Houseplants have numerous benefits such as filtering your air and improving your state of mind. I spoke to Ben Brown, an employee at Leafy in Palo Alto, about the best houseplants for different environments. “I think [plants] are very noble, very beautiful,” Brown said. 

Brown’s personal favorite houseplant is the Lemon Lime Maranta Plant. The Lemon Lime Maranta plant thrives in filtered sunlight and requires no special fertilizers. It originates from South America. 

He says that the easiest low-maintenance houseplants are snake plants and ZZ plants because snake plants have low soil nutrient requirements. ZZ plants make especially good indoor houseplants because they filter toxins out of the air. Both plants are hardy and can withstand a wide variety of light and water conditions. Snake plants come from tropical Western Africa, and Zz plants originate from Africa.

The Calathea plant, a tropical plant originally from tropical areas in Africa, is excellent for people who tend to overwater their plants because it thrives in damp soil. On the other hand, desert plants are best for people who travel or often forget to water their plants because they do well in dry soil. “Succulents are always a good way to go,” Brown said. 

If your room has an abundance of light, consider a plant such as a fiddle leaf fig or a ficus. Fiddle leaf fig plants originate from rainforests in Western Africa. However, fiddle leaf figs can be difficult to care for due to their high light needs and need for a warm, humid environment. Ficus plants come from tropical areas in East Asia. 

“One of the big things that people skip [when caring for their plants is] giving their plants humidity,” Brown said. “The leaves like to be misted, especially the ones that come from tropical areas.”