What plant should I put in my bedroom corner?
Q. You guys! Cam here. I have a plant question and you seem like the obvious place to go for answers. 😂
I have a dark-ish corner that gets little natural light where I currently have a potted palm that isn’t thriving… not dying, just kinda sad. That corner really needs a tall-ish plant! What can I put there that has decent height but will be ok in limited light? Any advice?
Hey Cam!
I’d recommend an India Rubber Fig (Ficus elastica) any of the Dracaena varieties, a large Chinese Evergreen, (Aglaonema) like ‘Emerald Bay’, or a White Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai) if you want a large, tall plant for this corner. All of these are fantastic plants that will tolerate lower light, grow easily indoors, and have the upright growth and size to create a good effect in that corner.
Alternatively, you could use a narrow plant stand and put a shorter but bushy plant on top, like a Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum), smaller Chinese evergreen, ZZ plant (Zamioculcus zamiifolia), Snake Plant (Sansevieria), or one of the self-heading Philodendrons that stay compact, like ‘Prince of Orange’, ‘Moonlight’, or ‘Black Cardinal’. This is also a great way to group a few plants together, perhaps one large statement plant to give height, and some smaller ones clustered around it to provide texture, color, and contrast. Any of the trailing Philodendrons, Hoyas, or a Staghorn Fern (Platycerium) would be great accents to include.
But if you want to stick with indoor palms, the ones I recommend from personal experience are the Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa) and the Parlor Palm (Chamaedorea elegans) - both are great with typical indoor lighting and lower humidity. Most of the dramatic palms you can get inexpensively at hardware stores (the Majesty Palm, Ravenea rivularis, and Areca Palm, Dypsis lutescens) are young specimens of species that become humongous plants, making them good outdoor plants in warm climates, but they tend to suffer with lower light indoors - without direct sun they tend to grow slowly with weak, stretched foliage, and this stress leaves them susceptible to pests like spider mites. Ironically, they love moisture, but without bright light, won’t be growing fast enough to make use of it, and this contributes to root rot. These palms tend to be short-lived temporary house plants, and can definitely serve a decorative purpose as long as you aren’t expecting them to be around for years. Though I don’t have one in my collection, a palm that I’ve been casually interested in is the Kentia Palm (Howea forsteriana) because it is reputed to be far better indoors than the Majesty or Areca palm, but still offering the exotic palm ambiance and generous size.
Best of luck with your indoor garden, and let us know what you end up doing for this corner!
- Matthew
UPDATE: Cam selected a beautiful Parlor Palm, Chamaedorea elegans, for this corner just in time for the holidays, and has moved the previous palm outdoors where it can enjoy the Southern Californian sun. Thanks for sending an update, Cam!
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Cam is one of the cohosts of one of our favorite Queer Podcasts, My Best Friend’s Journal. I highly recommend giving them a listen, especially if you, too, were a musical theatre kid. Thanks for writing to us, Cam!
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