Types of Houseplants & How to Care for Them

The houseplants we grow in UK homes tend to fall into a handful of familiar groups: leafy foliage plants, trailing and climbing plants, tree-like statement plants, ferns and palms, succulents and cacti, flowering plants, plus bromeliads and carnivorous plants.

These groups are a useful starting point, but they only tell you so much. Two plants can look remarkably similar while having completely different ideas about light, watering and humidity. To make things a little easier, we’ve put 56 popular houseplants side by side in the table below, so you can compare their care requirements at a glance.

Every value in the table comes from our own published care guides, with each plant name linking through to its full guide. If a care guide doesn’t provide a specific figure, we’ve left it as ‘not specified’ rather than filling in the gaps with a guess.

Houseplant Types Compared

Use the table to shortlist plants for the spot you have. Light is the one to match first, because it is the hardest thing to change in a room. Watering is written as the depth of dry mix to feel for before you water again.

The Main Types of Houseplants

Foliage Houseplants

Foliage plants are grown for their leaves rather than their flowers, and they make up most of what people mean by a houseplant. Many of the popular ones are aroids, such as Monstera, Philodendron, Alocasia and Aglaonema. As a group they want bright, indirect light and watering once the top few centimetres of mix have dried. The differences show up in humidity: a ZZ plant is comfortable at 40 to 50%, while a foliage Anthurium or a nerve plant wants 60% or more.

Trailing and Climbing Houseplants

Trailing plants such as pothos, Scindapsus, Tradescantia and string of hearts suit shelves and hanging pots, and pothos and Scindapsus will also climb a moss pole if you give them one. String of hearts is the odd one out here. It stores water, so it wants the mix to dry right through, where pothos only needs the top 5 to 7.5 cm to dry.

Tree-like and Architectural Houseplants

These are the floor-standing plants that anchor a room: Ficus, Dracaena, Yucca, the money tree and the snake plant. Light is what separates them. A bird of paradise and a banana plant both want several hours of direct sun, so a north-facing room will not suit them. A snake plant, by contrast, will put up with low light.

Ferns and Palms

Ferns such as the Boston fern want mix that stays evenly moist and humidity of 60% or more, which makes a bright bathroom or kitchen a better home than a dry living room. The parlour palm is more forgiving and is happy to be watered once the top of the mix is dry, as long as it never dries out completely.

Succulents and Cacti

Succulents and desert cacti want the brightest, sunniest spot you have and a mix that dries out completely between waterings. Jungle cacti break that rule. The Christmas cactus grows on trees in the wild, so it wants bright, indirect light and watering when the top 2 to 3 cm is dry.

Flowering Houseplants

African violets, jasmine, the Siam tulip, the lipstick plant and the goldfish plant all flower indoors given bright, indirect light. Several of them also want more humidity than an average home offers, so check the table before you pick a spot.

Bromeliads, Air Plants and Carnivorous Plants

These plants are watered differently from everything else. Bromeliads such as Vriesea hold water in a central cup, air plants are soaked roughly once a fortnight, and pitcher plants want mix that stays consistently moist and humidity of 50 to 70%.

What Are the Most Common Houseplants?

Ten houseplants you will find in many UK homes are the Swiss cheese plant, pothos, the snake plant, the ZZ plant, the spider plant, the peace lily, the rubber plant and other Ficus, the Chinese money plant, string of hearts and the Christmas cactus. All ten are in the table above with their care needs. If you want a shortlist of forgiving plants, start with our easy care houseplants.

Which Houseplants Cope With Low Light?

No houseplant grows well in the dark, but our guides list several that tolerate lower light:

• ZZ plant: copes with low light, although it does best in bright, indirect light.
• Snake plant: tolerates low light; bright, indirect light is ideal.
• Pothos: tolerates low light, but variegated forms may lose some of their colour.
• Peace lily: tolerates low light.
• Spider plant: copes with lower light.
• Philodendron, Aglaonema and strawberry begonia: all tolerate lower light.

For more options for darker rooms, browse our low light houseplants. Water less often in a darker spot, because the mix will take longer to dry.

Which Houseplants Are Safe for Cats and Dogs?

This is where the type of plant tells you very little, so check each plant individually. Our care guides describe these as pet-friendly or non-toxic:

• Peperomia
• Calathea
• Most Hoya species
• String of hearts, which our guide describes as generally considered non-toxic
• Christmas cactus
• Siam tulip
• Maranta

Which Houseplants Need High Humidity?

Most homes sit somewhere around 40 to 60% humidity. These plants want more than that, according to our guides:

• 60 to 80%: Foliage Anthurium and arrowhead plant
• 60% or more: Boston fern, nerve plant, goldfish plant and pepper plant
• 50 to 70%: Lipstick plant, bromeliads and pitcher plants

Grouping these plants together, or keeping them in a bright bathroom, helps raise the humidity around them.

How to Choose the Right Type of Houseplant

1. Start with the light. Stand where the plant will go at midday. A south-facing sill suits succulents and cacti. Most foliage and trailing plants want bright, indirect light, and only a few cope with a dim corner.
2. Be honest about watering. If you often forget, choose a plant that likes to dry out, such as a snake plant, ZZ plant or jade plant. If you like a routine, ferns and pitcher plants will reward it.
3. Check humidity and pets. Use the lists above before you buy.
4. Read the full guide. Each plant in the table links to its care guide, which covers feeding, repotting and common problems.

A moisture meter takes the guesswork out of the watering column, and our step-by-step guide to bringing a new plant home covers the first few weeks.

Where to Start

If you want a plant that forgives mistakes, begin with a ZZ plant, a variegated spider plant or a golden pothos. For something that flowers as well, the Diamond peace lily tolerates lower light and has variegated leaves. You can browse every type we stock in all houseplants. All plants are shipped directly from our nursery to your door, and every dispatch is protected by our live arrival guarantee.