BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Houseplants What is your favorite houseplant, and why?

I like the rubber trees - I can grow them!!

My grandmother had houseplants all over. The best ones were the spider plants! They were always multiplying.

I think everyone likes rubber trees. Spider plants are cool because there are always more to pass around, but I have the hardest time keeping the leaf tips from turning brown. I need to be pickier about the water I give them, I think!

I used to have tons of plants, but found that I was neglecting them due to time constraints. I found good homes for the ones I decided to let go. The favourites of the ones I have left are the african violet that my daughter gave to me a few years ago and the orange tree that I planted from a seed many years ago. I have been wanting to go on a trip to Africa forever, but simply can't afford it & when my daughter gave the african violet to me she said that was the closest she could get to sending me there herself.

Hope you like it here Lisa. I dropped by 6 years ago and decided to stay.

My husband bought me an orchid for our anniversary 3 years ago and to my surprise, it's done really and blooms every year! I thought they were hard to take care of but this one has been great.

Usually I like simple or even silk-lol.

Thanks for the welcome, Mavis! I'm a bird owner, myself, so I will have to drop by your forum. That is a very sweet story attached to your African Violet.

Green1...I have had the same experience with my orchids. The flowers I get on them myself are twice as impressive as the ones they had when I first got them! lol! They really aren't so difficult.

My mom has a tremendous green thumb. I think one of her favorites must her rabbit's-foot fern that must be 40 or 50 years old; she got it from a great-aunt about 30 years ago. The "rabbit's-foot" part of the plant has grown to completely cover the basket it was planted in. She has vines, and hibiscuses, and christmas cacti. Spider plants are very cool because they are one of the most efficient air cleaners of the houseplant world. She did very well with African Violets (I think some of that had to do with the pots) until they all got something and died. She must have had 30 plants die of a mold or a mite or something.

Myself, well.... I have a black thumb. My husband will water things, so I'm hoping to get some patio tomatoes working this summer, even if they don't really count as houseplants.

My mom had a philadendra for years and took with us whenever we moved. Later In the 70's houseplants were all the rage. My favorites were always spider plants. I tried a Boston fern but they always died. My favorite name is the mother-in-laws tongue.

I have a jade plant that was part of a dish garden I received as a gift when my 3rd child was born. The rest of the plants eventually died but I have always kept at least a cutting from the jade plant with me during the past 27 years and 2 moves. The current plant is about 1.5 feet tall and I just love it. When I moved from NJ to MO I took just a small leaf from the original plant and planted it when we arrived here. It's definitely the houseplant I've had the most success keeping alive!

Helen, my jade plants are outside right now. I guess I will have to put them indoors in the winter. What part of Missouri are you in?