As a New England gardener, I keep houseplants because I need dirt under my nails. During winter, indoor plants satisfy my urge to garden. But I only grow houseplants that tolerate some neglect, because as soon as spring approaches, I make a mad dash for the door, and the houseplants get a little, well, neglected! From my experience, the following plants survive and even thrive despite my inevitable lapse in attention:
Felted Pepperface (Peperomia incana)
Peperomia incana is a structural, shrubby peperomia with beautifully felted leaves that beg to be petted. I consider its slow growth rate a bonus; I like a plant that doesn’t demand the entire windowsill in a year’s time, when it first shared it so graciously.
This semi-succulent peperomia prefers to dry between waterings. It doesn’t demand full sun like other succulent plants, though it can take it if that’s what you have. Bright, indirect light will also do. It will flourish in warmer, more humid conditions, but it doesn’t complain in lower humidity. Simply put, if you are comfortable in your home, P. incana likely is, too. It’s an upright grower that will be with you for a long time if you can keep yourself from watering it too heavily. I’ve tended mine for years, and it seems to be a plant of steel. That said, I keep an eye out for mealybugs, even if it isn’t prone to them.
Coffee Plant (Coffea arabica)
Coffea arabica is exactly what you think—a coffee tree—and yes, you might harvest your own coffee beans at home. You will need patience, though: this plant won’t produce flowers or fruit until it reaches about three feet tall. Given its good looks, you won’t mind too much if it never bears its shiny, ruby red fruits (which are called cherries). The dark green foliage has great luster and rippled margins that create interesting texture. With its leaves alone, C. arabica makes a most handsome, pyramidal tree for the interior.
Coffee trees require neither full sun nor high humidity, which I can attest to from my own home.
They do like to be fed with a balanced fertilizer, and they have moderate water needs. When the potting mix gets to what I call "visual dryness" (a lighter color is a good indicator), I give it a thorough soaking. Coffee trees slow their growth in winter and they do well summering outside. Slowly acclimate it to the stronger sun. Watch for mealybugs, the only pest I’ve had attack this plant, though scale is also a possibility. Think of coffee plant as a less fickle ficus that (eventually) gives back. It's a beautiful indoor tree for a bright spot.
Wax Plants (Hoya)
Hoyas as a group are so delightfully low maintenance, I have a hard time choosing just one to recommend. It’s a slippery slope from acquiring one to collecting a bunch—I speak from experience.
Hoya carnosa ‘Krimson Princess’, with striking white, green and pink leaves, is a good place to start, in terms of both price and availability. This is a sister to ‘Krimson Queen’. I’ve also seen both cultivars labeled ‘Tricolor’. They do share the same coloration, but in different arrangements. ‘Krimson Queen’ has green leaves edged with pink to white, while on ‘Krimson Princess’ it’s the opposite.
Being epiphytic, these plants like to dry between waterings. It’s much easier to damage hoyas through overwatering than underwatering. Their growth is slower in lower humidity, but their foliage won’t show damage. (Unlike certain houseplants. I’m looking at you, calathea!) I find hoyas benefit from an airy soil mix. You could experiment with orchid bark or use my favorite, coco coir, mixed with a little potting soil. Mites can be an issue for these plants; if new growth points don’t develop, they’re likely the cause. Mealybugs are another pest to check for.
To feed my hoyas, I mist them weekly with orchid fertilizer, which is available in ready-to-use spray bottles. Orchid feed has low NPK values and I’ve found hoya foliage larger and glossier with its use. Most plants will be thankful for the occasional wash or wipe down to remove dust, too.
Hoya carnosa ‘Compacta’ is another readily available variety. It has crumpled leaves that grow into long, dense ropes. And if you dive deeper into wax plants, you will find a diverse world of foliage, including the delicate, downy H. linearis, the pinchably adorable H. mathilde, the fuzzy H. thomsonii, the prettily sun-stressed H. mindorensis and the prehistoric-looking, somewhat temperamental H. undulata.
Lipstick Vines (Aeschynanthus)
Aeschynanthus longicaulis, also called A. ‘Black Pagoda’, is a kind of lipstick vine with beautiful dark maroon veining. I have nothing against the classic A. ‘Mona Lisa’, probably the most common cultivar, with its lush green foliage and large red flowers with black calyxes. But I love ‘Black Pagoda’ for its unusual foliage, which is of course what you’ll be looking at for most of the year while you wait for it to bloom. Happily, it tends to do that in cool weather. It's perfect timing for the off-season gardener!
Excellent in part sun, these epiphytic gesneriads are wonderful for a hanging basket, if you prefer plants to curtains. They like to dry slightly after watering. When you water, treat them to a balanced fertilizer. They seem unbothered by low humidity, though growth will be lusher in moist air. Lipstick vines occasionally suffer mealybugs, but they are fairly impervious to pests.
If you love their bloom, it is worth seeking out some of the more unusual varieties, like the aptly named ‘Thai Pink’ or A. xsplendidus, which flowers full and orange. If you favor their foliage, look for the variegated form of A. lobbianus. Its leaves bear white streaks and occasional maroon accents, and it blooms a bright orange-red to boot.
Image credits: Peperomia by Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0; Coffee plant by Bjorn S.../CC BY-SA 2.0; Hoya by Dan Jones/CC BY 2.0; 'Black Pagoda' by scott.zona from Miami, Florida, USA - CC BY 2.0; 'Mona Lisa' by Mokkie - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
