Best Houseplants to Garden Indoors Year-Round

Throughout the dreary winter months, it’s often disheartening for gardeners when frost and snows arrive - so keep it going indoors!

The best part about introducing Houseplants into your home is the sheer variety of shapes, sizes, and colors available today! From variegated foliage, beautiful blooms, or intricate structure and texture, we know you'll find the perfect plant for your personality, style and home environment.

Therapeutic & Air Cleaning
Easiest Care Houseplants
Moisture-Loving Houseplants
Indoor Food
Seasonal Décor
Blooming Houseplants
#ProPlantTips for Houseplant Care
Indoor Watering & Humidity
Indoor Sun Needs

Gardening with houseplants lets you create an indoor paradise, improve your space, complement any style, and receive Health Benefits for you and your family!

Plants Can Be Therapeutic

Studies show that indoor plants clean the air by removing toxins, increasing air humidity, and oxygenating stale indoor air.

Reduce stress
Boosting mood
Increasing productivity
Energize
Dampen Sounds
Increase Humidity

Transform your home into a green-leaved sanctuary where you can relax and grow with your plants! Create a Zen or Meditation corner and get some sunlight with your plants while you relax and meditate!

Easiest Care Houseplants

For Plant Parent newbies, there are plenty of low-maintenance selections available. Devil's Ivy or Pothos are great starter plants that quickly trail down your bookshelf.

The highly popular Snake plant boasts an impressive vertical habit and tolerates low light conditions. The easy-to-care-for Rubber Tree purifies the air and gives your living room some bold texture and high style!

For the forgetful waterer, slow-growing Succulents like Echeverias are hardy and drought-tolerant companions. These adaptable plants can even Grow Vertical!

Try an Aloe or a Spider Plant as a wonderful starter plant, or the curious Swiss Cheese Plant that can be a hanging plant, bush or climbing. You'll love the look!

Our #ProPlantPicks include:

Tough-as-nails Cast Iron plant
The serene Peace Lily
The air-purifying ZZ plant
The decorative Chinese Evergreen

Moisture Loving Houseplants

For high humidity varieties, try cute and stylish Terrariums and give your home a stylish showpiece.

There’s a variety of Ferns for indoors that higher humidity locations are perfect for! Tuck a Boston Fern in a hanging basket in a sunny window. Use Ferns as a groundcover around the base of a larger indoor tree! Bathrooms and sunny kitchen windows suit these lacy, airy plants fantastically!

Palm trees work well indoors if your humidity levels are higher, adding graceful finery to bright, indirectly lit locations.

Houseplants that Grow Food

Citrus trees are highly adapted to growing and fruiting indoors! Any brightly lit location that receives 6-8 hours of the full sun gives you a tasty bounty! Today’s smaller Citrus are space-saving, have glossy evergreen foliage, fragrant blossoms, and delightful fruit too!

Try an Improved Dwarf Meyer Lemon, Kaffir Lime, or Clementine Mandarin Orang, or for something more sweet-tart, a Kumquat like Nagami or Meiwa! These not only look delightful but also adorn themselves in dangling juicy gems!

If you have more room, the Frantoio Olive or an Avocado Tree fills your space with greenery! Even newer Banana Trees add a tropical flair to sunny sites without sacrificing space! If they get old enough or large enough, you’ll even see some fruit.

Keeping With the Seasons

Decorate for the Holidays with tabletop trees and seasonal offerings you can plant outside in spring! Ready to decorate, these small evergreens lend their resinous scent to your home.

Only have a sunny windowsill? You can grow herbs, sprout Peppers, force winter-blooming Bulbs, and other Indoor Grow Kits to help you stay connected to your garden in the dead of winter.

Something Blooming

While all plants eventually bloom, not all are the showiest and even fewer are fragrant.

Florist Azaleas are the smaller, floriferous cousins to the larger outdoor hedges. Perfect gift plants, they’re very easy to grow and care for and smother themselves in vibrant, frilly blossoms!

