The Toughest Houseplants to Care For
The toughest houseplants are often the most common plants you see in stores and social media.
Some of these plants are plants that many people have in their homes, because they are common and easy to keep alive.
Wait!!! Did I just say “easy to keep alive”??
Isn’t this article about the toughest houseplants to keep alive? No, it’s not!
This article is about the toughest houseplants to maintain healthy. It doesn’t mean that these plants aren’t easy to grow. It means they are tough to keep healthy and beautiful.
With time I learned that very few things in life can be measured on an absolute scale, and that everything is relative to circumstances.
The same goes with plants.
This is my list of toughest houseplants, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful at growing any of these plants into beautiful and healthy species!
I live in a fairly dry environment, with long and cold, dry winters that force us to pump a lot of heat into our home, hence making it very dry! Humidity levels in our home can be anywhere between 35% and 40%, which is really low.
I mention this because with experience, I’ve learned that one of the main issues with maintaining and growing healthy and beautiful plants is the humidity level within the environments they are grown in.
There are tricks to increase humidity levels within your home and for your plants, however, it’s not the same as living in a highly humid environment, especially when dealing with tropical plants that are native to tropical rainforests.
One another aspect that works against me, when caring for plants that are prone to brown tips and crispy edges, is the quality of our tap water, which is really hard, due to the presence of limestone in our area!
My solution is to water all tropical plants and brown tips prone plants with distilled water. With these plants, I even use distilled water to mist them!
If your tap water is not as hard as mine, you can try filling your watering can with tap water the night before watering your toughest houseplants.
Properly watering plants is very important for the success of your species. For more information on watering plants, read my article on The 5 Foolproof Steps to Watering Plants.
I have owned all the plants listed in this article.
Even though I dropped a few, (I am looking at you Boston and Maidenhair Ferns!!), I still own the majority of them.
Some of them I’ve figured out, and I learned the best ways to keep them healthy and beautiful, (yes, I’ve got the Fiddle Leaf Fig under control!).
Some of them I am still struggling with, (Oh Maranta and Calathea…!!).
Let’s see what the struggles are and how they can be fixed with TLC, lots of patience and perseverance, and time!!!
1. prayer plant, (Maranta leuconeura)
To me, Marantas are among the toughest houseplants to keep beautiful.
The problem isn’t keeping them alive, or growing them; No! In-fact, they actually grow relatively fast into beautiful trailing plants.
The biggest problem with these plants is keeping their stunning leaves from crisping!!
(And trust me, I’ve tried really hard!!).
It hurts so bad looking at these incredible leaves crisping their edges!
These beautiful trailing plants are native to the Brazilian rainforests. As such, they enjoy high humidity, and moist soil. Not too soggy though! There is such a fine line between giving these plants enough humidity and too much water!!
I’ve tried placing a tray of pebbles with water underneath their pots to increase humidity levels to compensate for the dryness of our home.
I have been watering them with distilled water only, in order to mitigate the hardiness of our local tap water, and I have even been using distilled water to mist them twice a week!
Ever since I’ve tried all of these strategies, things have improved, but I still find the occasional crispy leaf! 😡
I truly believe these plants need to live in areas with high humidity.
If you live in a relatively or highly humid environment, I recommend you water them once the soil starts to dry on the surface, and mist them twice a week to keep their humidity levels up!
I highly recommend watering these plants with distilled water, in order to prevent the leaves from crisping.
Even though these plants can survive in low light conditions, they definitely thrive in bright, indirect light.
One of my two Lemon Lime Prayer Plants. This is one of the healthy stems I snipped off my original plant, (see next picture). It grew quickly and I seem to be able to contain the leaf damage to the oldest leaves.
This is how my Lemon Lime Maranta looked like before I got tired of looking at crispy leaves, and decided to cut off the healthy stems to start two new plants!
2. Boston Fern, (nephrolepis exaltata)
Boston Ferns are highly decorative plants and look great in many different settings, (if you can keep them alive of course!).
Boston Ferns, like many other Fern species, are simply the toughest houseplants to keep alive!
