My Top 5 Impossible to Kill Houseplants and How to Care For Them
Not long ago I wrote an article on The 10 Best Low Maintenance Indoor Plants.
It has been read by over 60,000 people, and it’s one of my most successful articles.
So why writing another article with half the plants?
Because while that article listed the best low maintenance plants, this article only lists the impossible to kill plants, which is quite different!!
So basically, if you were to ask me; “Hey Cecilia, out of those 10 plants, what are the easiest ones?”, I’d give you this list, (except that in this article there is a new plant I never included in The 10 Best Low Maintenance Indoor Plants…🤫).
If you are new to plants, if you are convinced to be a black thumb, if you are away from home for long periods of time, and if you have a crazy busy lifestyle with very little time to care for plants, these are the plants for you!!
Enjoy!
1. African Milk tree, (euphorbia Trigona)
Nothings says “I love you” like an African Milk Cactus, (or tree), the name is interchangeable.
Why do I say that?
Because my very romantic, engineer husband gifted me this amazing plant for Valentine’s Day the first year we moved in together 17 years ago!
That’s right! Nothing better than a prickly plant to say “I love you!” 😂
And that’s right!
17 years!!!
My African Milk Tree is 17 years old!
The great thing about this plant is that it grows quite slow indoors, which means you don’t need to repot it for a very looooong time!
It is interesting to know that despite its name, this plant is a succulent and not a cactus.
Needless to say, the African Milk Tree needs very little watering. I only water mine once a month.
I keep it inside winter and summer as I want to avoid drafts, drastic changes in temperature, and especially pests!
Like the majority of succulents, this plant thrives in very bright, indirect light areas.
However, what is important to know about this succulent, is that it does not do well in direct sunlight.
The African Milk Tree enjoys dry environments but does quite well in the average home conditions.
Fertilize it with liquid plant food once a month in Spring and Summer.
This plant is toxic to both humans and pets, so be careful on where you place it if you kids and pets!
Other than that, it’s pretty much impossible to kill it!
This is one of my two African Milk Trees. I like to keep it in this stair landing that would otherwise be an empty and un-used space.
2. Ponytail Palm, (beaucarnea recurvata)
The Ponytail Palm is another favourite in our home.
We actually have two of these impossible to kill plants because they are not only extremely easy to care for, but they are incredibly amazing at filling up any empty corners of your home!
I have a 17 and a 10 years old Ponytail Palm! (Age should be an indicator of how hardy these plants are!!).
Despite its name, the Ponytail Palm is not a true palm. It actually belongs to the agave family and has succulent like needs.
It thrives in bright, indirect light environments. Its leaves can scorch in direct sunlight exposure.
As far as humidity goes, this is a very adaptable plant, (no surprise here!), and does well in any home condition.
The Ponytail Palm is a drought tolerant plant and it’s quite forgiving if you forget to water it every two to three weeks….If anything, this plant suffers more when over-watered than under-watered.
Read my article on the Ponytail Palm for more details on this wonderful plant!
This is my 10 years old Ponytail Palm. Not so bad for an oldie, isn’t it?
3. ZZ Plant, (zamioculcas zamiifolia)
The ZZ Plant, also known as the Zanzibar Gem, is another oldie in our home!
It’s now 13 years old.
I love it so much that I wrote two articles about this plant:
One describing the 6 Reasons why you should have a ZZ Plant, and the other one is about my personal experience dividing, (propagating) and repotting my giant 13 years old ZZ Plant. I highly recommend you read these articles if you have one of these plants, or if you are considering getting one, because you shouldn’t even think about it twice!
This plant is a no-brainer!
It’s beautiful and exotic looking, it’s incredibly easy to care for and it’s an excellent air purifier!
The ZZ Plant is one of those plants that actually doees well in darker rooms. However, it thrives in medium to bright, indirect light conditions, as long as there is no direct sunlight exposure.
This plant is adaptable to any home humidity.
It doesn’t require too much watering as it stores a fair amount of water in its fleshy stems. I water mine every two weeks, but it can go even three to four weeks without watering.
The only downside of this plant is that it’s toxic to humans and pets.
