Going Green: 4 Easy Houseplants and How to Help Them Thrive

Tips to Keep Your Houseplants Alive & Thriving

Potting

I normally grow my houseplants in terra cotta pots with a bigger terra cotta saucer underneath. Not everyone might agree with this, but I think houseplants grow better in clay pots versus plastic. However, most people are using it more for decoration than trying to grow something for forty years—so there’s the aesthetics people consider when potting their houseplant—I get that! Also, a good general rule is this: the bigger the pot, the bigger the plant will grow—especially when it comes to the Boston Fern. 

Placement in Your Home

In general, west-facing windows tend to work very well at this latitude (Missouri), especially during the winter. A north-facing window doesn’t get enough sun, and a south-facing window—if you have a lot of sunny days and the plant is not a light-loving plant—can scald it. That being said, west or east windows are good, but west windows are my preference. Regarding African Violets, in particular, these plants take a little more light than most people think; so for me they do well in a west window. If you place them in a north window, they will probably be fine—they just won’t be as robust.

It’s also probably best that your houseplants don’t sit right next to vents. However, there’s a balance between the perfect place to grow a plant and where I want it aesthetically. It’s a bit of give and take. Sometimes you just can’t put the plant in the perfect spot because it’s a high-traffic area or it just doesn’t look right. 

Indoor/Outdoor Plants

We keep our Boston Fern outside until the first risk of frost, then I bring it in. In our Midwest humidity, ferns really thrive outside in the summertime, and they do like that bit of additional light. I grow it in the shade of a tree or on a porch under the eaves—not in direct sunlight—but it does like the extra light, and it goes crazy in the humidity.

Our succulents go outside from April to October, as well. Once outside, we keep the succulents in full sun, and they love it. That being said, they also require more water during the summer when they’re out in the sun. If we’re going to be gone for the weekend, we do move them to the shade.

Watering

In my opinion, watering is the art of growing houseplants because it’s easy to overwater or underwater. Over time, you will learn learn how much the plant will take and how much it will use. What I’ve found is that the best way to water your houseplants is to let the soil dry out so it feels a little bit dry to the touch and then completely saturate the soil—but not to the point of having standing water. The plants like to go dry, not to the point of wilting, but just to the point that the soil is dried out.

It’s also helpful to get on a watering schedule. For me, I water twice a week: Wednesday and the weekend. I pay attention to how much I water during those two times. If I water mid-week, then I water enough so the soil is dry by Saturday when I water it again. It took time to observe the plant and discover how much water I really need to give it. It also may vary season to season when daylight is shorter or longer. For example, the plant might take less water in February than in the Spring or Fall.

For the Boston Fern, I water the top of the soil and fill up the dish to allow the plant soak up the water. The new shoots like to be moist.

For the African Violet, I simply water the saucer and let the plant soak up the water from the bottom.

Succulents don’t really take a whole lot of water, so I water them once a week or a little bit twice a week. I let the soil get dry, but with succulents I water a little less than saturation. They also take direct sunlight, so if you want something in a south-facing window, that’s where I would put succulents.

Fertilization

It’s important to fertilize your plants, and the easiest way to do it is to add fertilizer to your water. I really like Schultz Plant Food. It’s liquid and comes with an eye dropper, which makes it easy to shoot an eyedropper full into your watering can. I don’t add fertilizer every time I water, but every third or fourth time I’ll put some in there. If you ever see your plant turning yellow, it’s a good indicator that it is not being fertilized.

Pruning

A common misperception among people who aren not used to caring for plants is that once the plants look like they’re dying, they should just be tossed. People are often afraid or timid when it comes to pruning their houseplants. But if you want them to look good, you have to keep pruning them. And while pruning any plant can be intimidating, you simply need to know where the growing point is and just make sure you don’t prune that off. 

For African Violets, as the leaves wilt, they’ll tend to wilt at the bottom and you can simply pull them off or cut them off from the bottom. Sometimes, plants wilt or die and it’s not because of whether you cared for it well or not. For example, several years ago, I noticed all the leaves were stunted and deformed on several of my African Violets. At first, I thought it was a virus. After looking it up online, it turned out to be a mite infestation. I started using two different miticides, and eventually the plants began to grow back. The one we have today is a survivor of that mite infestation. Sometimes, though, the health of the plant is just out of your control.

Regarding the Boston Fern, you want to cut out the dead and dying fronds. Because those will get old, turn yellow, and drop leaves—so you want to go ahead and cut them off. 

Turning

The secret to growing a perfectly round plant? Simply turn it a quarter turn once a week. That way the whole plant shares in the sunlight. If you never turn your plant, they’ll start to grow toward the sunlight.