House plants took over my world (and by that I mean my home) about 7 years ago and I have never looked back. They are fun, fulfilling and make your home feel happier and healthier (they purify the air!). Which is why out of all the hobbies we chat about on here we’re starting with house plants as our first in the hobby guide for adults series.
We’re going to talk about everything I wish I knew before bringing home my first indoor plant. We will talk about supplies, the easiest plants, how to get started and so much more. This is going to be a fun guide filled with lots of helpful info so make sure to bookmark this to scroll before going to a local plant nursery to get your first plant baby!!
We will chat about the best plants for beginners, what supplies you need, how can you get started growing plants?, and so much more too.
So let’s get into it so you can start your plant parenthood journey-
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Hobby Guide for Adults: Getting Into House Plants!
How to start a house plant hobby:
We are breaking this down into a ton of different categories so make sure to keep reading and scrolling to ensure you get all the info on starting to grow house plants as a super fun hobby in your life! Let’s get into it-
Why are house plants a great hobby?
Let’s talk about the top reasons in my experience and opinion but that are backed by basically every plant lover I have ever met-
Reason 1: they create a fulfilling part of every day.
This may sound silly but hear me out guys! The feeling of getting up in the morning, pouring your cup of coffee, and strolling over to your house plants to search for new leaves can’t be beat. It’s amazing to see what you can grow and the connection with nature is something most of us are lacking in our day to day life.
Reason 2: they are good for your home and health.
There are a ton of house plants (including snake plants!) that purify your air. Yeah that’s right- they not only look gorgeous and are so fun to care for but ALSO plants actually help to make your air healthier. They are also the most stunning decor in the world. And nothing impresses like having a house filled with plants that YOU keep alive and thriving.
Reason 3: it’s the Self-Care You Can See
Tending to your houseplants is like a visual version of taking care of yourself!! When your plants are thriving, it’s often because you are thriving. They’re a mirror of your effort, consistency and care that I hope you also give at least a sliver of to yourself 🙂
Which plants should I start with?
This is a huge part of success when you are starting to get into plants!
There are some super challenging plants you may have heard of (like fiddle leaf figs) and we will get more into those in a bit but first it’s so much more fun to start with easier plants that can thrive while you learn how to care for them.
The easiest plants to start growing indoors-
- Pothos: don’t let anyone tell you to start with succulents (They are soooo dramatic about watering) instead please start with a pothos. They are gorgeous. They are incredibly easy. And they will get you addicted to plants!!
- Philodendron: often confused with pothos because their leaves are not only similar in some varieties to pothos varieties but also like their doppelgängers they also are super easy to grow and keep alive. Also the easiest plants to propagate when you’re ready for that portion of the plant parent journey.
- Snake Plant: a go to for a good reason! They don’t require much light, don’t mind if you forget to water them, and actually adjust pretty well to climate changes around them.
- Monstera: the hardest of these 5 plants I guess but still a very easy and manageable beginner plant but also the most stunning and obsession worthy on this list.
- ZZ plant: I joke that a zz plant needs an hour of light and an ice cube each month to stay alive- while that’s a dramatization they seriously are amazingly easy and with the right attention they turn into 4 foot gorgeous plants that you will be in live with.
There are also so many varieties of pothos and philodendrons that you will never get bored with them! In general though a quick google search of a cool plant you see at a local nursery will give you a good idea of how challenging a plant is. Really if you see a ton of steps and hints for keeping it alive then it’s probably best to continue on to an easier plant.
In this pic you can see pothos plants in the front, the darker trailing one in the back is a philodendron and in the back top corner is my zz plant which is somehow now triple that size?!
What supplies are needed?
Alright the less fun part- getting all the necessary supplies.
You are going to need:
- Plant pots-
- Ones with drainage holes (aka a hole drilled into the bottom of the pot) is essential for like 90% of plants AKA don’t bother getting pots without drainage.
- Natural materials (clays, terracotta, etc) are the best, plastic ones will mold and rust eventually and don’t drain as well for the plants sake. Plus let’s be real, they are way cuter 🙂
- Get ones that are about 1 to 2 inches wider than the nursery pot that the plant came in.
