Best house plants UK: brighten your home with these great indoor plants
Add a dash of green to your surroundings with these indoor plants
As you'll probably know from Instagram, glossy magazines or your local hipster cafe, house plants are firmly in fashion but what are the best house plants for you?
Plants look good, obviously, but they also bring other benefits. Certain types of plants can even improve the air quality in your home.
UPDATE:If having house plants has gotten you excited about outdoor gardening, then you need to head to our best garden tools guide. In it you will find everything from sprinklers to smart lights to make your garden look cool, even at night. There are also a whole bunch of garden gadgets in there to get rid of those pesky weeds.
For the more green-thumbed, this is very good news. But for people who can pretty much kill a plant just by looking at it, it can be somewhat more frustrating.
But whether you're an expert gardener or you need something very low-maintenance that won't mind a bit of neglect, there's a house plant out there for you.
From the low-effort spider plant to the super-cool monstera, we've got the lowdown on the best house plants you can buy – and how to care for them.
For the green fingered out there, here are the best cordless lawnmowers we've tested.
Best houseplants to brighten your home
Easy to care for, the Sansevieria Laurentii is a striking plant that won't take too much of your time. Water regularly to ensure the plant is hydrated – though it's important to note it does like to be slightly dry, so don't do it too often. Keep it in a light, airy room, and be sure not to put it in direct sunlight. This is a fantastic air purifier, so might work well in a bedroom.
With its Mickey Mouse-like ears, the prickly pear cactus is certainly eye-catching. Good for dry and low humidity homes, and able to thrive in sunlight, it only needs watering once the top inch of soil is dry. In the autumn and winter, this amounts to one water about every month – so it's almost impossible to kill through neglect.
There's a reason the spider plant is a classic new home gift – not only are they cute, they're super easy to look after. Spider plants tend to survive even lengthy amounts of time unwatered, so no need to worry if you skip your watering routine for a few days.
You can also take clippings from the plant to create new pots or to give to friends.
Also known as the 'sweetheart vine', the Ceropegia woodii has lovely, heart-shaped leaves. Again, it's pretty easy to look after: don't water too much and allow the soil to dry out between watering sessions, keep in indirect light and feed with half strength fertiliser once a month in spring and summer. Simple.
The monstera - or Swiss cheese plant - is incredibly distinctive and incredibly stylish (and thus incredibly Instagrammable). It's a little bit more difficult to care for, so it might be one for a novice rather than a beginner gardener.Iit also needs some space to grow.
Terrariums look fantastic and are fairly easy to care for; this collection from Waitrose Garden is a great place to start. Keep the soil moist but don't over-water.
The desert candle is not, as you might expect, a cactus – it's actually a succulent. A hugely striking plant, it requires almost no maintenance and can be kept without much watering or fussing at all. Just keep it on a window sill and go!
If you're really serious about tending to your plants, you might want a little more help. This sweet guide, written by houseplant enthusiast and journalist Alice Vincent, will tell you all you need to know about keeping your plants not just alive but thriving.
