My house used to be a jungle of houseplants, including a large, lovely collection of African Violets. Then, 16 years ago "Dickens" the cat came on the scene with the simple goal of ridding the world of all things green.
So, no houseplants here.
(The old boy has finally mellowed to the point that he will allow a few cut flowers to sit on the table unmolested for a day or two until he finally gets around to dragging them around the house).

Patti

Not me either... I own three...and all three I keep thru the winter months just to keep...they are really outdoor indoor plants :) I don't find indoor gardening very rewarding anymore...it is actually rather boring...the rewards seem so tiny....the show so minor..tho it migh tbe because I have few windows that are draft free with good light..

Good Poll!

I only have a few now, I use to have a huge collection of African Violets among other things, now I'm down to 3 Clivias, one with yellow flowers. 3 Spider Plants hanging in the kitchen window, 2 ferns a boston and a button, and 4 rooted Hoya cuttings. The Clivias go outdoors for the summer as will the Hoyas. I much prefer to garden outside now, maybe having a very mischievous cat has something to do with it.

Annette

Speaking of houseplants.....I have a terrarium (quite large) and on legs which does not cooperate most of the time. Anyone have any tricks to keeping these guys moist? I am under the impression that they should not need to be watered as often as regular houseplants. Tried moisture crystals, etc. Can't seem to generate that "moist environment" that this thing needs.

I gave up on indoor plants years ago. Have some on the porches, but that's as close as they get to coming in the house.

I also used to have a number of indoor plants until we moved here. Our house is fairly dim, and the only good room for housplants is the sunporch/laundryroom. Now, we have a door there to keep out the drafts until we can have the gazillion windows replaced, so I don't think about the plants back there very often.

I ditched everything that needed water, because I forget to bring them any. I do have a huge aloe and a big pot of Edna's mother-of-thousands (which is doing great!) and a night-blooming cereus which actually managed to bloom without us noticing. I still have a few plants that can take dim light downstairs, but the cats tend to eat them. I just noticed yesterday that a pot of spiderplant looks like it may have died some time ago (which is a sign that maybe we need to pay attention to house cleaning, huh?).

I miss my indoor rosemary plants, but I have a smallish shrub outside, so that's no big deal.

I do know a few people locally who garden and have jungles growing in their homes. I don't see how they keep up with it all.

I used to only have one or two sad plants. Now I seem to be the rescue place for all of my mom's unwanted plants and anyone else who has a plant they don't want. So I have quite a collection going, probably around 20 or so. The latest is a real bonsai from Japan which I acquired from work a few weeks ago.

Tracy

Funny to run across this today. I've really only had a couple orchids that I kept on the kitchen windowsill for several years. But lately I have been getting interested in houseplants again. I went out at lunch just today to the Calloways and bought four begonias that I plan to keep in or near the kitchen, two of them angel wing types.

Years ago we lived in Colorado and we had a glassed in back porch, kinda like a solarium and I had some of the happiest house plants on earth growing out there. It stayed damp and cool year round. Well, there was this little slip of an angel wing begonia that I actually found on the ground in a grocery store parking lot, and I took it home and rooted it. And it grew and grew. It had arms about 2' long and was constantly in bloom. I didn't really have to do anything for it except water about 1-2 times a week.

Unfortunately I killed it by bringing it to Texas in 2000 and letting it get too dry. But I still think about that beautiful plant and wanted to try them again. Even though it's actually more humid here than in Colorado, the hot wind blows so much that it dries plants out faster in Texas. So what I have started doing is misting morning and night and the few houseplants that I have now seem to be doing very well.

It's not like I would rather be in than out either, it just that I'm not a spry as I used to be and sometimes I just don't have the energy to stay out in the yard as long as I used to. We have three acres and I have about a half acre in flowers, bulbs, roses, fruit and nut trees. And it's just a whole lot of work to keep up with all of it. So when I run out of steam out there, now I can garden in the comfort of my air-conditioned house.

