What plants or flowers are easiest to keep alive?

Question

I am the world's worst gardener. What sort of plants and flowers require little to no upkeep?

Answer 1

When I had a boyfriend who was a botanist, and I exposed my black thumb, he said I should raise coleus. They are easy to grow and hard to kill. Just plant them, water them, give them sunlight, and enjoy them. The leaves are all sorts of lovely colors if they get enough sunlight, but they will be mostly green if the light is inadequate.

Answer 2

Easiest Plants To Keep Alive

Answer 3

I'm sure I'm as bad as you are with plants and flowers, but I had really great luck growing a Spider Plant that someone had given me a shoot from. I put it in a good sized pot, watered it once a week, put it in a mostly shady room where it got indirect sunlight, and before long the thing had grown so large I was clipping shoots for friends and family. I've repotted it three times, because it's grown so large, shoots growing all over the place, and each time it has taken very well to the new pot. It's also a very pretty two or three shade of green plant. And looks nice in a plant basket, though make sure it's not too warm, or the heat as it rises can hurt it. I have in on it's own plant stand that it just over waist high.

Good luck finding your plant!

Answer 4

Well, make up your mind, do you want flowers or just any old plant?

I've kept a few house plants in my day, and I'm a pretty bad gardener too (all I ever did usually was to water the plants, and I'm sure I watered some of the too much). Succulent plants such as cactuses and certain other desert plants can go for some time without watering, and cactuses have thorns which will also protect them from any household pets that might otherwise damage a succulent plant. Alternatively, I think ivy is quite resilient (I once grew a piece of ivy from a cutting, without even starting with any roots), and if all else fails, you can try just growing weeds and then selecting the ones you like as house plants. :P

Answer 5

Cosmos when the flower dies off the seeds blow to where ever mother natures takes it and you will have flowers in the most unique places. Allys won't die ask my husband he can't kill it I rather like it. Cosmos really don't like alot of water just as bulbs do not . I never dig up and divide my bulbs I just let them die off and come up where ever they fell like it the next year. Oh yes don't forget the Sunflower mighty strong and happy without a lot TLC just lots of sun .Cottage Gardens is what I enjoy and admire. I say just put it in the garden where ever you like and if its happy you ll know within hours. Oh yes Carnations are rather easy oh try the sunflower first. PS some Gardner's don't plant their new plants out of the container, they just cut a hole around the bottom and stick it in the ground and cover with soil so not to mess with the roots. I have never done it but many a friends have beautiful gardens without the mess I so love. Throw up all around the yard wildflower seed, lightly water, they will find a home one that will require little of your love. Always check flowers before bringing home for bugs!!! Small nursery's is where I like to buy for best quality maybe just a little bit more money, but they won't send bugs home with you can't afford to stay in business that way.

Answer 6

Honestly I'd say a yucca basically you can't kill it...or get rid of it. It gets pretty white flowers on it and is very very hardy...I guess it is made up of 40-50 different species of plants which explains the part of the reason you can't actually kill it without poison. because it has a tuber as its root...when you try and dig it out if you don't get every last piece of it another will sprout up in it's place. My best answer for how to get one is ask your neighbors to dig out a piece for you (I'm sure more than one have heard of it and have it in their yard they'll be more than welcome to spread the yucca wealth) I'd say plant it in the fall and wait for it to come up in the spring it's decently fast growing and usually blooms every year. It may not bloom the first year because it's still getting used to it's new home of sorts. After that just sit back and relax and you'll have a monster in no time...it usually blooms at the beginning of July maybe early June depending on where you live...I think of all the plants I've planted this one you don't have to worry about.

Answer 7

Wandering Jews tend to do well even through neglect!
They thrive pretty awesomely, they have purple leaves,
and small white or usually pink flowers! They are nice and
will help you develop into growing other plants, and flowers!

~..Lane'~

By.The.Way
I suggest trying to keep a plant alive, an indoor would probably be
the best, before you start trying to do flowers again, just a suggestion.

Answer 8

Try geraniums, they come in a wide range of shapes and colours, and they are resistant to carelessness in most areas (but they need a shelter in cold winter areas, at least a plastic sheet cover).

You break a growing shoot from a plant you like (with the owner's permission!), take off the bottom leaves, replant in a half-shaded open spot and water 3-4 times the first 10 days then once a week, if you don't forget.

Tip: all my used tea bags and tea leaves are in the geranium pots.

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If you leave in a tropical or sub-tropical area, Bougainvillea, after a couple of years, seem to be living on thin air. Of course, you need more space. They form excellent fences. Mixing colours can be spectacular.

Have fun!

Answer 9

May I HIGHLY recommend a golden pothos.....I have had the same plant since 1987.....
it has endured.....

moving 4 times
frost bite
neglect
a cat digging it up - 3 times
over watering
under watering
frost bite again
too little sun
too much sun
too big of a pot
too little of a pot
being dropped upside down
a college roommate who truly had a black thumb....and she has a cutting off of this plant still growing like wild in her kitchen.

I have had to cut this plant back to next to nothing....and in a few months is taking over the coffee table again. Here it is 2007....and I'm looking for more pots for this thing! When the vines get too long....whack them off....stick them in a glass of water....let them grow roots for a couple of months....and them put them back in the same pot. I am convinced in an atomic explosion....there would be cockroaches, my mother in law...and this plant!

Answer 10

I have a kind of flower called a four o'clock (scientific name mirabilis jalapa) in my front yard. The reason I stick to them is because they are hard to kill and do good with just watering it maybe twice a week if that.

The reason that the flower is called a four o'clock is because the head part of the tubular base doesn't open til 4:00 in the afternoon.

To keep it from spreading to other parts of your yard make sure to pick off the seeds so that you can give to friends or family.

There is also a special project going on in relation to getting four o'clocks spread all over the world for cancer awareness. You can find out more about the project at: http://www.symbolofhope.com/English_Home.htm

Answer 11

I usually have the worst luck keeping any plant alive. However one time I was given a hugh African Violet plant. So I read up on how to take care of them. The plant I was given was in a hugh pot and in reading the nature of the plant I learned they should always be kept in a four inch pot. So I broke the plant apart, giving me eight plants that I replanted in four inch pots. Next step was to always water them from the saucers they should be set in. Never water from the top because if you get the leaves wet they will spot and die. Well low and behold I had the most beautiful window full of flowering African Violets.

So first always keep them in four inch pots of soil especially for African Violets. Water them from the bottom. Use plant food especially for African Violets. Always keep them in a northern exposure. Follow this simple routine and I promise you will have the most beautiful plants that will give you enjoyment for years to come. What is wonderful about them is each year because they grow so during the year that you can break each plant apart and from each plant wind up with two per. Hope this makes sense. Enjoy!