- Soil-
- Generic house plant soil will get the job done! Overcomplicating soil needs is something you will see a lot in the plant world and for the majority of us just enjoying plants don’t need fancy homemade mixtures.
- Shears-
- A simple pair of gardening/plant shears is necessary for cutting off any damaged/dead leaves that are sucking up nutrients on your plant.
- Watering can-
- I recommend starting with a 50 ounce watering can. But make sure that isn’t too heavy for you to carry around 🙂
- Saucers-
- If your plant pot doesn’t come a saucer (a tray that goes under then pot to catch the water) then go grab enough of them for each plant in need. Trust me, if you don’t have saucers you will quickly have a mess of water, damaged furniture and dirt EVERYWHERE. Plus they are really affordable too.
Optional supplies IMO:
- Fertilizer-
- Until you are comfy with just keeping your plants alive I don’t believe fertilizing is necessary also because over fertilizing will fry and kill your plants! But if you are ready for it then do your research please and then go for it!!
- Spray bottle-
- I find that spray bottles not only help with misting plants but also wetting soil easily when you are planting them in their pots. Totally not required for plant growing but can be super helpful.
- Plant stands-
- As you grow in this super fun hobby you will probably run out of space which is where plant stands come in! They allow you to grow a bunch of plants in a much smaller space.
Who is a bad candidate for a plant parent hobby?
There are some situations that may make you a worse candidate than others for growing plants as a hobby, let’s chat about them:
- If you travel a lot- you absolutely can travel and have plants BUT you gotta be realistic about it. Do you travel 2-3 days a week for work? No problem TBH. Do you take a few week long vacations throughout the year? No biggie! But if you either travel majority of days in the week OR for 2+ weeks at a time without anyone to care for your plants then this probably just isn’t the right hobby for you but fear not there are so many others that will work with your lifestyle.
- If you have cats- keeping unsafe plants out of dogs reach is easy but cats are a totally different story. I do however have friends who just have a plant room that the cats aren’t allowed in so if that is an option for your space you can have the best of both worlds with adventurous cats and plants too.
- If you don’t have space for them- this one sucks but if you are in a life situation where you don’t have space for them or a consistent space (think like a dorm room) where you would have to move them soon then wait to start this hobby until you have the space and the stability to watch your plants not just stay alive but thrive!
House plants to avoid:
So we talked before about my favorite plants for new plant parents to get into but I think it’s necessary to give you a heads up about some plants that are dramatic and challenging to grow for anyone especially if you are new to the plant world.
Challenging plants I would avoid at first-
- Calethas: So pretty yet soooo dramatic. It’s taken 4 attempts for me to keep a caletha alive and that is pretty much the story of every plant parent. Ignore their beautiful leaves and opt for an easier plant.
- Fiddle leaf fig: probably the most infamous house plant! Fiddle leafs are stunning and guaranteed to impress HOWEVER they are picky about their light needs, prone to root rot and hate being moved. They will also probably die if you go on vacation. Basically they are big babies so skip them for now.
- Alocasia: these are one that personally I adore BUT they hate a little over watering and a little under watering so you will have to perfect your watering techniques. But opt for a philodendron instead guys.
- Croton: again, don’t let the colors distract you and trick you into getting an advanced level plant. Crotons are drama queens and hate everything in my experience!
How do I get started?
The steps to start are both very basic but also overwhelming and I get that! So stay patient with yourself and don’t let yourself be freaked or discouraged by dropping leaves or yellowing edges.
Anyway let’s get into the steps to start having a house plant hobby-
Step 1: Ensure you have all the correct supplies (see above!) and the plant (or plantS) you are starting with. Remember to keep track of the name of your plant because if you lose it then it could be hard to identify to research needs in the future (like for propagation, pests, re-potting etc). And trust me it’s possible to swear you’ll remember its name until it’s a year later and you’re frantically trying to reverse image search the plant on google. LOL totally not speaking from experience over here 😉
Step 2: Potting the plants-
Chances are the plants you got from a nursery or other store came in a plastic little pot. And that pot is not going to let the roots thrive so we gotta pot it into a real pot.