But yeah, I agree with everyone else here, I'd rather be outdoors with my hands in the dirt.

Cheryl

Yes, I have a few. I will ALWAYS have a Norfolk Pine. One of my first plant experiences growing up was having my very own Norfolk Pine. I took care of it and even decorated it every year for Christmas. That one died a long time ago, but the sentimental side of me HAS to have a Norfolk in the house.
I also have a few hanging pots in the kitchen, a pencil Cactus, and numerous smaller plants that spend 3 seaons in the sun room, but need to come in for the winter. Then I have the Coleus I'm rooting.
It gets a bit crowded in here in the winter. Good for the air, though.

I have none! I'm much better at keeping a garden going than keeping indoor plants going. I have been thinking of putting 3 pots of cast iron plant (low light, dry soil) along our front gallery since it overlooks the garden. So...do you mind a decorating question? LOL

Would you put a pot (tall urn) of cast iron plant under each of these sepia tone photos of Tuscany?

Cameron

I have about 30 houseplants. They fall in two categories, the ones with sentimental value, and the ones I have grown from babies. I have plants over 20 years old such as a philodendron my mil gave me when we first moved here; my creeping charlie came from the hospital when my son was born; other plants were gifted when dh's sister and brother died, etc. The ones I enjoy most though are the ones I buy for 99 cents and grow up. I have too many big plants now, but why have a sunroom, or garden room as my dil says, without plenty of plants?

Cameron, yes, I think your plant idea would look lovely.

I have some plants which I love - because they go with my vintage planter addiction! I must say I have been downsizing, and will continue to do so because I have about 20 christmas cactus which are supposed to bloom all manner of colors but most I traded for are pink. And the orchid cactus have never bloomed for me...I tend to like simple and easy house plants that don't suffer from disease, and just do their own thing and help to clean my air. I find a huge difference in the air quality and "hominess" of my house with some plants.

girlgroupgirl

I'm so glad the mother-of-thousands is thriving, Kent. It's an odd little plant *lol*. I've never grown it inside.

I can count my house plants on one hand - 4 violets and one orchid. I've never really cared for house plants. It has to really knock my socks off in order to bring it home. Most house plants look tropical and too leafy and I prefer texture and flowers.

If I had a garden window in my kitchen I would fill it with colorful succulents, cactus and a few orchids.

1 india rubber tree.

I'm rubbish with houseplants.

I have 3. The one over by the fireplace, the one upstairs and the one in the bathroom. Lucky for them, they thrive on neglect.
Oh yes,I almost forgot. The Cactus in the laundry room. I always forget about that one. :)

Libby

I thought this question might be interesting. I wasn't proven wrong.

Since I've been able to garden, really garden, my interest in container gardening and houseplants has nearly vanished. And I used to be so in to it. I wish you could have seen some of my houseplants. I had a pencil cactus that was nearly 7 feet tall growing in the bay window of one of my San Francisco apartments. It was a joy to behold. I was once offered $300 bucks for it and turned it down. I gave it to a friend who takes care of it to this day.

I still mother a braided ficus that I found abandoned on the sidewalk near Haight and Ashbury. I've had it for 16 years now. It never looks particularly lush, but it's been a survivor. It's been the pound puppy of houseplants.

Two things I don't miss about a bunch of houseplants..dusting them and the potential for water stains on my floors and furniture (usually due to sloppy watering from me).

Steven

p.s. to Cameron...I kind of like the clean gallery look in that corridor. To my eye, it looks perfectly finished. Perhaps I would put a small table with an amazing little lamp in the space above the outlet. Just my two cents.

I kill houseplants. I tried for years but I get busy and eventually forget to water something. My green thumb only works outdoors, where Mother Nature helps water things for me.

I might try a few culinary herbs this winter. I have marjoram and sage potted up.

