Sept. 29 Column: The Five Easiest Houseplants To Grow

Now that we’re all transitioning to indoor pursuits, I thought it would be timely to focus on some of the easiest houseplants to grow. For this week’s column, I interviewed Spokane County Master Gardener Rhonda Elliott because she knows houseplants! Here’s a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Houseplants need right amount of water, light to flourish.

Rhonda shared some great, straightforward tips on how to be successful at growing houseplants so I’m sure everyone will be interested to read those. To be honest, I seem to have varying degrees of success with my houseplants. Why?

I think one of the biggest challenges is selecting plants that will grow well under certain conditions and figuring out exactly how often they want to be watered! But Rhonda says the plants will adapt to a weekly watering schedule… and I’m starting to notice that’s the case.

Oftentimes, “outdoor” gardeners find it easier to grow plants because they know those plants will get water and sunlight on a daily basis. Switching to indoor gardening is challenging for me because I have to remember to water them each week, rather than letting our outdoor irrigation to do its thing!

Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy my column. I did take photos of the five houseplants Rhonda recommended and they are at the bottom of this post, so be sure to take a look.

For this week’s “Everyone Can Grow a Garden” video, I focused on when and how to harvest your winter squash and pumpkins, and how to make them last longer than you thought possible with one easy, extra step!

(video)

 

Above left: Pothos. Above right: Rubber plant close-up.

 

Above left: Snake plant (Sanseveria). Above right: Spider plant.

Above: So many colorful options for African Violets!

I want to thank Stephanie O’Byrne, greenhouse manager at Manito Park, for allowing us to take photos for this article there. Such a beautiful place! If you look at the photo on the upper left of this post, that’s Spokesman-Review staff photographer, Dan Pelle, getting the best shot of Rhonda Elliott and the plants she has recommended. Thanks, Dan!