These four house plants are not only some of my favourites, they are also some of the easiest to care for. Oxalis Triangularis, Pilea Peperomioides, Maranta Leconeura and Monstera Deliciosa are the first four I have illustrated and form a small collection including a set of cards (one of each design) or individual prints, available via my Etsy shop here. I thought you might like to hear a bit more about these beautiful house plants and why I love them so much!
1. Oxalis Triangularis
(Purple Shamrock)
The beautiful Oxalis Triangularis have wonderfully delicate purple leaves which fan out and open during the day, then close up folding neatly down at night. Easy to look after, these lovely plants like bright indirect light, although as long as it is regularly watered ours is happy in a window for most of the year (I just move it when the sun is really strong in summer). Each winter the plant tends to droop and quite a few leaves die off, but every spring they come back with new growth from in the soil and look wonderfully full again. I also recently found out that their pretty little mauve flowers are edible, so you can even add them to cakes or salad for an extra delicate decoration (it’s also always nice to know when you have a small boy pottering around).
A few years ago I had seen an Oxalis Triangularis online and really wanted, but at the time they were almost impossible to track down. I put it on my birthday list and my parents actually ordered me some seeds (they look like tiny funny shaped brown little bulbs) from abroad, China I think. I wasn’t sure they would grow as they came in some questionable looking packaging and didn’t cost very much, but they did and they’ve been thriving ever since! I have even managed to divide up my Oxalis plant to give to friends and family. It has such a beautiful deep purple colour which really compliments the greens of other plans and I can highly recommend it as a really lovely and low maintenance house plant.
2. Pilea Peperomioides
(Chinese Money Plant)
This might be my favourite house plant, it was certainly one of the first I owned and I just think they have such a wonderful little personality! Pilea Peperomioides is also known as the Chinese money plant and is said to bring good luck, money and prosperity (I’m sure ours is coming soon…). These are a fairly quick growing plant and don’t take up too much space if you don’t want them to, they grow upwards and new leaves appear to shoot out of the top of the plant.
I can’t for the life of me remember where I got mine from, which is frustrating as I did remember a few weeks ago after trying to recall for ages, but now I’ve forgotten again! Wherever it was from it’s a wonderful plant to have in your collection and once established and happy, regularly produces little baby Pileas which you can leave in situ for an abundant looking display or easily propagate by cutting at the root with a clean sharp knife. These baby cuttings will root fairly easily and grow into their own established plants in no time, making your collection of lovely house plants even bigger. They would also make the perfect gift for your house plant loving friend if you’re feeling like sharing, although if you’d prefer to keep them for yourself, a beautiful set of cards or prints would also be a perfect gift for that person!
3. Maranta Leconeura
(Prayer Plant)
The Maranta Leconeura is such a beautiful plant, more specifically this is the erythroneura variety which has the incredible red leaf veins. Also known as the prayer plant, the leaves rise up at night and fan down during the day as if ‘praying’. As with a lot of house plants, the maranta likes bright indirect sunlight and well draining soil, I tend to let the soil get quite dry between watering then give it a good soak (this is my technique for most of my plants and it seems to work pretty well!). It also likes high humidity, but I’m not great at remembering to mist my plants and mine has been very close to a radiator over winter but has managed fine, so as long as you’re making sure the water is right you’ll be onto a winner.
My little brother gave me our prayer plant as a birthday present and it’s done really well since. Originally I wasn’t quite sure how these were supposed to grow (upwards / hanging / trailing etc.) but when visiting Kew Gardens a few years ago I found a few maranta leconeura in one of the glass houses which replicated their ‘natural habitat’ and was surprised to see that they were growing spread out over the ground. I was reassured that my slightly dangly prayer plant was therefore doing ok, it was just higher up so didn’t have the ground to spread on! Again I would highly recommend this for your house plant collection, the leaves are stunning and the variation of greens with the red veins in the leaves are a lovely contrast to other simpler house plants.
4. Monstera Deliciosa
(Swiss Cheese Plant)
One of the most iconic house plants, the Monstera Deliciosa is almost impossible not to include in your indoor plant family! Starting small if you don’t have the space is a great way to get one of these beautiful plants at a really reasonable price (amazingly my brother has managed to grow some from seed so that could be an option too, the thought had never occurred to me!). Alternatively if you don’t want to wait, you can buy some really well established wonderful big leafy plants and they are such a great statement piece for any room in the house.
I have two, one that I grew from a cutting taken from someone else’s plant and the other I got recently from Lidl! The cutting took such a long time to get going, maybe a couple of years, but I’m so glad I persevered because it’s getting much bigger now and has some lovely holy leaves (every Monstera parent knows that is the goal!). Again these are pretty low maintenance and I just give them a good soak when the soil dries out, plenty of indirect light and mist / clean the leaves with a damp cloth when I remember! A final note, the young plants don’t actually start with holes in their leaves, these come once the plant is a bit more established and is happy with the light and water it’s getting, so if you’ve got a young plant just be patient, it’s so exciting when you finally get the holes!!
I would love to hear your thoughts or experiences of these four plants and also which other plants you’d like me to feature in the future! What’s your favourite house plant?
If you’d like to have a look you can click here to head to my Etsy shop to get your own!
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