These plants thrive in humid environments and do well with moderate to low light conditions.
It is quite tricky to provide them with the humidity they need in heated homes that tend to be dry.
I’ve tried the trick of regularly misting them twice a week and to place them on trays of pebbles filled with water. I’ve never let the soil dry out in between waterings either.
On top of regular misting, watering and keeping the soil humid with pebble trays, I soaked the plant in water once a month for a thorough watering.
Nothing, I eventually lost my Fern, stem after stem.
It’s too bad, because Boston Ferns can grow quite big and, based on their size, can either be set on tables, plant stands or ceiling hung.
In addition to being beautiful hanging plants, Boston Ferns help remove formaldehyde and xylene from the air!
Photo Credit: Unknown Wong on Unsplash
As you can see, my Boston Fern in the back pot looks quite scrawny. I had been cutting one dead stem at a time, until none was left, and the whole plant gone!
3. Maidenhair fern, (Adiantum)
Like many other types of Ferns, the Maidenhair Fern is a highly decorative plant that adds charm to every environment is placed in.
But, also, like many other Ferns, one of the toughest houseplants to keep alive!
While this plant does really well in low natural light conditions, it requires a very humid environment to thrive.
The majority of Ferns do not grow well in dry areas, hence, growing this type of plant indoors requires more care and attention than other plants.
I did give this plant more care and attention than other plants, but I still couldn’t keep it alive!
Maidenhair Ferns enjoy humid and moist soil; they should be misted daily or placed on a water filled pebble tray.
I love ferns, especially the Plumosa or Asparagus Fern, however, I live in a very dry climate with very dry indoors conditions.
My only trick to grow ferns indoors is to place them in closed glass terrariums. Not only the composition is a beautiful living decor item for your home, it also provides the humid environment ferns love.
Once the sealed terrarium is assembled, the ferns, or any other plant inside, requires minimal watering. Read my article on Closed Terrarium for more details.
Photo Credit: Jude Beck on Unsplash
My Maidenhair Fern in the front surrendered to the same fate as my Boston Fern. One stem at a time!
4. Pinstripe Calathea, (calathea ornata)
There are many different species of Calatheas on the market these days and they are all incredibly beautiful. Some species are harder to find than others, but if you are lucky enough, you can find one at your local grocery store!
I have a few different types of Calatheas, but the Pinstripe Calathea is definitely one of the toughest houseplants I had to deal with!
Native to South America, these plants belong to the Maranta family, (it’s not a shocker they both made it into this list!).
I followed all the recommendations that are typically provided to grow this plant, and I am still struggling with it…
If you are like me, and are willing to give it a try anyway because it’s a beautiful and unique plant, here are the care tips;
These plants thrive in medium, to bright indirect light and high humidity conditions.
Like all other tropical plants, Calatheas soil needs to be moist but not too soggy.
Do not allow to dry through in between waterings. Water it once the surface soil starts to dry.
Place a tray of pebbles filled with water in order to provide the humidity this plant enjoys.
I recommend you water this plant with distilled water.
This is how my Pinstripe Calathea looked like when I first bought it. Beautiful and healthy!
This is how it looks like now. Brown and yellow tips, as well as crispy edges, even though I water it and mist it with distilled water. It sits on a tray filled with pebbles to help it keep its humidity levels higher.
Not much is helping this plant!
5. Echeverias
These types of succulents are definitely worth appearing on my list of the toughest houseplants to care for.
It’s really too bad, because to me, they are the most beautiful and elegant succulents.
Echeverias are incredible succulents and they appeal to so many people for their beauty. Their geometry, colours and flowers are fascinating and hypnotic.
I could spend hours combining Echeverias varieties and colours into compositions!
In my home, unfortunately, they go from beautiful geometric perfection, to tall and scrawny plants.
It’s not that they don’t grow; they do, but they grow kind of ugly and out of proportion.
Experts say that Echeverias need a lot of light to grow evenly. It may be the truth, but it didn’t work for me.
Like all succulents, they thrive in bright, light conditions. Echeverias, however, need to be exposed to a certain amount of direct sunlight.
