Nature and Gardening

It sounds like you want a pothos! Golden pothos is the most easily available, but it also comes in other fun colors that are a bit rarer (like neon green or white/green variegated). It doesn't need a lot of light or water and grows vigorously.

I'm not a fan of succulents as "beginner" plants, since they require SO much light. It's a lot easier to give a plant more water than more light.

Other plants you might try are snake plant, ZZ plant, spider plant, or a hoya.

Be aware that many houseplants are mildly toxic to pets, so keep them out of reach.

I would recommend spider plants! They are extremely easy to grow and care for, they tolerate many different soil types and moisture levels, and they spread quickly so you can get a whole bunch of baby ones to keep your collection growing. And an added bonus, they are one of the best plants for air purification!

• 'ZZ' plant
• Snake Plant / mother-in-law-tongue plant
• Dracaena(sp?)

I have had these growing indoors in poor light conditions, rarely watered, for YEARS and they do well.

Seconding pothos and snake plants. I started with a single 4" pot of pothos a few years ago and through sticking cuttings in dirt I've got about 10 or 12 pots now. One of them extends across the windows in 3 rooms and is threatening to eat the entire downstairs.

Snake plants are apparently impossible to kill, even if you forget to water them for weeks.

If you eat avocados you can just start burying all the pits in a pot of dirt, keep it watered, and some of them will sprout. Or the next time you have a carrot or potato or onion start to sprout, bury is and you will have free greenery for a while.

I'm seconding the snake plant and spider plant recommendation! There's lots of snake plant varieties, so try getting the ones that catch your eye :D As for succulents, you'll have to research depending on the type of succulent. I know that popular social media has put out this misconception that succulents are set and forget plants but anyone who has tried to raise any amount of them would be able to tell you otherwise! Underwatering, overwatering, sunlight exposure amount (especially going to be a problem depending on how much light your apartment gets), etc, there's a lot to mess up and different varieties are more demanding. Succs can be really fussy sometimes.

Adding to many other great suggestions already, but check out the Syngonium family. They'll often be referred to as an Arrowhead Plant. They are very forgiving, can be found in a TON of gorgeous varieties, and are often pretty inexpensive.

Succulents are a great choice, very much a "less is more'' kind of plant in terms of effort. Also anything bamboo-adjacent, like money trees (I actually have no idea if they're related or not). They do very well in low-light situations, so you could place them opposite a window year-round. Hell, they don't even need soil.

Aloe. The easiest. Can forget to water it for weeks. Doesn't need a large amount of light. And it is a useful crop.

I love peperomia. There are 1000s of species/varieties with different growth habits and so far all the ones I've brought home are doing well. Most are succulents or succulent-like.

This one is a Happy Bean Peperomia (Peperomia ferreyrae) ___

orchids thrive on neglect

In addition to already excellent suggestions I'd throw in Ficus benjamina as well. Not the variegated type, the regular one because the variegated one needs tad more light. Once it gets growing it's fairly tough and forgiving. Easy to propagate from branches too.

Whatever plants you end up going with, I'd heartily recommend getting some LED grow lights for supplemental light! I live in an apartment that gets trash window light, but all my houseplants are looking vibrant and healthy (my spider plant bloomed for the first time!) Since getting them. From research I landed on basically anything with a full spectrum white Samsung LED panel, they're reliable and efficient without being too expensive. As far as plants go, I currently have 2 ZZ plants, a couple of pothos, a spider plant, a peace lilly, a Christmas cactus, and a ponytail palm that are all thriving, so I agree with what a lot of others are saying in terms of plant selection. Best of luck with everything!

My first were, golden pothos, spider plant, and snake plant. All very easy low maintenance. All bright indirect light, water when the top inch or two of soil is dry.

+1 for Bromeliads; Tillandsia has some very nice individuals that have low light requirements for those of us with highly variable sun due to northern climates. If your indoors stays relatively warm in the winter I'd expect they would do well for you.

Bromeliads are another easy suggestion!