Cacti or a Jade. Water once a month, lots of light and ignore them.
Pothos if they like vines are almost indestructible.
Or maybe plastic or silk is better...

Lol...Don't laugh..

I said the same thing as you did, try silk, and she got mad...

Come to think of it, I myself have a hardy almost indestructable plant, the philodendron.
Think I will give her mine...

I haven't ever grown it, but there's something called an Aspidistra (sp?), commonly called a Cast Iron plant, perhaps 'cause it's got a reputation for being indestructible.

I encountered it for the 1st time this summer while trying to ID a new friend's plant for them. Solid green Aspidistra, which he grows on a terrace in Brooklyn, NY, I guess he brings it in for winter, I'm assuming that, haven't had a chance to ask that yet.

I've read they're much like Sans. in terms of their ability to withstand sun, neglect, etc.

Hey Mike, I have tons of the common Pothos Ivy that you can buy even at the grocery store. I water mine only when the top 2 inches of the soil are dry and mine are doing outstanding! :) Low light or filtered light, soil or only water; they like almost anything. Also, if she doesn't want it to vine too much, all she has to do to keep it small is cut the vine where she likes and just put the stem in water and let the leaves grow. Putting them in water makes the ivy grow very slowly so it won't vine too quickly. I have around 10 vases right now that are full of this ivy scattered around my apt. Plus, no bugs. Whats more wonderful. I highly recommend this plant, as I said I have it EVERYWHERE :)

Pirate girl is right, I have a cast iron plant and its does wonderful. My neighbor neglected hers and left it outside all last winter, sadly all the green foliage fell off and had no sign of life. But come spring new foliage was growing everywhere! Its was amazing to see how resilient this plant is.

I also have a ponytail palm, not too much water and stands the filtered light in my living room. :) Cacti are beautiful and very easy.

Peace Lilies are nice for their green foliage though neither of mine have bloomed at all this year. Did I already say nice green foliage? ;)

I also have a Peperomia obtusifolia, which pirate girl helped to ID, along with others. :) You can look at the thread I stared a couple of weeks ago "Help me help my plant to branch out" This plant does great for me, just water when the top inch of soil is dry and let sit. I keep it on my side table (with many other plants) and it gets afternoon filtered light.

Hmm...if I can think of anymore I'll let you know! Hope this helped. :D

Ashley

Sheesh, thanks so much for all your help.

PG, I will definately suggest to her that she tries this one, since the name of that plant best suits her personality.Lol.
Thank Pg..I hope you are well.

Ashley, great ideas...I think I will just tell her to read this thread than explain it to her..She might even join for all I know. So much to learn..

Mike

Hi Ashley,

Pls. be careful w/ what you recommend. It's great to see how excited you are, but some of the info you're passing on isn't quite right (we're rather literal here - pls. keep that in mind).

Pothos are not Ivy, never were, Pothos is Pothos (Epipremnum). Ivy is an altogether different plant family (Hedera?, I forget) & can be a magnet for mealy bugs. While they can thrive w/ neglect, the watering on these can be tricky. You & I find them easy but MANY folks kill these by overwatering (& a few folks I know can't grow them at all).

Peace Lilies (Spathiphyllum) are faily high maintenance plants, not for the beginner (lots of folks suffer w/ brown leaf tips on these); also not for some more advanced growers (like me, I got tired of killing them).

'Can handle neglect' was the key phrase in this thread.

ZZ plant and mother-in-laws tongue which come in all different heights (just like MIL's lol).

For me these plants are indesructible and thrive on neglect - low light, low humidity - forgetting to water for weeks - no fertilizer.

PG, I'm sorry if my terminology was wrong. I will be more careful. But as for the rest, I provided explanations as to why these plants have worked for me; by neglecting them (key word in the thread). Some people can grow plants others can't as you stated. I have not killed a peace lily nor does mine have brown tips. I water only when I remember. As I said, I will work on the terminology but I offer explanations for a reason; so that people understand why the plants work for me. Thanks for the advice.

