Snake Plant

Snake Plant

Snake Plant

If you're looking for an easy-care houseplant, you can't do much better than snake plant. This hardy indoor is still popular today -- generations of gardeners have called it a favorite -- because of how adaptable it is to a wide range of growing conditions. Most snake plant varieties have stiff, upright, sword-like leaves that may be banded or edged in gray, silver, or gold. Snake plant's architectural nature makes it a natural choice for modern and contemporary interior designs. It's one of the best houseplants around! Grow snake plant in just about any room of your home. While it tolerates low light, snake plant grows fastest in bright conditions.

As long as you water it now and again, it's tough to underwater this hardy houseplant. Water snake plant when the top inch or so of the soil dries. Take care not to overwater it -- allow the top inch of the potting mix to dry in between waterings.

Snake plant doesn't require much fertilizer, but will grow a little more if it is fertilized a couple of times during the spring and summer. You can use any fertilizer for houseplants; follow the directions on the fertilizer packaging for tips on how much to use.

Snake plant doesn't require pruning because it's such a slow grower.

The Snake Plant, or Mother-in-Law's Tongue, is one of the most recommended plants for improving air quality. The optimal place to keep this relatively inexpensive and low-maintenance plant is the bedroom, because it converts CO2 into oxygen at night.

In its roundup of the best cheap plants for improving indoor air quality, Wisebread notes that Mother-in-Law's Tongue is recommended by a NASA study (which lists at least a dozen air-improving plants) and researcher Kamal Meattle, who has shown us that just three common houseplants can improve indoor air.