easy to keep at the size most convenient for you - just don't move it to a bigger pot!

Spider plant - variegated, best color when it's not in direct light, it loves to be shared, good air cleaner.

Sansieveria - mother-in-law plant - I have the tall one, very architectural, does well away from windows.

Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus - when the days start getting short, keep it on the dry side and in a cool window, and it will set flowers with abandon.

Jade plant - another one that's easy to keep the size you want.

All my house plants spend the summer outside on the north side of the house - no direct sun at all. Does them a world of good.

Aloe Vera
Echeverias- of various types, I just think they're awesome, and I can't grow them outside here. And they survive (even flower!) on my neglect
Maidenhair Fern- the echeverias don't survive in my bathroom as it gets too damp for them, but the fern seems to like it

I only have a few, a peace lily, one begonia. a night blooming cerius, a spider plant.... they all go out for the summer....my favorite that I don't send outside is my jade plant. For the longest time i tried to get it to grow upright and finally realized it was not that type of jade plant. I even dusted it for the photo

I've got a jade and a couple of little bushy succulents.

My problem is that in my solar heated residence, the only windows face precisely south so the plants on the windowsill get no direct sun at all from May through July or so, when the sun is high. Last summer I kept the jade outside but it seemed stressed with too much direct sun: the leaves were reddish with shriveled sections.

I'd love to have rosemary and aloe indoors but haven't managed to bring them here and keep them alive. Or they and their pots disappeared while I was away.

I love houseplants! I only have a few now, but they are aloe vera, maidenhair fern, umbrella plant (Schefflera arboricola I think), and a couple African violets. I have kept phaelenopsis orchids in the past. Oh, and I have a pineapple plant growing from a pineapple top I planted.

Reading the above posts makes me interested in polycultured houseplants now

I was once a produce manager and had an orange tree growing inside when I lived in Germany!

I am currently in a state of flux with my living situation but once settled I want to get one of the dancing plants.

I was very proud of that!

My favorite is Aloe Vera for a number of reasons. They look really good, require minimal care, and have tons of benefits. Beneficial for skin and can be used in a variety of other things as well. I have 3 aloe vera plants in my living room.

My recent purchase..

Actually just outside home to take some beautiful sunny days.

I was going to suggest new guinea impatients, Irene!  Ours blooms pretty much all year and it's gorgeous.

Thanks Jan, I will take seriously in consideration your suggestion!

Jan White wrote:I was going to suggest new guinea impatients, Irene!  Ours blooms pretty much all year and it's gorgeous.

I can only say what i "want" my favorite house plant to be. Peppercorn vine. Black pepper that goes next to salt. I am good at killing it. It eludes me.

My favorite currently is the curry leaf plant, which my south Indian housemate can use to great effect. This past spring after communicating with new friends online about sharing seeds and plants, they said they were going to a nursery in a city and would i like anything. I asked for aloe and curry leaf. The curry leaf was the most pathetic little thing when it arrived: it was one stem the size of a pencil, in 1 litre pot with a tap root sticking out the bottom and crawling horizontally, dried out and broken. The friend said it was in his hand baggage, and the minute the plane landed at 11,000 feet altitude and the doors opened, the curry leaf plant just shriveled up. That was April, this is August. It can't tolerate chilly weather like 10C, so I had it outside for the summer, took it in recently, and I hope my house won't be too chilly for it over the winter.

But I guess my favorite houseplant changes over time. I always get excited about a new one. Last year another friend brought me her 38 houseplants to take care of while she went away for the winter, and I got a little fed up, and decided to keep only a very few favorites instead of bazillions.

I have aloe Vera, Christmas/Thanksgiving cactus, pineapple top, orchid, spider and pothos. My favorite??? Anything that grows in spite of my neglect & abuse.

My cats are nuts and love to dig in the dirt, so any houseplant I have needs to be carefully protected. I just have one aloe vera, because I can't grow it outdoors, but I wish I could have more.

We don't have cats, just a puppy that used to bite any houseplants that he could reach.

He has finally grown out of that phase of puppyhood and one of the many plants that he tried to take bites out of flowered despite his best efforts.

Here's the no id epi that he bit, not once but twice.

I love all kinds of houseplants it's hard to single out my favorite.
Right now I have:
Snake plant
Peace Lily
Spider plant
Thanksgiving cactus
Cotton candy fern
African Violet
Dragon tree
Pothos
Walking iris
Kalanchoe
Aloe vera

For most plants I have 2-3 varieties and for each variety, multiple plants as the result of avid propagation.

Would love to see photos of everyone else's houseplants.

here are a few of mine.

Like May, I have multiples of many of the plants that have been propagated from leaf cuttings

Well, even though they tend to get a little rangy, I am most partial to scented begonias/pelargonium.  I love the scents!!!  I love to slide my fingers over a fuzzy little leaf as I go by, and get a hit of nutmeg, rose, or tangerine!!  I like that they are edible as well, though I have never used them yet in pound cakes or jellies, as the Victorians did.  It is interesting to see the range of plants people have loved; I guess we all love different plants,  for different reasons.  

My fav is the all green Spider Plant.

I feel the variegated one is more popular though ...

She must be my favorite, because she’s the only one I’ve named.  Meet Gloria (top pic).  She’s a little sad from a recent repotting, where I accidentally split her in two!  Oh well, now I have twins.

The next are ponytail palms.  But really, I have no true favorites- they all bring something to the party!

I don't go much for decorative plants but I have a very soft spot for the Chinese Lantern.
Someone up there is listening because I have never seen it around for 5 decades but
one day, there it was and it pops up occasionally on its own. But it isn't a house plant.

So that accolade goes to the "Mother-in-law's tongue" (Sansevieria trifasciata).

We have a few pots. I moved one into the kitchen. The gas stove is long retired.
And it died!.

So I tried another pot. It seemed promising. A few leaves withered but a couple
of new ones appeared. But it also died!

My collection of kalanchoe is growing steadily. They are colorful and start blooming in winter for months.  Last year I bought this one in fuchsia. It looked a bit artificial, maybe the blooms were forced with fertilizer. It has tripled in size and grown into a little flowering bush. I make my own potting mix with clay added so it is heavy enough to balance the weight of the plant.

Not gonna lie, it'd be the one I can keep alive the longest.     I hate that I have to admit that...  I love plants, (trying to) grow them, even caring for them.  But I can never seem to get it right.   I do love house plants, though.  --Tess