Are you looking for the one ingredient that’s capable of making any room look much better? The answer is indoor plants. After the failure of faux plants, indoor houseplants are back in fashion, and why not. A splatter of healthy greenery in your room can make it feel instantly welcoming and fresh. Another good reason to plant indoor plants is they purify air and in turn create a healthier living place.

Also Read: Plants for a Restful Sleep

Also Read: The Most Easy to Grow Houseplants

1. Burro’s Tail (Sedum morganianum)

A native of Mexico, Burro’s tail is best planted in hanging baskets due to its fat trailing stems. Its beautiful gray-blue or gray-green leaves can grow up to 2 feet long. This plant does best when kept in a spot that receives bright sun.

Growing Tips

  • Let the soil dry out between watering spells, and ensure that soil is kept on a dry side in times of winter dormancy, especially, if you’re growing it in a cool-temperate zone.
  • Fertilize the plant once in summer using a 10:10:10 fertilizer or any cactus fertilizer.
  • Leaves will fall off with the slightest of touches, so it is important the plant is placed where there will be a minimal disturbance.
  • If you have to move it outside for the summer sun, ensure it will acclimate well before keeping it in a full sun.

2. Zebra Cactus (Haworthia fasciata)

Native to the African continent, the zebra plant perch on top of the soil and sports a neat for of leaves which boasts stunning horizontal white stripes. The beauty of this little plant is that it looks exceptional, takes a small space and requires little to no care.

  • Use a shallow pot since the roots don’t penetrate the soil deeply.
  • Repot it at the interval of 12-24 months with the fresh succulent potting mix for optimum growth.
  • Allow the soils to nearly dry out between watering spells. It’s important for all the succulents.
  • The zebra plant is best placed in a bright spot so as not to expose the plant to the direct sun lest it becomes shriveled.

3. Aloe vera

Aloe vera is a medicinal plant, a succulent whose sap has been used to treat sunburn and wounds for centuries. Medicinal value aside, aloe vera is also a great indoor plant. Because the sharp thorns along the margin of the leaves can cut people, the plant is best placed somewhere it can’t be accidentally brushed or fall.

  • Let the soil dry between soakings.
  • Put it where it can get a couple of hours of sunlight daily.
  • Fertilize the plant twice during the growing season using a balanced 10:10:10 fertilizer but don’t fertilize in winter.
  • Do not repot unless the roots start to push their way out of the pot.

Also Read: How to Care for an Aloe Plants

4. Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milii)

Native to Madagascar, this plant can bloom throughout the year provided you give it enough light. Long and spoon-shaped leaves appear at the end of its spiky branches, together with tiny flowers. The flowers are not noticeable because of their small size, but you will see yellow, red or salmon bracts surround them that looks attractive.

  • This plant has low to moderate watering needs.
  • Avoid letting the whole pot dry out or it will drop leaves.
  • Direct light will give you the best bloom although the plant can also adapt to medium-light conditions.
  • Fertilize 2-3 times with a balanced 10:10:10 fertilizer during the growing season.

5. Hens-and-Chicks

The Hens-and-Chick plants are another great succulent group of plants for indoor gardening, they form flat flowerlike rosettes that have rounded edges. These plants need to be allowed to dry a bit between watering since overwatering can cause rotting.

  • Water very infrequently during winter dormancy, if growing in a cooler region.
  • Keep these plants in a bright spot, they can also tolerate light shade.
  • You can propagate the plants by cuttings.

6. String of Bananas

The trailing indoor succulent plant produces long tendrils of small banana-like leaves. The plant looks great when planted on its own and should be pruned regularly to grow thick and full. It also works beautifully when put in a pot containing other succulent indoor plants.

  • It requires filtered sunlight
  • Water the plant when soil is dry to touch
  • It does well in porous soil with excellent drainage.
  • It is toxic, so you need to keep it away from pets and children who might munch it.

7. Lithops

Lithops are unique small and inconspicuous succulent plants that look like stones or pebbles. Growing lithops is very easy and don’t require much care.

  • Keep the plant in a sunny location, a south or west facing window would be best, away from drafts.
  • Grow lithops in poor, well-drained soil.
  • Stop watering your lithops plants in winter (in cooler zones).

8. Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera x buckleyi)

Christmas cactus needs no introduction, it is one of the most beautiful succulent plants, it looks good even without the flowers.

  • For this plant to grow, allow the top 2 inches of the soil to dry between watering spells.
  • Keep the plant on a dry side during winter. When it is in bud stage, be very careful since even the slightest overwatering or dehydration can lead to dropping of buds.

9. Ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata)

Ponytail palm is not a palm but a succulent. Probably, one of the most appealing houseplants and best in large houseplants. Its water is stored in the swollen stem base, which looks like elephant’s foot that’s why it’s also called “Elephant Foot Palm”.

  • It grows well in sunny spots but can be grown in all day long bright indirect sunlight.
  • It’s a plant and forget kind of plant when it comes to watering. Avoid watering regularly and let the top soil dry out before watering again.

10. Snake Plant

The snake plant or Mother-in-law’s tongue the most low maintenance plant in this list of best succulent plants for indoors and it is well-deserved! We also listed it in our post– Plants You can Grow without Sunlight. And why not, this succulent plant can survive in the darkest of corners and requires very low maintenance.