(Let me be clear here; when I say toxic I mean it can be poisonous if ingested. Breathing near this plant is actually great because it cleans the air from toxins!!).
This is my 13 years old ZZ Plant before I divided it and repotted it.
Believe it or not, I got 4 other plants out of this big mama ZZ!!
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4. Snake Plant, (Dracaena trifasciata)
The Snake Plant, also known as the Mother in Law Tongue, is one of the most known impossible to kill houseplants.
There are many different varieties of Snake Plants, some more common than others and easier to find, and some easier than others to care for.
The most common one is the Laurentii variety, which is the typical yellow and green tall, striped Snake Plant. You see them in every mall and airport for their ease of maintenance and their tolerance to low light conditions.
No matter the variety of Snake Plant, they are all succulents and they are exceptional air purifying plants to have in your home!
The beautiful thing about Snake Plants is that, not only there are many varieties to suit everyone’s different personal taste, but they come in different sizes!
Different varieties and different sizes allow people to have plants with very similar needs that look different in different areas of their homes!
Snake Plants are very adaptable and they can thrive in bright, indirect light areas, as well as in areas with moderate light conditions.
They require very little watering; it is actually important to let their soil dry out between waterings. I water mine every two to three weeks.
They adapt to any humidity condition your home may have.
The only negative aspect about Snake Plants is their toxicity if ingested by humans and pets.
Read my article on the Snake Plant to learn more about this succulent.
This is a Dracaena Silver Queen.
Fernwood Sansevieria.
Bird’s Nest Sansevieria (Sansevieria Hahnii)
5. Marble Queen Pothos, (Epipremnum aureum)
The Marble Queen Pothos is not only an impossible to kill plant, it’s a stunning plant, with beautiful leaves!
Why am I so specific with my choice of Pothos and I listed a Marble Queen instead of a more common Golden Pothos?
Because I don’t have a Golden Pothos!
I’ve never been fascinated by them and I never bought one.
I only have a Marble Queen Pothos. The only reason why I have it, is because it was the plant I picked among the few options that were given when I took a Kokedama course.
I truly believe the Marble Queen Pothos is a hardy plant because in the span of two years it went from being stuck inside a moss ball, to two different pots and drastically pruned and propagated without suffering even one bit!
Don’t believe be? Check out the photographic documentary below!!
Anyway, the Marble Queen Pothos does well in moderate to bright light conditions, but it definitely thrives in bright, indirect light conditions.
I saw the difference in its foliage colours and variegation when I moved it from a medium light to a bright light spot.
The leaves went from mildly variegated with yellow and pale green tones to stark contrasts of deep green and bright white.
This plant is very forgiving when it comes to humidity levels and it really adapts to any home condition.
I water mine once a week but it doesn’t seem to mind if I am gone for two weeks and I skip one watering.
I fertilize it every second watering from Spring to Fall with a liquid plant food.
Its stems grow quite fast and it is a good idea to prune them off in early spring to encourage new growth.
I pruned a long stem of my Pothos and I divided it into 4 stems I rooted in water.
The plant grew so many new stems in place of the one long stem I cut off.
I suggest you read more about the advantages of pruning indoor plants. It’s unbelievable what plants can do when they get a trim!
(And you get to root the cuttings too!)
This is how my Marble Queen Pothos looked like when I first took it home inside a Kokedama Moss Ball
After only a few months, (and not that much space for its roots to grow), the Pothos has grown long stems.
A couple of years and two repotting later, the Pothos has grown a couple very long stems, one in particular that I decided to prune.
This is the one long stem I pruned off the Pothos and divided into 4 cutting to root in water.
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Thank you so much for this article. My home receives very little light and after reading this article, l believe l have options now. Question, are ivy plants hardy and impossible to kill? I really like the plant but don’t know if their good to grow in low light conditions…Natalie
Thank you so much for the feedback Natalie!
As far as Ivies goes, it really depends on which Ivy you are referring to; a Devil’s Ivy, (Pothos) is a great, hardy plant, ideal for your environment. However, an English Ivy is not as hardy, and I don’t recommend it as an “impossible to kill Plant”.