Some indoor plants wither the moment you turn your back; others shrug off drought, darkness and even ‘watering’ by cats. Here’s how to choose the most hardy specimens. Plus, readers celebrate the greenery that survived against all the odds
There is a good reason that we treat certain houseplants as the green wallpaper of our homes: the odd splash of water and they seem to rub along fine. These are the species that have proved, over many decades, that they are best adapted to surviving in a vast range of situations. Unfortunately, familiarity breeds contempt, so many of us dismiss snake plants, spider plants, Swiss cheese plants and dragon trees as uninspiring and basic, even though they are the species that are likely to thrive, whatever the conditions.
The key to making “bog standard” houseplants look good is to display them in an atypical way: an oversized trough of snake plants rather than a few leaves in a lonely pot; the silhouette of a mass of plain green spider plants in a huge hanging basket instead of a spindly cream-striped specimen on a shelf; or a forest of dragon trees in a huge barrel planter. If you love flowers, moth orchids (Phalaenopsis) are a great choice as they are incredibly tough, and unfazed by the centrally heated air of our homes. Again, think about innovative ways of presenting them: they can look amazing massed in a single container.
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