Hi
Would think any of the dracaena family. Even I can grow these in the house lol.
Here's testimony to "survivor LOL
It was a "hoseplant" in Kansas for over 20 years. plant it into the yard when we arrived in florida 1979. That cute little pot plant grew into a moster lol. Has intentionally been removed 3 times. 5 times cut to the ground. Survived the hurricanes ,a fire, drought being submerged in water for over a week. Has sprouted under cement asphault and a lumber pile.lol Minoe set backs.
While pruning I stacked a large pile into the yard neighbors water main broke. Backhoe buried the clips in almost 5 feet of soil as well as chunks of cement. !! This pile remained for almost 2 months. When removed evey single clip had sprouted even those at the bottom on the pile.!!!
As a house plant I had a piece live in a closet for 7 months!!!. Started growing two days after removed .
I'd call that hardy??? gary

Lol..

That is a good one....Great story....

Ps. It was probably greatful to be in such a warm sunny climate...You know that aura about living in a sunny warm climate..lol

Thanks!

Hi
Is climate the difference.? Always reading about people having trouble with Ficus Spath,Cordylines.. If you grow a plant indoors why isn't the climate the same.??
You have to keep a close eye on these here or they'll eat your house.. Whatever the difference it's BIG lol gary

Pirate Girl you are amazing me, you go girl. You made a great suggestion, it needs more shade than many house plants. Norma

Even though you may already have a few plants in mind, I have a few more that I'm not sure if they've been mentioned.

Amaryllis.I was trying to make mine go dormant by with holding water,it's still going,even without water for a month.

Dracaena is almost like a succulent for me.My dracaena marginata is still alive,I sorta forgot about it a few months ago.

Ponytail palm is really good on surving drought.

Im seriously surprised that no one's mentioned spider plants.They grow fast in the right conditions and can go weeks without watering.Mine stays in full sun most of the day.

Like others said,most succulents would be a great suggestion.

Wandering Jews are pretty hard to kill. Also, aloe vera is very easy to take care of...just don't overwater it. In fact, i think most plants die because they get too much attention! I killed one of mine a long time ago from overwatering it. Oops...

Wandering Jews (Tradescantia) need too frequent watering & pinching or they become tall & scragly. Aloes need too much direct sun for either of these to be considered plants which can withstand a fair amount of neglect.

They might struggle & stay alive but neither will do well.

Howdy All.

Mike, there's a few questions that need answering. For instance, is your friends house bright or shady in winter?
Is there one type of plant preferable to another?
Tropical vs succulent? What about humidity?

IMO, if a home is bright/sunny, cactus & succulents are the easiest plants to keep..providing they're not over-watered.
You said she has an Aloe. What's its age? If she hasn't any problems keeping an it alive, her window/s are bright enough to grow 'most' other C&S.
Also, C&S's need less watering and fertilizing than tropical or subtropical plants. So, that takes care of the high-maintenance issue.. :)
I no longer consider C&S a challenge.
There are so many succulents bearing beautiful colors, leaf shapes and most eventually flower.
BTW, you said she has a Sans, too..if she's able to keep the Aloe and Sans alive, considering both are succulent, perhaps her best bet would be to look into different succulents..There are many to choose from.

The name, Cast Iron Plant, 'Aspidistra' pretty much describes this plants' personality. As long as it's not over-watered and/or over-potted..The only problem is, if your friend is looking for a fast-grower, the Aspidistra isn't for her, unless she finds a larger specimen.
Asp's are rarely sold here in IL..if I wanted one it'd have to be ordered online.

The above recommendations are great choices, though I tend to disagree about Wandering Jews. They need a certain amount of light to keep their colors and larger, sturdy leaves.. They also need pruning, otherwise stems grow spindly. Humidity is a must, so over-wintering can be a problem...But not impossible.
I hope your friend found something suitable. Did she? Toni