Bromeliad has bracts that remain colorful for long periods of time, while Anthurium holds their unusual blooms for weeks! Fragrant Tea Olives, Jasmine and Gardenia all bloom, while trickier to care for, add fragrant show white blossoms to the fresh greenery!

#ProPlantTips for Houseplant Care

Indoor care during winter and thriving year-round is no secret! The key is to replicate the plant's natural environment indoors. By giving the plant the light, humidity, and watering schedules it would receive in nature. House plants grow best in well-drained, enriched soil.

Houseplants typically grow slower and require less water during the winter months. Reduce fertilizing during the off-months and double-check the soil before giving them their routine watering.

These lower maintenance times of the year allow you to repot root-bound plants, amend the soil, and check health. It’s also a great time to wipe down their foliage! Using a soft cloth, spray with water or use a very mild, diluted soap solution to remove dirt and dust, plus bring back their luster.

Indoor Watering

finger test to see if a plant needs watering

It’s best to water houseplants with filtered or spring water. Tap water often has calcium and minerals that can accumulate. While not damaging for most plants, it can be unsightly.

Always check the soil before watering; touching the surface or poking your finger an inch or so below the surface tells you everything! For smaller plants, just lift the pot and see if it is light or heavy, you’ll know if it’s time to water.

Set up dribble trays and ensure your pots have good drainage to prevent water from sitting at the bottoms and causing root rot.

Trays beneath your pots filled with small rocks, decorative pebbles or other stones, can be kept filled with water to raise the ambient humidity around your plant’s immediate area.

Indoor Lighting Needs

Tropical house plants enjoy humid environments while Succulents and Citrus prefer dry and arid conditions. Choosing the right plant for your space starts by assessing the light conditions in your home. Unlike your outdoor plants, your houseplants want indirect light; too much direct light can scorch the foliage. South or east-facing windows are ideal for bright light to medium light houseplants.

Our #ProPlantPicks for the beginner include the fabulous Croton, arching Spider plant, charming Ponytail Palm, and the sculptural beauty of Jade plants.

For indoor gardeners with dirt under their nails and a sunny window, we recommend Bright Sun houseplants like a trendsetting Fiddle Leaf Fig or the breathtaking Prayer plant.

If light is hard to come by in your home and you don’t have a grow light system, we suggest our Low Light houseplants. Even if you have bright light, these houseplants can be grown a few feet away from your window or protected from direct light by a sheer curtain.

Don’t forget to pick up some houseplant potting soil and plant food to keep your plants happy!

Don’t Let Winter Get You Down!

Let Nature Hills Nursery bring your garden indoors and keep you connected to your plants - even when there is snow outside!

Contact our plant experts today for help finding the right plants for your garden - indoors or out!

Frequently Asked Questions

What fruits can I successfully grow indoors as houseplants?

Growing fruit indoors is absolutely possible with the right selections. Dwarf citrus trees like Meyer Lemon, Calamondin Orange, and Kumquat thrive in containers near a south-facing window with at least 6-8 hours of bright light daily. Figs, Strawberries, and Dwarf Banana plants are also excellent candidates for indoor fruit production. Browse our indoor food plant collection at Nature Hills to find the best variety suited to your space and light conditions.

How do I keep my indoor plants healthy and thriving year-round?

Healthy houseplants depend on matching the right plant to your home's light and humidity conditions, so start by selecting varieties suited to your environment, such as Snake Plants or ZZ Plants for low-light rooms or Boston Ferns for bright, humid spaces like kitchens and bathrooms. Water consistently but carefully, as overwatering is the most common mistake, and drought-tolerant plants like Succulents and Aloe should dry out completely between waterings. Boost air humidity during dry winter months by grouping plants together or placing them near a pebble tray filled with water. Visit naturehills.com to browse our full houseplant selection and find the right variety for every room in your home.

Can I grow flowering plants indoors, and which ones perform best?

