1. Callisia repens ‘Pink Bubbles’
The secret to successfully keeping the pink cultivars of Callisia repens indoors is a few hours direct sun daily. I didn’t know that at first: When I got my first ‘Pink Bubbles’ it soon lost all that delicate pink and ended up leggy and green. Without a few hours of direct sun on the regular, those pink leaves quickly revert to green, and the stems stretch, looking for more light. If you don’t catch it quick, it’s not always possible to get your now all-green Callisia repens back to its pink variegated best self again.
2. Bird of paradise (Strelitzia)
The big boat paddle leaves of the orange and blue-flowered Strelitzia reginae and the dramatic inky purple and white-flowered Strelitzia nicolai both make a serious statement indoors. However, if it’s their flowers you love, they may do better outdoors for you. Getting your strelitzia to flower indoors isn’t an easy task. Direct sun is key, ideally a good six-plus hours daily. If you can’t give it that, plug in those grow lights.
3. String of pearls (Senecio rowleyanus)
I call them the zombies of the plant world. As soon as you start giving string of pearls some direct sun daily, they come back to life, so if yours is looking a bit worse for wear, don’t give up! Soon they’ll be lush vines again and if you’re lucky, will bless you with their delightful little cinnamon-scented blooms. If nothing else works, pop them outside in bright shade to recover and bring them back inside to a spot that gets a few hours direct sun daily.
4. Ficus elastica ‘Ruby’ and ‘Tineke’
Most ficus appreciate a few hours of direct sun daily when kept as indoor plants. However, light matters more for the ‘Ruby’ and ‘Tineke’ than their greener or darker leafed cousins, in order to maintain their camo-like variegation. Without bright, indirect light, or ideally a few hours sun bathing daily, both ‘Tineke’ and ‘Ruby’ become less variegated.
5. Dracaena trifasciata
The snake plant’s reclassification from Sansevieria to Dracaena doesn’t seem to have stuck, so if you go looking online or in-stores for this plant, search for Sansevieria and you’ll have more luck. Their other common name, mother-in-law’s tongue, put me off getting this plant at first, not to mention seeing them at every mall, everywhere.