To want a houseplants that just bloody lives

I have an Orchid and a mini money tree, both have lived for 5 years. I forget to water plants and these often go a month without water and seem to thrive.

My daughter spotted a spider plant in school.
And as usual it's up to me to take care of it.
The advice was to put it in a warm.place and water once a week.
Well I'm sick of being the one who has to take care of all the plants/ pets.
So I thought we'll get rid of this one quick.
I put it on the coldest room in the house the conservatory and have been neglecting it on purpose. Maybe watering it once a month.
It seems to be thriving.

My snake plant is doing ok. I killed a peace lily, and a spider plant.

You have to get to know them a little bit. 'Following the instructions' isn't a way to keep anything alive. Imagine if our parents had 'followed the instructions' raising us

I go for a benign slight neglect, which seems to work for most plants. They'll tell you when they're thirsty by looking a bit limp and faded. They'll tell you if you've overwatered them by going yellow. They like consistancy, so moving them about is a bit of a no-no. And they don't like drafts, so windows aren't very good for a lot of them.

It's usually the watering that kills them though. The schedule will change with the season; just like us, they get thirstier and their soil dries out when the weather is warm, so 'half a glass of water, once a week' isn't going to cut it. Not all the time, anyway.

I would repot all your plant after buying and make sure there is plenty of grit mixed it to the potting mixture for drainage.

Then water much less frequently than you think you need to.

Yes please, give it another go!
Easiest are spiderplants. They store water in their roots, so they don't need regular watering. Water needs to go somewhere, so I always use planting pots with holes (might sound weird but my sister didn't like the look of those, discarded them, planted plants in full soil and afterwards was disappointed that every plant had root rot.)

This is a plant you can actually play with a lot. See if it does well on the wardrobe for about a week and if you see the colour "fade", this is not the right spot. I dunk them in a bucket of water, wait for about 15 minutes and then let the excess water leak out, before putting them back in their "outside" nice pot.

I honestly do this with many of the plants I have, because I'm afraid of giving them too much water otherwise . Also, misting works wonders on a regular basis, the leaves of your plants stay free of dust and can get their share of sunlight .

I'm wondering if there are plant shelters in the UK. Some cities around here have shelters where unwanted/near dead plants get nursed back to their full potential and some are given away, or can be bought at a very low price. Might be a way to cover the costs? Or swap with friends

Elm, based in Norwich. I’ve bought devils ivy, Philodendron and Cissus striata for myself and also as gifts. All have been well-packed and great quality.

I'm looking to buy house plants online. Any recommendations?

I also have a house full of plants.

Orchids I do very well with, they thrive on decent light and benign neglect. Kitchen windowsill is full of them.

Loads of different things doing well - particular successes, in different parts of the house, are Calatheas (particularly Medallion), Pilea, Dracaena, a lovely Sansevieria Black Dragon. Have just bought a huge Philodendron, which I am hoping I won't kill, and a small-ish Monstera that I'm hoping will grow at the rates others speak of.

Have lovely trailing Satin Pothos which seems bombproof, and a fabulous Hoya that I am sure was mis-priced in garden centre as it is enormous and cost me £10. A single strand of it seems to cost more than that elsewhere.

My failures ...

Ferns I don't do so well with - although the blue star fern that I repotted in to orchid bark on Saturday seems to have notably perked up already, I think the poor thing was choking in the proper soil it came in.

The Maidenhair seems to be irredeemably fried. Not an expensive plant though, so I'll try again.

Callisia Rosato - so pretty I've tried it twice. Second one died as quickly and comprehensively as the first. Not sure what I'm doing wrong with that, they don't last long enough to tinker.

My current main fight is with an Alocasia Zebrina, which came beautifully healthy but seems determined to die. I love it, so I am determined it won't. Alocasias are drama queens apparently, so am hoping once it gets to spring and he's got over his travels, he might thrive. My previous Alocasia Polly has never given me a minute's worry though.

Only success I've had with houseplants is to water weekly, regardless of what they are, and use babybio in the water. Unfortunately, I am a bit ditzy and keeping it up is difficult. I literally had to make it part of my routine and force myself to do it and it worked. Plants were lovely. Then I moved house and killed them all 'cos my routine was out (I am about 2 years old, I think!). So I now just have fake plants. You really can't tell till you're close. Much easier.

Maybe you'd do better with the help of a plant app? You give in the info once, and then the app send you a notification on the day you best water it. Very handy!

I can absolutely recommend a sansevieria - I bought mine at Easter last year and it's still alive which is an achievement, I can tell you. I think I've watered it twice in that time so it clearly thrives on neglect, especially as it's in a North facing room.

Worst plant purchase ever was a Shameplant - you know the ones that curl up when you touch them? Maybe I poked it too much but it curled up and, despite being offered its choice of direct light/indirect light/shade/dappled light reflected from a Louis VI mirror/tap water/mineral water/sauvignon blanc that had been filtered through crystals, it still died. Bastard thing

My auntie once told me to only water an orchid once roots go white. Hardly ever.
Great thread for me as I'm on the lookout for new plants.

I am you.

A cast iron plant is the only thing I managed to keep alive for years and it is thriving. Literally bred to survive dark, dank Victorian corridors and they look great! I ignore it until it gets droopy and then water. I've now branched out to a boston fern and a Chinese money tree (specifically chose ones that are hard to kill). Some tips:

• Plants are more likely to die from overwatering than underwatering

• If you live in a hard water area, use filtered water or rain water

• Not a tip, but some plants are just bad quality to begin with

I also have an aversion to plastic plants (allergic to dust, and they just seem to attract it).

I’m currently killing a weeping fig! Keeps dropping it’s leaves and will shortly be naked. And all new shoots turn brown and die. I’ve tried ignoring and feeding. I read online they are actually quite tricky and get shocked pretty easily.

I seem to be alright with orchids, I’ve had the oldest years I mostly ignore them, although occasionally tell them how pretty their flowers are

I actually thought my mum (a frequent visitor) was watering them behind my back but she’s not been in for the best part of the year and they’re still going strong. It must be the location I moved them to a different window and a leaf went black basically overnight so I put them back and stopped touching!

They are called Patrick and Diego btw 😁

@Purplerayhan J ust seen north facing room on a line of cupboards....cactus will hate it there - they need light.

Aspidistra might go there you need to look for plants that like shady rooms. www.houseofplants.co.uk/houseplants-for-dark-and-shade.php

I too have a peace Lily that survives anything and a 5 foot parlour palm and a 4 foot dragon tree in the bedroom. I put these in the shower once a fortnight to water them and wheel then into the sunlight now and then...

Can't keep a Boston fern alive though- dunno why.

Apparently Jade plant and Mother in Laws Tongue are very easy to grow. I heard it on a gardening show.

I love house plants and have loads. Agree with PPs that you're probably overwatering. I neglect mine shamefully!

Snake plants are indestructible so is my zz plant.