Yes, flowering plants can thrive indoors with the right conditions. Peace Lilies are among the top performers, tolerating lower light while producing elegant white blooms, and they also help purify indoor air. Other strong choices include blooming houseplants suited to bright windowsills where they receive several hours of indirect light daily. Start with a Peace Lily or similar low-maintenance bloomer, place it near a north or east-facing window, and water consistently to enjoy reliable color throughout the year.

What are the best fragrant plants to grow indoors?

While the article doesn't specifically cover fragrant houseplants, some excellent choices for indoor fragrance include Jasmine, Gardenia, and Lavender, which thrive in bright indirect to direct sunlight indoors. Citrus trees, Peace Lilies, and Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs are also popular for bringing beautiful scent into the home. Visit naturehills.com to browse our full selection of blooming and fragrant houseplants and find the right fit for your light conditions and space.

Can I grow rosemary indoors, and what does it need to thrive?

Rosemary can absolutely be grown indoors and makes a practical and aromatic addition to any sunny windowsill. It needs at least 6 to 8 hours of bright, direct sunlight daily, so a south-facing window is ideal, or supplement with a grow light placed 6 to 12 inches above the plant. Rosemary prefers temperatures between 55 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, well-draining soil, and infrequent watering, as it is highly susceptible to root rot if kept too wet. Allow the soil to dry out slightly between waterings, ensure your pot has drainage holes, and mist the foliage occasionally to maintain adequate humidity indoors.

How do I care for a rubber plant indoors?

Rubber trees thrive in bright, indirect light and prefer to dry out slightly between waterings, so allow the top inch of soil to dry before watering again. They do best in temperatures between 60 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit and should be kept away from cold drafts or heating vents. Feed your rubber tree with a balanced liquid fertilizer once a month during the growing season from spring through summer, and wipe the large leaves occasionally with a damp cloth to keep them dust-free and maximize their air-purifying potential.

Which indoor plants are easiest to keep alive for beginner gardeners?

For beginner gardeners, some of the most forgiving houseplants include Pothos, Snake Plants, Rubber Trees, and ZZ Plants, all of which tolerate low light and irregular watering with ease. Succulents like Echeverias are ideal if you tend to forget to water, as they are drought-tolerant and slow-growing. Aloe, Spider Plants, and the Swiss Cheese Plant are also excellent starter choices that adapt well to a variety of indoor conditions. Start with one of these resilient varieties, get comfortable with its watering and light needs, and build your confidence before expanding your indoor garden.

How much light do most houseplants need to stay healthy indoors?

Most houseplants thrive in bright, indirect light, ideally placed within 3 to 5 feet of a south- or east-facing window. Low-light tolerant varieties like Snake Plants, ZZ Plants, and Peace Lilies can manage in spots receiving as little as 50 to 100 foot-candles of light. Rotate your plants a quarter turn every week or two to ensure even light exposure on all sides, and consider a grow light during winter months when daylight hours drop significantly.

Should I bring my outdoor container plants inside for the winter?

Many outdoor container plants, especially tropical varieties and those marginally hardy in your zone, will benefit greatly from coming indoors before the first frost hits. Bring them inside when nighttime temperatures consistently drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which typically occurs in fall across most of the country. Before moving them in, inspect plants carefully for pests and give them a thorough rinse to avoid introducing insects into your home. Place them near your brightest window and treat this as an opportunity to expand your indoor garden alongside dedicated houseplants from Nature Hills.

How do I know when my indoor plants need to be watered?

The most reliable method is the finger test: insert your finger about an inch into the soil, and if it feels dry at that depth, it is time to water. Most houseplants prefer to dry out slightly between waterings, though moisture-loving varieties like ferns prefer consistently moist soil while succulents and snake plants can go longer between drinks. Watch for early warning signs like slightly drooping leaves or soil pulling away from the edges of the pot. Always water thoroughly until it drains from the bottom, then empty the saucer to prevent root rot.

Bring the Gardening Inside With Houseplants