The most sustainable, simple, minimalist, and beautiful way to decorate your home is with houseplants.

Most home decorations must go to the trash (landfill) at the end of their lives. Potted plants can simply be composted (left to rot and return to the soil) at the end of their lives. The pot is usually recyclable or reusable.

They are alive

Houseplants are affordable, beautiful, and bring much-need life and oxygen to my indoor space. I find indoor plants so joy-inducing that I give and hope to receive them on birthdays and anniversaries rather than a bouquet of cut flowers. They are just as lovely, usually cheaper, and last much longer than cut flowers as they are actively growing. In feng shui decorating, live plants are preferred over dead cut flowers. While I don’t follow all the tenets of feng shui, I do like the idea of live plants gracing my home.

But What if you…

Don’t have a green thumb?
Want house plants but you basically want to ignore them?
Travel all the time and leave your plants alone for weeks?
You don't really want to spend much time learning about what your plants need?
Don’t want to feel like a farmer-biologist, constantly studying your plants and experimenting with humidity levels, root aeration, fertilizer, and macronutrients?

I got you.

I'm in the same boat. I love having plants in my house. I love the sense of nature brought indoors. I have my own little jungle in my living room. But I just want to set them on the shelf, offer a few encouraging words, and then get busy doing other things with my life. I have plenty going on in terms of taking care of myself, my family, and a thousand other things. I don’t need my plants to be needy. I need hard to kill plants.

So I tested out a bunch of plants, and these are the ones that have survived my neglect. In fact, the plants below all thrive on neglect. I’ve personally owned these hardy indoor plants in multiple countries and climates. As a nomad, I’ve decorated homes all over the world with the following species of houseplants. I often forget to water these plants, usually don’t mess with plant food or fertilizer, sometimes leave them alone in a dark room, and ultimately, all is forgiven. Of course, it is possible to kill these plants, it’s just really hard. Give them some water every week or two, and they’ll live for a long time.

Get Your Jungle on Amazon

In 2024, we’re in a new era with houseplants. It’s never been easier to get your hands on a certain species of plant, thanks to the internet and a very fast shipping process (in the US) that (usually) doesn’t kill the plants being shipped. Most of these plants can even be ordered on Amazon, and I’ve added some affiliate links where I could find options there that look healthy.

Top 5 Hard to Kill Housplants: The List

Here are my top five picks for hard to kill houseplants.

The ZZ Plant

Zamioculcas zamiifolio - also known as Zanzibar gem or, understandably, as the zz plant. I've owned this plant in multiple countries. It survives all sort of climates, even if you leave the windows open and let the the exterior climate come into the house (which I rarely do).

I gifted a zz plant to my grandfather, who is a trained Master Gardener. He had never heard of it, which is surprising, considering his Master Gardener status. I was delighted that he had not heard of it. It means there is so much biodiversity out there, that you could be discovering new plants well into your eighties, even if you were to study them for your whole life. Which you're not going to do, because of my above point about this list being for people who don’t necessarily want to study plants for their whole lives.

By the way, some of my research for this post comes from the book Urban Botanics, a beautifully illustrated guide by Maaike Koster and Emily Sibley. (In case you want to study plants after all.)

2. Pothos

Pothos gives, and gives, and gives, and takes very little. Pothos is actually a misnomer for this plant. It’s more accurately called “devil’s ivy” (because, spookily, it grows in the dark) or its scientific name Epipremnun Aureum, but it’s widely known also as pothos. It communicates its needs and is easy to make amends with. All it needs is a half cup of water every week or so. If you forget and leave it dry for a month, it droops a little. And then it revives within a few hours of a sincere apology (am I the only one who talks to my plants?) and a cup of water. I particularly love the bright, almost neon yellow varietal.

Propogation: If you decide you want baby pothos, you can simply tear off a tendril and stick it in some water until it grows roots.

3. Snake plant

I'm terrified of snakes, but I've overcome my fear to host the snake plant. There are no actual snakes involved. The sharp edges of the snake plant provide a nice contrast when paired with the other plants listed here.

4. Spider plant

The Spider Plant: again, don't let this plant's namesake scare you off. When it gets bigger, it grows cute little baby “spiders” that can each become their own plant.

5. Monstera Deliciosa

Finally, we have another plant with a frightening namesake. The monstera deliciosa will take over your house by reaching out its roots and shoots into the air. It will try to rest one claw on your shoulder like a slow-moving bright green monster. This plant has earned a cute nickname — the swiss cheese plant — due to the “holeyness” of it leaves. Of the five plants on this list, this is the one that most benefits from a bit of plant food once in a while. Here’s a fertilizer that will also help your snake plants and pothos thrive.

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