My very first houseplant

Hi Everyone! I am BRAND new to gardening and would like to start keeping houseplants in my apartment. I'd eventually like to keep plants on my patio when the weather gets warmer. Anyway, I need advice!
My apartment does not get a whole lot of sunlight and I have never had a houseplant before. Can anyone suggest some plants to get? Tips for caring for my plants?
I am really excited to start gardening. I love flowers and plants :-)
Thanks!

SaritaAnita: Welcome to The Garden. You will Love it here! So many nice people with great information! There are many houseplants that like low light and work great indoors in low light areas! Just a few that I can think of right off the top of my head are:

Chinese Evergreen
Peace Lily
Mother In Law's Tongue/Sanseveria/Snake Plant
Neanthe Bella Palm
Ferns
Fittonia/Vein Plant
Philodendron Heart Leaf (the ones you see in hanging baskets)
Pothos (Devil's Ivy)
Draceana

If you click on this link: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/685469/ - on a previous forum a bunch of us were talking about our favorite house plants for low light. You might get some ideas here!

Have fun, and before long you will be hooked and become a plant addict like the rest of us!

SaritaAnita: Welcome to The Garden.

Thanks so much for the list! I knew about Chinese evergreen, but will definitely look up the others. Thanks again!

Hi SaritaAnita ~ what a pretty name. I have a few favorites that I began with and have been "hooked" for life. I love the Sanseviera also known as snake plant or mother in laws tongue. There are many varieties and sizes. Most require little or no maintenance or light. I also love the Aspidistra Elatior or cast iron plant. This plant was a parlor favorite in Victorian days. Any of these types of plants will open up many new doors for you. Best wishes and hope to see you in Daves Garden... pod

I had posted a thread back in August, I believe it was the thirteenth or so. I did not receive any feedback regarding the dieffenbachia. Is it because no one knows or did I miss the forum? The title was Dieffenbachia needs help.

Thanks

Perhaps you could bump your original post up to see if someone has an answer for you? Posting here, hardly anyone will know you're looking for an answer to something.

Go to MY INFO, scroll down and on the left will be ACTIONS. In there will be VIEW THREADS Blu73jay has started. Search there for your original post.

Or you could start a new one.

blu73jay, what is it about your plant? From the picture, it looks as if it may not be getting enough light.

I don't get much light in my apartment either. When I first got into having houseplants last winter, I used clamp lights to start basil and parsley seeds in my hallway. When the weather got nice again... I installed shelves in my kitchen windows so they could grow in natural sunlight.

Since then my collection of plants has gotten bigger, and I've been starting cuttings because sometimes I can't bear to throw away nice pinched bits. My window shelves almost can't accommodate them all. Winter will be here before we know it... so I'm going to have to move the smaller ones back into the hallway under the clamp lights.

I totally recommend you get some clamp lights for your houseplants. They're inexpensive, usually no more than $6-7 at places like Home Depot. Plus, since they're relatively small, unlike fancy grow stations - they can be clamped above any plant, anywhere. So you could install a hanging basket plant in the darkest, windowless room, and clamp a light for it onto the bracket you used to hang the plant.

Here's a pic of my first attempt at indoor gardening last year, with the lights. I learned that when starting from seeds, I should have had the lights a LOT closer to the baby plants - because the light was too far away for them. Oddly enough, too... the plants preferred to grow towards the regular curly florescent bulbs more than the fancy "grow bulb". But, if you've got 6" plants that are already ready, they'd probably do fine with the light about a foot or two away.

Hi SaritaAnita! You're going to love it here. Good call on growing some houseplants. They will bring you joy and a feeling of accomplishment without making you fat, raising your blood pressure or costing you a fortune. I have yet to meet anyone who regrets getting into growing plants. Just beware....it's addictive! As for low light plants, I like the draceanas, sanseverias and chinese evergreens, as mentioned above. All three have countless varieties. You could have a wide variety of plants, all looking very different, yet all be draceanas. Same for the other 2 groups. You are almost assured of success with a minimum of work. Home Depot and Lowe's usually have a good selection of them too. Good Luck! We're glad to have you here.