Echeveria seem to thrive in areas that receive direct morning sunlight, (like South facing windows), avoiding those areas with scorching direct sunlight, (such as West facing windows).
Start by watering your succulent once every two weeks. If the plant does well on such schedule, keep going that way, otherwise, use your finger to test the soil.
If the top soil is dry to the touch, it’s time to water your Echeveria. Otherwise, wait.
It is important your Echeveria is planted in a draining pot with well draining cactus and succulent mix.
Photo Credit: Victoria Strukovskaya on Unsplash
This is my Echeveria. As you can see it has no problems growing! It sits in a very bright spot of our home, but It’s still growing tall and scrawny, and completely out of proportion!
6. peace lily
Peace Lilies are very common house and office plants, as they are easy to keep alive once you’ve provided them with the right conditions to thrive.
I consider this one of the toughest houseplants because, even though they are easy to keep alive, they are very prone to yellow and brown tips!
These plants do well in moderate to low light conditions. When they are exposed to more light they produce beautiful and specialized white hooded leaves. In darker areas the plant will continue to produce green leaves.
These plants should be watered once the leaves start to wilt. Watering on schedule doesn’t always work with these plants, in-fact, the most common mistake in caring for Peace Lilies is overwatering them.
They are actually drought resistant plants. The “wait until it droops” method does not damage the plant! Overwatering is damaging to these plants more than anything.
Since this is one of the plants that I’ve mastered, I can tell you that the best way to avoid brown tips is to water it exclusively with distilled water. (Remember this is my solution to the problem, as we have very hard tap water! You may simply need to let your tap water stand overnight before watering your Peace Lily).
Peace Lilies are air purifying plants, and help remove benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, xylene and trichloroethylene from the surrounding air.
They are considered great Feng Shui Plants, as they help correct energetic imbalances.
My Peace Lily with a limited amount of yellow tips.
Yellow and brown tips are typical of Peace Lilies. However, I’ve noticed that, since I changed the water to distilled water, the new leaves are so much healthier and with very limited yellow tips!
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7. african Mask, (alocasia amazonica)
By far, one of the toughest houseplants in our home!
The beauty of this plant it’s all leaves! And when the leaves crisp on you, it’s a heartbreaker!!
Its arrowhead shaped, leathery, thick leaf is clearly marked by bright green, almost silvery veins.
I bought this plant online. It came in the mail. Let’s be honest here; this is a pretty delicate plant to put through the darkness, and temperature fluctuations of traveling in a box for a few days.
I like to think I’ve been struggling with crispy edges because of its travels…So, I am giving myself time to let its leaves cycle through new ones, and get new leaves unfurl.
Once I get new leaves, I should be able to manage it with my humidity and misting strategies, as well as using exclusively distilled water!
There is quite a misconception when it comes to the origins of this plant; the Alocasia Amazonica is an hybrid plant. It was created in Florida in the 1950’s. Its parents however, originated in Asia.
The African Mask enjoys bright, indirect light, relatively high humidity, and moist soil. And here is the problem…
The fine balance between enough water but not too much!
And high humidity!
While it is important to keep decent levels of humidity, it is critical the soil is not too soggy to avoid root rot.
Water it when the surface soil starts to dry. Do not allow the soil to dry through in between waterings.
The best trick to maintain a good level of humidity for this plant is to place a tray of pebbles filled with water, making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the pot.
The beauty and perfection of my two new leaves.
The extensive damage of its old leaves.
8. air plants
More of these toughest houseplants…
Tillandsias, also known as Air Plants, are beautiful, sculptural and intriguing plants that make the most beautiful living decor objects for your spaces, whether it’s at home, at the office or even in a classroom.
There are a lot of misconceptions about these plants. They are not as easy to care for as most people think they are.
I’ve seen air plants sitting in water even is stores!
It’s important to know there are different types of Air Plants, and they do require different care!
I killed a couple by watering them the wrong way. Sometime it’s even hard to recognize if they are dead or alive!
