dearJulius.com

12 Houseplants You Should Avoid


By Luke Miller, The Family Handyman

The selection of houseplants today is almost as impressive as the many benefits of having them in your home. Some options are better than others, though, so you might want to avoid houseplants that are finicky, prone to problems, cause allergies or could injure children or pets.

Read More: 5 Easy Tips for Repotting Your Favorite Plants

Fussy Orchids

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Finicky houseplants are those that just aren’t suited to the conditions at hand. Think of a tropical plant that doesn’t like the dry air in your house or one that is overly sensitive to cold drafts. Orchid is a good example. Phalaenopsis orchids are considered the easiest—and they’re likely to hold on if you give them any amount of attention—but getting them to rebloom can be a problem. They’re very particular about lighting and drainage, so you may be able to keep orchids alive, but it will take extra effort to get them to rebloom.

Demanding Miniature Rose

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Miniature rose is another example of a plant that can be finicky. It looks beautiful when you bring it home from the store, but after the blooms drop, it can be an ordeal keeping the foliage looking healthy. And hopes for reblooming fade in direct proportion to the amount of light the plant gets. Miniature rose wants 6 hours of sunlight, but there aren’t many indoor locations short of a greenhouse that offer that amount of light.

Balky Boston Fern

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Boston fern is not necessarily hard to grow, but it is hard to keep in good shape. Sensitive to lighting, it’s not uncommon to see some of Boston fern’s fronds shrivel up and the rootball dry out if watering is forgotten. Once the spent fronds are removed, the plant’s handsome shape suffers. Before you know it, you’ve got a sad sack plant to hide in the corner whenever company is expected.

Challenging Calathea

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Pin-stripe calathea is a lovely foliage plant with distinctive markings. Trouble is, it is sensitive to cool and dry conditions—which happen to be prevalent in many homes in winter. A warm, humid environment and bright, indirect light will help keep the foliage looking good—but it also needs evenly moist soil and regular fertilizer. In short, there are easier houseplants to grow.

Tropical Banana Plant

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Banana plant is a great houseplant to grow—if you have a warm and humid greenhouse attached to the house. It needs full sunlight and 50 percent humidity to look its best. While those conditions are common outdoors in the tropics, they’re not easily recreated by homeowners with arid, heated indoor air in winter.

Read More: 6 Houseplant Mistakes to Avoid This Winter

Outdoorsy Basil

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Basil, as any cook worth their salt will tell you, is a fabulous plant to have around. Pick it from the garden in summer or from a pot sheltered from frost in fall. But in winter, you’ll have more success buying it at the grocery store. Basil needs at least 6 hours of direct sunlight—tough to come by indoors in winter—to grow efficiently. You might get some to hang on for a while, but don’t expect much growth.

Flowering Maple

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Flowering maple, or abutilon, makes an attractive outdoor plant with its maple-like leaves and mallow-like flowers. A tender shrub, hardy in Zones 9–10, it is sometimes kept as a houseplant in other climates. While it doesn’t need a lot of light or water indoors in winter, it is tough to keep blooming indoors and it tends to get buggy. Whiteflies, spider mites, mealybugs and scale are some of the pests that commonly attack flowering maple.

Better-Outside Begonias

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Rex begonias are grown for their attractive foliage. Although not hard to grow outdoors in the right conditions, indoors they often look as if they’ve been put through the mill, with tattered foliage and brown margins. In winter, they also like it on the cool side—around 60 degrees F.—which is usually too cool for people and pets.

Fussy Streptocarpus

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Streptocarpus is a popular houseplant, valued for its textured leaves and bright blooms. But it’s a bit finicky when it comes to moisture and people often push it to the edge by overwatering the plant, not giving it proper drainage, or a combination of the two. Some varieties experience annual leaf die-back, where leaves turn brown. The plants are also often attacked by mealbugs.

Read More: Tips on Caring for Houseplants in the Winter

Prickly Plants

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Sharp, pointy or prickly plants are a no-no when you have toddlers. They can easily injury themselves when exploring their surroundings. Even older kids can get injured if they’re playing or roughhousing near plants such as cacti. It’s best to avoid those plants or keep them in a separate room where they won’t pose a danger to youngsters.

Poisonous Plants

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

Speaking of dangers, you’ll want to avoid poisonous plants. Some are a danger to children, others to pets. While many poisonous plants are naturally bitter and not likely to be ingested in quantity, there’s no need to take chances. Some common examples include: philodendron, pothos, oleander, dieffenbachia and Easter lily (shown).

