9 Surprisingly Best Low-Light Houseplants You Need To Own
Inside: The lighting in your home pretty much sucks. You want to own plants but struggle to figure out which ones will survive in the dark corners of your home. These are the 9 of the best low-light houseplants plants you need to own.
This isn’t your typical article for low-light plants. In fact, the plants listed in this article may surprise you as flourishing in a low-light situation.
Sure, there are the typical Pothos, ZZ, and Snake Plants, but there are some other plants you would have never imagined would do so well in a very low-light situation.
Low light, doesn’t mean NO LIGHT. Everything needs light to grow (except if you’re an angler fish or some other deep-sea dweller that’s never seen light in their life).
These are the top 9 best low-light houseplants that will survive in low light
While everyone’s home conditions may vary, if you find your plant isn’t doing well in a location that’s supposedly “considered ideal”, you may want to consider moving it for a few days to a different location with different lighting.
Aloe Plant
According to The Old Farmers Almanac, aloe plants should be located in an area that offers bright, indirect sunlight (or, artificial sunlight) such as a south or west-facing window; however the moment I placed my aloe plant in an area that doesn’t get much-filtered light and is adjacent to a northern window, it began to grow exponentially.
Peachy Aloe Plant Personal Experience
My aloe plant is 4 feet away from my supplemental lighting, and the light doesn’t shine directly onto the plant.
Split-leaf Philodendron
A split-leaf philodendron requires medium to bright light, however, it does surprisingly well in low-light conditions.
Peachy Split Leaf Philodendron Personal Experience
These plants came to me as small plants in 4-inch pots, in May of 2020.
Not sure where to put them, I placed them in an area adjacent to a North-facing window. They were doing wonderfully. After reading how split-leaf philodendrons require more light, I moved them closer to my supplemental lighting.
When I moved it closer to the light, it started to decline. When I moved them back by 2 feet away from the direction of my supplemental light leaning more towards an area that doesn’t receive much light during the day, the plant began to remedy itself and is now flourishing.
Arrowhead plant (Syngonium)
An arrowhead plant thrives in low to medium light. This plant is perfect for areas that don’t get a lot of lighting.
Peachy Arrowhead Plant Personal Experience
My four Syngonium each thrive in different lighting. The white butterfly was doing amazingly well sitting adjacent to my North-facing window, where I have another arrowhead plant that lives smack dab in the middle of South and north-facing windows. This plant is growing so fast, that I decided to put the white butterfly next to it.
Guess what happened?
Brown and yellow leaves. The plant hated it in that spot and it was moved back to its original home to recover from spending two weeks in another location.
My Pink Syngonium is doing great in an area that gets very low light. This plant is under my supplemental lighting and it’s growing like gangbusters.
The mini Syngonium was adjacent to the North-facing window and it was dying. Once moved closer to the south window it started growing.
Waffle plant
A waffle plant is known to require bright indirect light in order to maintain its beautiful deep purple color; however, you can grow a beautiful waffle plant in a low-light setting.
Peachy Waffle Plant Personal Experience
Out of the two waffle plants that lived in our home, the one to survive is the one that’s situated in a low-light area. due to the location of this plant, it doesn’t receive any supplemental lighting. The color has not diminished and the plant is flourishing.
Dieffenbachia
The dieffenbachia prefers filtered sunlight or partial shade. The great thing about a dieffenbachia is, that they will also tolerate full shade. This is not to say, the plant may struggle in full shade, but it’s a great option if that’s the only lighting you have in your home.
Peachy dieffenbachia Plant Personal Experience
I purchased this dieffenbachia in an arrangement from the grocery store. All I knew was it enjoyed fluorescent lighting as the plant was doing spectacular. Once I brought it home and removed it from the arrangement, I placed it in another area of my living room that is adjacent to the North-facing window. It did not receive any supplemental lighting. According to everything I read, they can tolerate shade and I felt it was a great place to put it.
Needless to say, my dieffenbachia started to struggle and lose leaves. Not sure what to do, I immediately placed it on my planter shelf that sits on the left side of the North-facing window (instead of the right side).
This is the darkest part of my living quarters; however, if a plant is struggling, and I place it there, it started to bounce back.
Calathea Medallion
Calathea’s which are one of the hardest plants to keep are touted as doing best in medium to bright indirect light. You can place a Calathea Medallion in an area that’s very low-lit, but it will require some sort of supplemental lighting.
Peachy Calathea Medallion Plant Experience
This is the type of plant you love and hate at the same time. I can’t tell you how many times, I’ve brought this plant back from near death.
I own 3 Calathea medallions. One is in my bathroom next to an East-facing window and the other two are located in the dark abyss of my home. Although they don’t grow at rapid speed, they do continue to shoot out new growth on a constant basis.
Bonnie Curly Spider Plant
Spider plants love medium to bright indirect light; however, they will tolerate a low light environment.
Peachy Bonnie Curly Spider Plant Experience
When I received this plant from an Etsy seller it came to me with root rot; however, I managed to save one leaf. I placed the sole survivor in a terracotta pot and placed it in the bathroom near the East-facing window. she didn’t do too well there.
I then decided to move her to the dark abyss and before I knew it, that one leaf sprouted two more leaves and now she’s giving me a new shoot on a monthly basis. Although this plant is still very small, I do have high hopes for her.
Alocasia Black Velvet
The black velvet alocasia is perfect for those who have a north-facing window. If you want your plant to flower, you’ll need to place it in an area that has bright indirect light.
Peachy Alocasia Black Velvet personal experience
When I received my black velvet I decided to place it next to my Alocasia Polly that sat directly in front of the North-facing window. If my Polly was doing great, then so should the black velvet.
With plants, nothing is as easy as we have hoped. This particular plant either got into a plant feud with the Polly or it thought hanging out with the rest of the plants in the dark abscess sounded like a cool idea.
To my dismay, she wasn’t happy in her original spot, so I moved her to the abyss. She is now doing great and is so happy. The interesting thing is, these plants technically are slow growers; however, she’s getting taller every week.
Pony Tail Palm
As with any type of palm, ponytail palms are no exception to needing bright light; or do they?
Peachy Ponytail Palm Experience
From day one, my ponytail palm has been holding strong in the planter shelf in the abyss. She sat a good 2-3 feet away from the supplemental lighting and she was doing great. She was pushing out new growth every month.
Although, I wouldn’t recommend any of these plants to be placed in a room without a window. If you’re looking for a plant to place in the bathroom and it doesn’t have a window, I would suggest either replacing the lightbulbs with grow lights (white not purple..heck, this isn’t the Seventies anymore), and keeping the lights on during the day.
Do you have any of these low-light houseplants?
Do you have any of these low-light houseplants listed above? If so, do you find these plants are working out for you in a low-light situation?
Stay Peachy!