I do usually have things rooting in jars on the back of my sink. And I am trying to winter over some rosemary, lavender seedlings, and some dormant plants in a very cool attic with a south-facing window. I lost a big rosemary that was a Christmas gift last year - powdery mildew took it almost immediately. (sniffle)

I am tempted by houseplants - I have killed enough innocent plants to know that I should not give in. But lately I am considered trying something really tough, like snake plant(Sansevieria). Although, the Christmas cactuses are calling to me...

I just simply can't keep houseplants going. I have tried, I had some pretty african violets and christmas cactus....but evenually I forget to water...and well the poor things end up in the compost. I have simply given up...no inocent little plant should put up with such bad care. I grew a few amaryllis the last few winters...but even they don't look so good by spring. So I now have my amaryllis collection outside in spring. This past summer in the greenhouse they did really well.....next year, I'll try planting some in the garden. They are lifted in the fall anyway.

Sierra

Probably about 10-12. Most of them indoor/outdoor plants. I remember an angel wing begonia my Mom's friend had when I was little. It was 6-7 feet tall and always a mass of blooms. It was beautiful.

Our neighbors had a giant Christmas cactus on a pedestal in front of their picture window. It must have been 3 feet across or more and nearly reached the floor. It was so beautiful in bloom. They also had the most beautiful flower and vegetable gardens. They were always giving us plants and seeds, much to our delight. One of my grandma's friends used to have us over on weekends. She had diabetes and often was not well enough to do outside activities. But "grandpa" used to take us out fishing on his little private lake in his old row boat where we'd catch our supper that "grandma" would cook. Then there was the time when he was 70 or so, he climbed right up this old butternut tree, like a monkey, so he could shake the nuts off onto the blankets on the ground. Then he'd take us out to his substantial garden and load us up with vegetables to take home and show us how to harvest seeds from the flowers and send them home with us too.

Dad always kept several houseplants, and mom kept her flower gardens. They both worked together on the vegetable gardens.

As the winter approaches, I get more and more house plants, especially small and colorful ones for the windowsills. I keep most of them in my bathroom and kitchen. That's my thing - houseplants and lots of candles for winter - makes me cosy, warm and remindes of spring that is just around the corner (even though it is still November).
Natalie

I have way too many - trying to figure out now where to put all the ones that have been outside. They really really grew this summer despite the drought and heat and are beautiful. I guess because they are tropical in nature and were kept watered this summer was good for them. We are seriously thinking of turning a 13x20 bonus room that has south/eastern exposure into a sunroom. It already has two nice big sunny windows so won't be too difficult. I just love plants period whether inside or out.....

Lynne

Just two ivies in the kitchen, interesting poll! M

This is a great topic, I have really enjoyed reading the posts.
When we moved into this home a little over 20 years ago the three front east to south facing windows begged for houseplants and through the first three or so years I collected every one I could get my hands on. Gardening was pretty much a waste of time becuase the run off water from the steets made our yard a mud hole or skating rink depending on the season. When my husband got that problem solved my intrest strayed to the outside and gardening. I love plants, I love to grow them. As my gardens outside grew my houseplants dwindled down to nothing. Once I got a handle on the outside gardening I started growing african violets....ending up with over 300. Through the winter this was great but come spring time and gardening time the violets suffered. I finally got rid of all but about 20 violets and only have those because of how tough they are to survive my neglect (btw...wick watering is the answer to violets thriving). Within the past year my house plant collection has started to grow again. DH built me a wonderful sunroom...it isn't completely finished yet but is fully functional and I just seem to be getting more and more plants. Some, like my miniature rose bush, the carnations I started from slips out of a bouquet, the hydrangea stem I rooted and my basket of hanging carnations are plants that were outside. I couldn't lose them to the cold. The rest are just things that "followed me home". It's nice to have plants inside again. I probably will from now on.
Bonny

Bonny, I thought I was over the top with African Violets, at one time I actually had two hundred give or take a few. I started out with the standards, I soon found out I could have more if I went down to semi-miniatures and mini's, then came the trailing varieties which I had hanging in all the windows. Of course, let's not forget the one's with variegated leaves, cream and pink. Oh, I almost forgot, the chimeras LOL. I was so addicted to them I once imported A.V. leaves from Green Bay Wi. I was after some violets with highly variegated foliage at the time. I haven't kept track, has anyone come up with a good yellow?

