The first time I saw the plant, it looked almost like a fake. Three long, striped leaves growing confidently toward a window that didn’t get much sun, wedged between a radiator and a pile of delivery boxes in a small flat on the fourth floor. December pushed its grey forehead against the glass outside. This one, stubborn burst of green was the only thing that felt awake inside.
The owner shrugged. “I forget to water it for weeks and it just doesn’t care,” she said, feeling both guilty and impressed.
This kind of plant is strange in that way. It lives on when most others die, but some people are now saying that keeping such a warrior inside might be secretly cruel.
The plant that won’t die… even in a flat that looks like a cave
If you live in a place with very little light, you’ll find a special type of houseplant. The studio faces north, but the window is blocked by the building across the street. The curtains are drawn because the neighbours are too nosy. You bring home a normal plant, and it fights for a few months before giving up in a sad, yellowing silence.
Then one day, someone gives you a “low-light” champion. A pothos, a snake plant, or a ZZ plant. You put it in a corner that hardly gets any light, forget about it for a month, and then you see new shoots. The plant is more than just alive. It’s doing well.
A friend of mine lives in a small flat in Paris where the hallway never gets direct sunlight. Two years ago, she put a small ZZ plant near the door as a decoration to cover up the peeling paint.
The plant has grown twice as big since then. No grow lights, no hard-to-use potting mix, and no special fertiliser. A hallway lamp that glows softly and tap water every few weeks.
When guests come, they always ask, “How is this even alive here?” She laughs and then, a little embarrassed, says that the plant is probably healthier than she is.
The answer is pretty simple from a botanical point of view. Plants like snake plants and ZZ plants came from places with little light, like understories, or harsh climates where they had to learn how to save energy.
They store water in fleshy rhizomes or thick leaves, grow slowly, and use the little light they get very well, so they can live in low light. That sounds like a perfect match for someone who lives in an apartment.
Are we really loving them, or are we just using them as green furniture?
If you’ve ever moved a tough houseplant closer to the window and seen its leaves get darker, you’ve seen a hint of the truth. These “low-light” species don’t love the dark; they just handle it better than most.
One easy way to do this is to just do it. Put the plant in the brightest indirect light that your home can reasonably offer, and then let it show you how easy it is to care for. Every few weeks, turn the pot a quarter turn. Water only when the soil is dry, and don’t think that slow growth means failure. The plant is taking its time.
A lot of people make the same mistake: they hear “low light” and think “no light.” The plant ends up on a shelf in the bathroom with no window or in a corner where the sun hasn’t been since the 1990s.
The leaves stay green and strong at first. Months later, growth stops, stems become thin and pale, and new leaves come out smaller and weaker. The plant isn’t having a fit. It stays alive by going into energy-saving mode, like a phone that is stuck on 1% battery.
We’ve all been there: that moment when you see a plant that is technically alive but not doing well, and you feel a pang of guilt for something that doesn’t have a voice.
We also don’t talk about the mental side very often. We buy hardy plants because they can handle our busy lives, not the other way around. They can handle being watered late, having stale air, and having dust on their leaves for weeks.
To be honest, no one really does this every day.
But some ethical gardeners and botanists are starting to fight back. They say that calling a plant “indestructible” makes people think of it as a decoration instead of a living thing with natural likes, dislikes, rhythms, and limits. Even if a plant can handle anything, it can still want something. Light. New air. There is room to grow, even if it takes a long time.
How to take care of a “hardy” indoor plant without losing its wild side
You don’t have to turn your flat into a greenhouse to keep these strong species inside and still meet their natural needs. Don’t think of it as a complete life change, but rather as a “gentle upgrade.”
Start by drawing a map of the light in your home. Stand where you want to put the plant and look at your phone screen. If you can’t read a book there during the day without turning on a lamp, that spot is too dark for even a tough plant. Put it closer to a window, but use a thin curtain to keep the harsh midday sun out.
Once a month, use a soft cloth to quickly wipe the leaves. This will keep dust from blocking the little light they get. It takes two minutes and makes a big difference without making a sound.
One of the biggest mistakes people make with hardy plants is thinking they can be neglected because they are tough. People say, “It’s fine, it’s a snake plant, it doesn’t care,” and they only water it once every three months and never repot it.
Instead of seeing the plant as an unbreakable object, see it as a low-maintenance friend. Instead of sticking to a strict schedule, feel the soil with your finger. If the roots are going around the bottom of the pot, go up one size, not three, to keep the soil from getting too wet.
You’re not the only one who feels bad about keeping a naturally outdoor species inside. If that guilt pushes you to make small, consistent changes instead of big, unsustainable ones, it can be helpful.
Last year, I spoke with a plant scientist who said, “The problem isn’t that we’re bringing hardy plants inside.” The problem comes when we stop thinking of them as wild creatures and start thinking of them as green plastic things.
She said to think of the indoor version as a distant cousin of its wild relatives, who still have the same instincts. It wants light, even if it’s dim. It needs air to move around, even if it’s just a cracked window once a day. It wants a season of rest and a season of growth, even if it’s small.
To put that into practice every day, think about small, repeatable habits:
- Put your hardy plant in the brightest place you can find that isn’t direct sunlight.
- Water when the soil is dry, not on a certain day written down in your calendar.
- Let in fresh air every now and then by opening a window or door for ten minutes.
- Repot every one to two years so the roots don’t get stuck and die.
- The plant’s quiet language is in the colour, texture, and posture of its leaves.
These five changes make “survival mode” a lot more like a modest, urban version of thriving.
Having a plant that could outlive you
When you start to pay attention, hardy houseplants make you think: are we choosing them because they fit our lifestyle or because they forgive us for not being there?
It’s not easy to answer, and maybe that’s the point. A tough plant in a dark flat is a way to meet both human needs and the needs of plants. It won’t have the same wind, bugs, or full sun that its ancestors did. But in return, it gets protection from frost, drought, and being stepped on.
You can’t give them a perfect wild habitat, but you can give them a relationship that understands what the plant is meant to do. When you can, give it more light, be patient with its slow growth, and be a little curious about where it came from instead of just treating it like background wallpaper.
If you look at the corner of your room right now and see a green streak that won’t go away, maybe the real question isn’t “Is it wrong to keep it inside?” but “What small thing could I change so that it not only stays in my home, but also likes it?”
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Main pointDetail: What the reader gets out of it
| Main point | Detail: What the reader gets out of it |
|---|---|
| Plants that are hardy can handle low light, but not no light. | They adapted to live in the shade, but they still need bright, indirect light to really grow.Helps you find the best place for your plant in a dark house |
| Being strong doesn’t mean you can ignore things. | Snake plants, ZZ plants, and other similar plants can live with little care, but they will grow fuller with a little extra attention.Shows how small changes can turn a sick plant into a healthy one |
| Small, consistent acts of kindness are what ethical care is all about. | Wiping leaves, repotting every now and then, and letting more air flow through the plant are all ways to honour its wild origins.Lets you enjoy plants inside without worrying about their health. |