  • Water moderately.
  • As snake plant is a very forgiving plant, you can place it in dim spots.

11. String of Pearls

The string of pearls is an exceptional trailing houseplant, very appealing indoors when grown in hanging baskets. You can experiment to grow it in different containers. Like other succulent houseplants growing string of pearls or beads is no different.

  • Keep the string of pearl plant in a bright light.
  • Be careful with watering, this plant has low watering needs but in warmer regions, moderate watering is required.

12. Panda Plant (Kalanchoe tomentosa)

The silver gray hair of this plant makes it look fuzzy, the leaves are fat like other succulents and have rusty color on edges, like many other plants of kalanchoe genus the plant forms flowers too. However, they rarely bloom in indoor conditions.

  • Keeping the panda plant in a spot that receives bright indirect light and a couple of hours of direct sunlight is a good idea.
  • Water infrequently and let the plant to dry out between the watering spells.
  • Feed the plant once in a month during the growing season.
  • Save the plant from cold and draft, normal room temperature is perfect.

13. Kalanchoe blossfeldiana

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is one of the best flowering houseplants you can grow. Plants of this genus grow best outdoors in warm climates. However, it can be grown indoors. This flowering succulent comes in a variety of colors.

  • Low watering needs.
  • The plant needs to be in a sunny spot to bloom.

Also Read: Flowering Houseplants

14. Pencil Cactus (Euphorbia tirucalli)

Pencil cactus became one of the most popular succulent houseplants from last few years and why not this unique African plant can grow up to 6 feet tall indoors and looks so different, quite a few houseplants like fiddle leaf fig can achieve such height.

  • Keep the plant near a sunny window.
  • Water every couple of weeks, the plant has low watering needs.
  • Use well-drained, gritty soil.
  • Repot the plant every year or when you find it rootbound.

Pin it!

  • David McAden

  • January 15, 2018 At 4:08 am

  • Pencil Cactus exude a white sap that can be lethal to pets and small children and can blind a person if they rub their eyes after getting the sap on his/her hands.

  • Reply

  • Bambi Alford

  • April 9, 2019 At 12:16 pm

  • Wow, Thanks for informing .

  • Reply

  • Suzette Veilleux

  • May 29, 2018 At 2:35 am

  • Thanks for that advice!!

  • Reply

  • Suzanne Reed

  • June 17, 2018 At 11:34 pm

  • The sap of the pencil cactus is as dangerous as lye. It causes severe burns and it cannot be rinsed off early and must be removed with a solvent. If you accidentally were to rub your eyes your corneas would be burned and you would go blind. This is not speculating it has happened. It should not be sold as a houseplant.

  • Reply

  • Roger Bells

  • October 21, 2019 At 6:49 pm

  • Great article. Idk why but snake plant has always been my favorite. But I read somewhere that they’re poisonous to pets. Is it really true?

  • Reply

  • NICHOLE M SCHUSTERITSCH

  • December 20, 2020 At 8:32 pm

  • Do other Snake plants do well indoors? Like Draecena ‘Moonshine’?

  • Reply

  • Hannah

  • April 21, 2022 At 11:18 pm

  • Your suggestions are always matters to me. Specially when we talk about best indoor gardening stuff.

  • Thanks for this article.

  • Reply

  • MikeC

  • July 10, 2020 At 2:23 am

  • The same applies to Crown of Thorns – Euphorbia millii. All Euphorbias contain a milky sap that is caustic in various degrees. In some species this sap is under pressure so if you (or a grazing animal) break a bit off it can spit out at you. A very interesting group of plants with many kinds but best kept outside I’d say.

  • Reply

  • Debbie

  • October 29, 2020 At 8:17 am

  • Very good info! I’m excited to start a succulent garden.

  • Reply

  • Bambi Alford

  • April 9, 2019 At 12:16 pm

  • Wow, Thanks for informing .

  • Reply

Pencil Cactus exude a white sap that can be lethal to pets and small children and can blind a person if they rub their eyes after getting the sap on his/her hands.

Wow, Thanks for informing .

Thanks for that advice!!

The sap of the pencil cactus is as dangerous as lye. It causes severe burns and it cannot be rinsed off early and must be removed with a solvent. If you accidentally were to rub your eyes your corneas would be burned and you would go blind. This is not speculating it has happened. It should not be sold as a houseplant.

  • NICHOLE M SCHUSTERITSCH
  • December 20, 2020 At 8:32 pm
  • Do other Snake plants do well indoors? Like Draecena ‘Moonshine’?
  • Reply
  • Hannah
  • April 21, 2022 At 11:18 pm
  • Your suggestions are always matters to me. Specially when we talk about best indoor gardening stuff.
  • Thanks for this article.
  • Reply

Great article. Idk why but snake plant has always been my favorite. But I read somewhere that they’re poisonous to pets. Is it really true?

Do other Snake plants do well indoors? Like Draecena ‘Moonshine’?

Your suggestions are always matters to me. Specially when we talk about best indoor gardening stuff. Thanks for this article.

The same applies to Crown of Thorns – Euphorbia millii. All Euphorbias contain a milky sap that is caustic in various degrees. In some species this sap is under pressure so if you (or a grazing animal) break a bit off it can spit out at you. A very interesting group of plants with many kinds but best kept outside I’d say.

Very good info! I’m excited to start a succulent garden.

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