Annette

I just had to give away all my houseplants. I'm finally back on GW after moving to Colorado. Our stuff is currently in storage where the plants wouldn't have done well and we couldn't fit them in the car with the cats and birds. Well, we did bring the big Christmas Cactus that my Grandmother gave me when they downsized to an apartment. DH was wonderful about it and didn't even expect me to give that one away.
I had several African Violets, some of Edna's Mother of Thousands (I may have some babies hiding in the CC pot) and several things I hadn't identified. What I miss most is my five foot tall Mahogany Tree that I grew from seeds collected while in Florida. DH misses his Blood Banana. As soon as we have a house we will begin replacing things. Lowes is right next door to the hotel we are in and I went looking today but didn't find anything fun.

I only have one lone Christmas Cactus. Used to have lots more, but prefer my plants outside these days.

Carol

We have a ficus that I rescued years ago from the sale bin- it was $4 and now is about 4 ft tall. A Norfolk pine, a Christmas cactus that a dear friend gave me, a couple of pothos on top of a bookshelf hutch to soften the top which have grown down the sides and are pooling on the floor, and a pony tail palm. Nothing that takes fussing- just a bit of green and softness.
I just brought my herbs in so we will see how they will do.

I will bring my jasmine into work to winter over- it is so wonderful to have jasmine blooming all winter! I hope it does well this winter too. Sue

I used to have tons of houseplants, but then when I had my babies I found it too much work keeping them out of reach and standing upright. Gradually I phased them out. Now I have just what I consider my staples: a great huge monstera... I've resigned myself to the fact that my house is not complete without a great big monstera in it; a spiderplant in one window; a neat little ficus I started from combining the cuttings of two separate ficus cultivars in one pot, so there are the normal green leaves of ordinary ficus benjamina and on some bits there are the yellow-splashed, ripply leaves of Golden Monique... it's interesting :) And I also have a syngonium, which I'm unreasonably attached to. Oh, and a masive coleus in my kitchen which must be 3ft tall.

As the winter goes on however I'll start to acquire more and more as I start seeds of impatiens, thunbergia, coleus, etc. in preparation for outdoor spring planting. But they don't really count maybe since they're not intended to live in the house for longer than a month or two.

I have a sunroom addition and used to have it packed full of houseplants for several years but like many of you who had loads of houseplants I found that it became too much of a chore to take care of them all! I had over 50 plants including some very large floor-standing plants that reached 10' to the ceiling of the glass room! Now I've drastically scaled back to three floor plants and about a dozen or so smaller plants, and it doesn't take so long to water and care for them. I'd rather put my efforts into outdoor gardening and reading. But over the winter I start seeds inside and I'll have loads of seedlings to care for until spring.

I'm into African Violets... have been since I was a kid. Unfortunately, so are the four new cats. [grrrr]

I have *many* houseplants -- plus "outdoor" plants that I grow indoors during the winter for color. There is about 8" of snow on the ground now, but the house is full of blooms of african violets, christmas cactus, chiritas, begonias, euphorbia (crown of thorns), spathaphyllum, pelargoniums (aka annual geraniums), and even impatiens. I have a few different hanging plants, plus ficus, pepperomia, ferns, straw cactus, succulents (jade, etc.), sansevieras, ivy ... I could go on, but I'd bore you. At one time, I had more than 100 different varieties of AVs. If there is a little space and a little light, I cram a plant there. :)

Bottom line: I live where there's winter at least 6 months a year, and houseplants are the only way to get my hands in the soil in February. :) They make the house look nice (to me), and cheer me up. I do spend a lot of time watering, however. lol!