Getting your bearings: the basics

If you have brought a plant home only to watch it slowly decline, you are not alone. The instinct is usually to give it more water, which is precisely the opposite of what most indoor foliage needs. Here, we lay out the fundamental pillars of indoor botany. Once you grasp these, you will see your home through the eyes of a plant.

1. Understanding Light Quality

Light is food. Water is merely the mechanism that helps the plant process that food. When you read a plant tag, it usually mentions low, medium, or bright light. But human eyes adapt to darkness quickly, making us poor judges of how much light a room actually gets.

• Direct Sunlight: The sun's rays physically hit the leaves. Only a few houseplants, like Cacti and some succulents, can handle this all day.
• Bright Indirect Light: The holy grail for most houseplants. This is a spot right next to a bright window, out of the path of direct sunbeams.
• Low Light: A few feet away from a window, or in a north-facing room. A ZZ Plant or Snake Plant will survive here, but they will not grow quickly.

2. The Weight of Water

Overwatering is the number one cause of houseplant demise. Roots need oxygen just as much as they need water. If the soil is constantly saturated, the roots suffocate and rot.

Instead of watering on a strict schedule (like "every Sunday"), water based on observation. Lift the pot. A pot full of dry soil feels remarkably light. Push your finger into the top two inches of dirt. If it feels moist, step away. When it is time to water, do it thoroughly until water runs out the drainage holes, then let it drain completely.

3. The Importance of Drainage

A beautiful ceramic pot without a hole in the bottom is a trap. Water pools at the base, creating a swamp. The easiest way to bypass this is to keep the plant in the plastic nursery pot it came in, and simply place that plastic pot inside your decorative ceramic container. When you water, take the plastic pot out, water it in the sink, let it drain, and put it back.

4. Observing the Environment

Drafts from air conditioning vents and heat from radiators will dry out leaves rapidly. Most common houseplants originate from tropical floors where humidity is high and temperatures are stable. Grouping plants together can slightly raise the local humidity, creating a microclimate that benefits them all.