When it comes to indoor plants, let’s face it – everybody loves them! They can spruce up a place and make it look more welcoming, warm, and filled with positive energy.

However, not everyone has a knack for keeping houseplants. I have to admit that I have unintentionally killed my fair share of potted plants. I have no problems caring for my human children and my dog, but for some reason my plant babies never seen to survive more than a couple months.

For this blog post I sought out the expert advice of a botanist who could provide valuable advice and knowledge to those of us who are not born with a green thumb. Below you’ll find a list of low-maintenance houseplants that can still flourish with forgetful and preoccupied caretakers.

Snake Plant

I am beginning the list with the popular and trending snake plant, sometimes known by its other name – Sanserveria; that takes little to no effort to keep in the home. This is one of those succulents that thrive in any indoor space. It has beautiful and thick upright leaves that grow with energetic-looking curves. The leaves are usually dark and light green, with a little grey and a marble pattern. Also, their edges are lined with either bright yellow or white color.

The most beautiful thing about this succulent is that it is visually pleasing and also cleanses any space of bad energy. In addition, it is considered the best air purifier because removes toxins such as nitrogen oxides, toluene, formaldehyde, and xylene from the air. If you have allergies, you can benefit from introducing Sanserveria into your home!

Rubber Plant

The rubber plant is another one of the hard-to-kill houseplants that look incredible indoors. Also known by the name Ficus Elastica, this is a plant that you can practically ignore but still keep thriving. Even though this plant has been domesticated into houseplants for many years, it can grow pretty tall in its natural habitat outdoors. When looking to grow this plant at home, all you need to do is have a well-draining pot and soil – and you are good to go! It can go without water for a week or two and can survive in both bright and low lighting conditions.

Jade Plant

Of course, every time the subject of low-maintenance houseplants arises, it cannot be discussed without including this wonderful succulent! The jade plant represents power, money, and good luck. It lives very long, and it is instantly recognizable because of its small oval, yet thick leaves. The best thing about this plant is that it takes almost no effort to look after it. It requires direct sunlight only a few hours a day, but it can thrive as much in indirect sunlight too. You only need to add water to it when its leaves have wilted a bit, which is about every 2 to 3 weeks.

Zebra Haworthia

The Zebra Haworthia is a cute little succulent with fun and energetic “zebra stripes”! It is known as an excellent succulent for beginner plant parents. All you need to do is ensure it is placed in a well-draining pot. When it comes to watering, you can get away with watering it every 2 - 3 weeks. The ideal amount of direct sunlight the Zebra Haworthia needs is between 4 - 6 hours a day.

ZZ Plant

The ZZ Plant is known to be "tough as nails" by plant enthusiasts. It features a dark green color with oval-shaped medium-thick leaves that look very animated as they reach for the sky. It is one of those plants that can thrive under serious neglect – basically, it can adapt to various environments. In essence, it can go without water for a couple of weeks at a time. The ZZ Plant light loves a lot of indirect sunlight, but can survive in low lights, and even does well under office fluorescent lights. All you need to remember about this plant is that it is toxic when eaten or even possibly rubbed against the skin. So please, keep animals and children away from it.

Christmas Cactus

So far all the houseplants on this list have been almost all green foliage. The Christmas Cactus has vibrant pink and red flowers that bloom with curved petals. The Christmas Cactus gets its name from its winter blooming cycle. Most plants tend to bloom in the spring when there’s increased daylight and the temperatures start getting warmer. The Christmas Cactus blooms during early to mid-winter, often coinciding with the Christmas holiday season.

Just like the winter, Christmas Cactus plants prefer low light and indirect sunlight. During the winter months, it can go up to 14 hours without light! It only needs to be watered ever 2 - 3 weeks when the top couple inches of soil start to feel dry.

Flamingo Flower

The Flamingo Flower is recognizable by its stunning heart-shaped and bright red blossoms. Also known as the Anthurium and painter's palette, this colorful and exotic looking plant really makes a statement which is rare in a low-maintenance plant.

The Flamingo Lily (another pet name) requires indirect sunlight and shouldn’t be direct sun exposure. Feel free to move the plant around the home to see where it will like it best. It prefers humid environments which can be replicated by misting with a spray bottle of water. The soil should be lightly moist and have excellent drainage, watering sparingly every few days.

This is another plant that carries toxic substances in its sap, so it shouldn’t be touched or eaten by humans or pets.

Cactus

Cactus are probably the most low-maintenance houseplants you will ever stumble across. The cacti species are available in plenty of colors, shapes, and sizes, and offer some fascinating shapes too – in some cases, even one or a few blossoms!

Plants in the cactus family like warm and dry environments. When it comes to lighting conditions, not all cacti are the same. Desert cacti can thrive with direct sunlight, whereas tropical cacti prefer indirect light. In the summer you should water around every 2 - 3 weeks, and in the winter you can get away with watering every 4 - 6 weeks.

When I was in Palm Springs, I visited the famous Moorten Botanical Garden and Cactarium where they have some very rare and curious looking cactus plants.

Philodendrons

The Philodendrons plants have gorgeous, almost heart-shaped leaves, and even though it looks very delicate, it can thrive under plenty of different conditions. Plant devotees especially love the lush and jungle-like qualities these plants embody.

With Philodendrons plants, all you need to know about this plant is that it can thrive in indirect sunlight, so you need to keep it away from direct sunlight. This is because the direct sunlight can be too harsh, making the leaves become yellow and damaged. When watering this plant, the best thing you can do is water it whenever you see the soil is dry, which is about every 10 days. Not much water is needed, just enough to keep it going. Avoid making the soil extra moist.

Another fair warning with this plant, it can be toxic if eaten or there’s prolonged exposure to your skin. Keep away from humans and animals.

Terrarium

Wrapping up the list with one of the easiest hard-to-kill houseplants, and that is a terrarium! With increasing fame in the past few years, the terrarium provides an excellent way to add a little bit of greenery into the home as décor – without having to go through all the fuss of taking care of it all the time.

Terrariums are fun DIY projects with terrarium kits, or you can buy a really cute one from an expert Etsy seller. Popular tolerant and trouble-free plants for terrariums are succulents, tiny cacti, air plants and live moss.