Using basic potting soil you can fill the new pot up with the soil and then dig a hole in the middle so the bottom part of the stems are right at the top of the soil and the roots are all tucked into the soil.
Be gentle with the plants but also don’t be afraid, most plants are dramatic but they aren’t that fragile. Remember, they all naturally grow on our planet somewhere and have survived against natural disasters and invasive species and diseases so you yanking a little to get the plant out of it’s nursery pot isn’t going to be the end of the world for it!
Step 3: Find the right place-
The right location is something that is generally not given enough effort and attention by plant lovers especially those of us new to this life!
The location of your plant can make or break its ability to not just stay alive but also to thrive into the gorgeous plant you are hoping it will become.
So let’s talk about a few key points when it comes finding the best places for growing plants in your home-
- Natural light is key so the first priority when finding a place in your home to grow plants. Majority of plants prefer “bright indirect light” which means they need to be in a room with windows but if they are completely open with nothing blocking them (including trees or a sheer curtain) that can be too much sun for most plants because they appreciate a little shade. But at the end of the day this isn’t hard- add sheer curtains OR just place your plants a couple feet from a window.
- Humidity can be iffy. Some plants love it, others hate it and many are relatively neutral. So avoiding a humid place in your home is generally the way to go.
- Plants hate changes so off limits are: right in front of or under fans, air vents, near a freezer, door to the outside and anywhere else in your home where the temperature changes or air blow on the plan.
Step 4: Watering routine-
I recommend for all beginners to get a moisture reader so you can start to build an understanding of what each different plants water needs are. The moisture reader will tell you if the soil is between “dry” to “moist” to “wet” (or some variation of those words). And in general you want to let most plants sit around moist but allow them to get to “dry” at least once a month to avoid root rot.
Once you get an idea of how quickly your plant leaves moist or wet and gets to dry you can start to calculate how often you need to water it. A common rule of thumbs while you’re learning your plants is every 5-8 days during spring and summer and every 14ish days in the fall and winter.
Step 5: Keeping them alive-
This step is obvious but it’s also the hardest part lol! A watering routine is a huge part of keeping your plants not just alive but also thriving however, it is far from the only thing. So let’s talk about my top tips for keeping plants alive now:
- Listen to your plants
- If your plant is dropping leaves, leaves are turning colors (occasionally is fine and part of life cycles), or the leaves are feeling soft and looking droopy then they are telling you something.
- Brown edges usually means your plants getting too much light.
- Drooping plants usually means they are lacking nutrients and need fertilizer and water.
- Leaves dropping off can mean a lot of things but generally look for signs on the leaf that it was either too thirsty or over watered (mushy brown roots and stems are the telltale sign of root rot).
- Don’t be afraid of them
- Chop off dying leaves!! If you don’t then that leaf that is already a lost cause is still going to be pulling nutrients from healthy leaves that could use them.
- Rotate your plants- don’t be scared to disturb them because if you don’t rotate the plant it will exclusively grow out towards the light source causing it to be unbalanced and put too much strain on the plants.
Where can I learn even more??
Well lucky for you this start to my hobby guide series is my personal favorite hobby… so much so that I launched a full site about house plants (and gardening!) and everything that I have learned along the way. Which many, MANY years into this journey is a lot.
That site is talkplanttome.com and if you are interested in learning more about the joys, challenges and tips of growing plants in your home then go check that out next and make sure to follow along over there 🙂
And that is all for now my friends! I hope this guide was helpful and inspiring and motivated you to join me in this wonderful and fulfilling hobby of plant parenthood. Stay tuned as we continue this hobby guide series and talk more about hobbies in general.
I am the biggest fan of adults having hobbies because our world is crazy and they can keep us grounded in reality. And for a lot of other reasons of course but this is going to be a helpful and hopefully inspiring series so make sure to follow along!
Korra-Shay
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