Tillandsias are called Air Plants, because, differently from other plants, they get the majority of their nutrients from the air surrounding them. They don’t need soil to thrive; they only need a nicely ventilated area; abundant indirect sunlight and regular watering or misting, based on the temperature and humidity, (or the lack of thereof), of where you place your Air Plant.
Air Plants, like other epiphytes, use their roots only to anchor themselves to other plants or trees. For this reason, they can be gently trimmed when kept indoor. For more informations on the nature and care of Air Plants, I recommend you check out the Modern Air Plants website, where I got all the knowledge I needed to care for my two beautiful Air Plants.
Air Plants are easy to care for and are low maintenance once your learn the basics rule of thumbs to make them thrive:
1) place them in a well ventilated environment; avoid enclosed glass terrarium displays!
2) place them in bright, indirect sunlight and
3) provide proper watering and humidity. This is always the tricky part.
I used to give my Air Plants a bath to water them. I soaked them for an hour once a week.
They died!
While some Air Plants can be soaked in water as a method of watering them, not all varieties benefit from it.
In addition to that, I have very hard water, so bathing and misting them in hard water was actually damaging them!
Now, I only spray my Air Plants twice a week with distilled water. No soaking anymore.
I also make sure that once I spray them, I let them dry up upside down, so that all the water drips down and doesn’t get stuck in between their leaves, promoting rot!
Because Air Plants don’t need soil to thrive, you pretty much have endless design options to display them in your home. The flexibility of these plants gives you so many opportunities to unleash your creativity when decorating with Air Plants.
These are my two recent Air Plants I have been spraying with distilled water. I know they are healthy and alive, because they are still displaying beautiful and bright colours.
Air Plants can be displayed in so many ways around the home, as long as they are properly watered and ventilated.
9. Orchid
Even though I listed Orchids in my toughest houseplants article, I haven’t been struggling at all with mine…that’s because I learned how to care for it, even before I bought it!
I’ve always revered their beauty, and I shied away from buying them for many years with the fear of killing them. So, when I bought my first mini Orchid I was crazy prepared!
The trick is exclusively in watering them properly!
As the Peace Lily here above, Orchids are Feng Shui plants. They are known for boosting serenity and love. They are believed to improve relationships and as such, they should be placed in the Love and Marriage Area of your home.
(For more on Feng Shui Plants, click here).
These beautiful plants are relatively easy to keep alive and in bloom when properly cared for.
Even though Orchids thrive in high humidity, I managed to keep mine, not only alive, but blooming for over a year, without using any pebble trays filled with water, or misting them!
Thinking that Orchids need high humidity, I originally placed it in a closed glass container, but then I noticed the flowers were actually starting to grow mold on their petals, so I removed the lid and kept it open.
They should be watered in a slow and periodic way by simply adding an ice cube inside the plant pot every week. That’s all I do! I place one ice cube between its leaves once a week!
Orchids enjoy bright, indirect light.
For more information on Orchids, check out the just add ice orchids website!
This is my Mini Orchid second bloom, after the winter.
My Mini Orchid inside the glass jar I used to keep sealed with the lid.
10. Fiddle Leaf fig
Fiddle Leaf Figs are one of the toughest houseplants that everyone seems to want these days.
They are the plant of choice of many Interior Designers, as they adapt really well to many different styles of homes.
Fiddle Leaf Figs are easy to grow and care for once you find the perfect spot for them and refine their watering schedule.
I have had my Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree for 14 years. With time, I learned that it loves to face our South facing window and soak in the direct sunlight in the mornings.
I use to have my Fiddle Leaf Fig in a relatively bright area of our previous home, and I have seen its leaves dropping one after another. Even though I thought it was in a bright spot, it wan’t bright enough!
Fiddle Leaf Figs need a lot of bright light!
I water mine once a week and I add liquid fertilizer to its water from spring to fall.
Read my article on the Fiddle Leaf Fig to learn more abut this plant.
This is my healthy and lush Fiddle Leaf Fig.
This is when my Fiddle Leaf Fig was moved from our old home into the new home. Its yellow leaves were telling me it didn’t have enough bright light.
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