Your Healthy Houseplant Checklist

Healthy green plants add a refreshing organic touch to any room and help boost your home’s air quality. Whether you’re a houseplant newbie or have tried to keep houseplants happy with mixed results in the past and want to do better, this guide is a good place to begin.

You don’t need many supplies to start growing houseplants, but having the right tools will ensure that your work is more pleasant and effective. Let’s get started.

1. Light Conditions

If you’re just getting started with houseplants, it can be tempting to run out and grab the coolest-looking plants, put them in pots and call it a day. But to ensure that your plants have long, happy lives, it’s essential to choose your plants with care — and that means getting the right plant for the light conditions in your home.

This can (and often does) vary from room to room, so decide where you want to put your plants before choosing specific varieties.

Not sure what the light conditions are in your space? Take a moment to notice the spot (or spots) you’re thinking of putting a plant in the morning, at midday and in the later afternoon: When does the sun hit it? Also note whether the light is direct (the sun is shining right through the window onto the spot) or indirect (the room is bright, but the sun isn’t coming straight through the window).

Write this information down and bring it with you to a local nursery, where the staff can help you select plants that will thrive in your home.

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2. Container Options

Pot with drainage holes plus saucer. The classic option. When the pot is watered, the excess drains away from the roots and collects in the saucer below.

Cachepot. Any planter not designed to hold a plant directly, usually because the container isn’t watertight or it doesn’t allow for drainage. To use a cachepot, keep your plant in the plastic pot it came in and simply place it inside the cachepot with a saucer.

Hanging planter. A pot made for hanging, usually with included ropes and hardware. Hanging glass planters are intended for air plants (Tillandsia) only and do not require soil.

Plant stand. Some pots are designed with their own stand incorporated, while other plant stands are made to hold an assortment of pots. Plant stands can help potted plants get more natural light and may make it easier to water them (if there’s less bending over, for example).

3. Container Size

Your houseplants need enough room for their roots to sit comfortably within their pots. If you will be planting directly in the pot, choose one a few inches larger than the size of the pot your plant came in. When you settle your plant into its new home, you will need that extra room to add some potting soil.

If you choose a cachepot, you can opt for a snugger fit — just be sure that the cachepot is deep enough so that the plastic pot your plant came in sits below rim level.

Since skipping the transplanting step means that your plant won’t be able to benefit from the nutrients in fresh potting soil, it may be smart to plan to transplant at some point in the future, if only to a larger plastic pot and cachepot pair.

4. Gardening Gloves

If you’d prefer to garden without gloves, by all means hop to it. But if you’d like to keep your fingernails clean, a simple pair of gardening gloves is a worthy investment. Look for a pair that fits snugly and allows you to feel what you’re doing: Ultrathick leather gloves are good for working with thorny plants, otherwise they’re not necessary.

5. Pebbles or Other Pot Fillers

Including a layer of pebbles, bark or even broken pottery at the bottom of your pot can help promote proper drainage and prevent your plant’s roots from sitting in standing water.

Pot-filling materials also can come in handy when you have a tall pot that is too deep for your plant — layering the bottom with pebbles will prevent your pot from becoming top-heavy and possibly tipping over.

6. Potting Soil

A high-quality potting mix is worth every penny — this is what will help feed your new houseplant and keep it healthy. Specific species of plants, like orchids, cactuses or succulents, do best with a specialized potting mix, so pick your mix once you have specific plants in mind.

7. Trowel

You can use an old measuring cup (or even your hands) as a soil scoop, but it’s still helpful to have a basic trowel in your kit as well. Use this go-to gardening tool for scooping or patting down soil as well as loosening a plant from its pot when it’s time to transplant.

8. Watering Can

Those great big watering cans with a round rosette do an admirable job of soaking potted plants on the patio, but for indoor watering, you need something with greater precision. The best watering can for the job when it comes to houseplants is one with a long, narrow spout, similar to the one shown here.

Just as a kettle with a long spout makes it easier to brew pour-over coffee, this type of watering can make it much easier to water small potted plants without splashing water on your floors.

9. Sharp Scissors

To keep your houseplants looking fresh and healthy, it’s helpful to occasionally trim off dead and dying leaves and spent blooms. A dedicated pair of sharp scissors or shears is the best tool for trimming your plants without damaging them.

Since cutting your plant can introduce bacteria and disease, it’s especially important to keep your pruning tool clean — an easy way to disinfect between uses is by swiping it with a disposable bleach wipe.

10. Potting Zone

Whether it’s the corner of the kitchen, mudroom or garage, having a spot set aside for houseplant care will make it easier to stay organized and find what you need quickly and easily.

Put away potting soil, gardening gloves, tools, spare saucers and pots in cupboards, or stash these items in a basket or plastic bin.

If you can do repotting and other messy work outdoors on a patio or balcony, that will make cleanup easier — but if that’s not an option, just keep some old newspapers or a reusable, wipeable tablecloth at hand to cover your work surface.

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This article via Houzz does not constitute advice; readers should seek independent and personalised counsel from a trusted adviser that specialises in property, a tax accountant and property design specialist.