Outdoor Plants Overwintered Indoors

Ⓒ Provided by The Family Handyman

It’s a great idea to save plants with special significance or to get a head start on the growing season. And if you have a special room where you can overwinter your indoor plants, all the better. But frankly the plants will be on life support during that time—missing the outdoor conditions to which they were accustomed—and therefore not looking all that good. Keep them alive, by all means. But don’t expect they’re going to be worthy of your coffee table.

Read More: The Best Plants to Purify the Air in Your Home

See more at The Family Handyman

|Featured Content_$type=three$c=3$l=0$m=0$s=hide$rm=0


A Part of Julius LLC
Made with in NYC by Julius Choudhury
Name

Accessories,19,Advice,2,Backyard,4,Bathroom,42,Cakes,54,Celebrity,17,Celebs,1,Christmas,34,Cleaning Tips,199,Cooking,7,Creative Idea,13,Creative Ideas,62,Decor,20,Decorating Ideas,201,Did you know?,5,DIY,144,DIY Fashion,24,Education,3,Family,28,Farming,1,Fashion,57,Fashion for Kids,2,Fashion for Man,12,Fashion for Woman,30,Featured,75,Features,222,Festivals,1,Food,35,Food and Drink,10,Gardening,406,Gratitude,1,Green Living,4,Grooming,5,Hairstyle,12,Halloween,31,Happiness,13,Health,14,home,28,Home & Garden,13,Home and Decor,606,Home Improvement,6,Horoscopes,2,Housekeeper,8,Houseplants,23,How To,29,Indoor Gardening,74,Inspiration,66,Kids & Pets,9,Kitchen,73,Kitchen Tips,15,Laundry,8,Legal Advice,12,Life Hacks,445,Lifestyle,82,Makeup & Beauty,11,Mind,3,Money,2,Motivation,1,New Year Fashion,6,outdoor,4,Painting,17,Parenting,395,Pets,57,Recipe,8,Relationship,7,Self-Care,8,Shopping,11,Technology,12,Thanksgiving,5,Tips,27,Travel,5,Trends,7,Weddings,38,Wellness,4,Women Lifestyle,22,
ltr
item
Lifestyle Magazine: 12 Houseplants You Should Avoid
12 Houseplants You Should Avoid
Avoid houseplants that are fussy, prone to issues, trigger allergies, or potentially hurt kids or pets.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja0_kKnltPGLRtEEzq2WKej2eXEPnONDWVuddp-4kNhIicCkHH0bBYhG-Osnt9SfOiPMnYPcnSGCnJ_rVX4_cIv1mlkzrcijPAFySHB3BXkGzOIB_by2w5Y7td5fKBLt4rJZue6BKc1x0BYxGWyEtCuc2_J0RVSDOsxe3RO1S-0lq-L4jBljLEw-huCw/s16000/houseplants.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja0_kKnltPGLRtEEzq2WKej2eXEPnONDWVuddp-4kNhIicCkHH0bBYhG-Osnt9SfOiPMnYPcnSGCnJ_rVX4_cIv1mlkzrcijPAFySHB3BXkGzOIB_by2w5Y7td5fKBLt4rJZue6BKc1x0BYxGWyEtCuc2_J0RVSDOsxe3RO1S-0lq-L4jBljLEw-huCw/s72-c/houseplants.jpg
Lifestyle Magazine
https://lifestyle.dearjulius.com/2022/11/12-houseplants-you-should-avoid.html
https://lifestyle.dearjulius.com/
https://lifestyle.dearjulius.com/
https://lifestyle.dearjulius.com/2022/11/12-houseplants-you-should-avoid.html
true
8488952299782896134
UTF-8
Loaded All Posts Not found any posts VIEW ALL Read More Reply Cancel reply Delete By Home PAGES POSTS View All RECOMMENDED FOR YOU LABEL ARCHIVE SEARCH ALL POSTS Not found any post match with your request Back Home Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat January February March April May June July August September October November December Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec just now 1 minute ago $$1$$ minutes ago 1 hour ago $$1$$ hours ago Yesterday $$1$$ days ago $$1$$ weeks ago more than 5 weeks ago Followers Follow THIS PREMIUM CONTENT IS LOCKED STEP 1: Share to a social network STEP 2: Click the link on your social network Copy All Code Select All Code All codes were copied to your clipboard Can not copy the codes / texts, please press [CTRL]+[C] (or CMD+C with Mac) to copy Table of Content