Low Light Houseplants That Survive in Our Small Flat

Our first flat together faced north, looked onto a brick wall, and killed every plant we brought home within about six weeks. We kept buying the pretty ones from the supermarket by the till, watching them yellow, and feeling vaguely guilty. It took a few years, and roughly 120 pounds of dead greenery, before we worked out which low light houseplants actually survive in a small, dim flat and which ones were never going to make it.

This is the short list that lives with us now, plus the habits that keep them going without turning the flat into a jungle or the windowsill into a hospital ward.

How dark is your flat, really

"Low light" on a plant label usually means "tolerates some shade," not "lives in a corridor." Before buying anything, we now do a simple test. At midday on a bright day, hold your hand about 30 cm above the spot where the plant will sit. If your hand casts a sharp shadow, that is bright indirect light. A soft, blurry shadow is medium light. A barely visible shadow is low light. No shadow at all means nothing will thrive there for long, and you are buying decoration, not a plant.

A free light meter app on a phone is surprisingly useful too. Most of the plants below are happy from around 500 to 2,000 lux. Our hallway reads 80 lux, which explains a lot about the fern we lost there.

Distance matters more than people expect. Light drops off fast as you move away from a window. A spot two metres back from a north-facing window can get a quarter of the light the sill gets.

The low light houseplants that have lasted for us

These are the plants that have survived at least two winters in our flat, ranked roughly from hardest to kill to slightly fussier.

ZZ plant and snake plant

These two are the backbone of our flat. The ZZ sits on a bookshelf about three metres from the window and has put out new stems every summer. The snake plant lives in the bedroom, which stays cool and fairly dim. Both store water in their roots and leaves, so the real danger is overwatering, not dryness. We water them when the soil is completely dry all the way down, which in winter can mean once a month.

Devil's ivy and heartleaf philodendron

If you want something trailing off the top of a cupboard, these are the ones. They grow slower in low light and the leaves get smaller, but they keep going. Every spring we cut the long strands back and root the cuttings in a jam jar of water on the windowsill. That is how one 6 pound pot became five plants, a couple of which we gave to friends.

Peace lily

The peace lily is the drama queen of the list. It wilts flat when thirsty and perks up within hours of a drink. Honestly, that makes it a useful tool for forgetful people, because it tells you exactly when to water. It will not flower much in low light, though, so buy it for the leaves.

Watering is where most plants die

Every plant we killed in that first flat drowned. Less light means a plant uses less water, so soil stays wet longer and the roots rot. Our habits now:

1. Check with a finger, not a calendar. Push a finger about 3 cm into the soil. If it is damp, wait.
2. Keep plants in their plastic nursery pot inside a decorative one. Lift it out to water at the sink, let it drain for ten minutes, then put it back. No puddle sitting at the bottom.
3. Halve watering from October to March. Shorter days mean slower growth.
4. Use room temperature water. We leave a jug on the counter overnight.

A small flat also has humidity quirks. Drying clothes inside raises moisture in winter, which the ferns love and the snake plant does not mind. Our notes on drying laundry indoors in a small flat without the damp cover keeping that moisture from turning into mould.

Why we stopped believing plants fix stale air

You will see low light houseplants sold as "air purifying," usually with a reference to an old NASA study. We bought into that for a while and filled a corner with five plants hoping the flat would feel fresher. It did not. The original research was done in small sealed chambers, and later work has suggested you would need an enormous number of plants per square metre to match what simply opening a window does in a few minutes.

So we treat plants as something nice to look after and look at, not as equipment. If the flat feels stuffy, we open the windows for ten minutes in the morning and run the extractor fan while cooking. That actually works. The plants are just there because a dim flat feels warmer and more lived in with a few green things around.

Fitting plants in without cluttering a small flat

We set ourselves a limit of eight plants, which keeps watering to about ten minutes a week. A few tricks that stop them taking over:

• Use height. A trailing pothos on top of the wardrobe takes zero floor space.
• One larger plant reads better than four tiny ones dotted around.
• Wall shelves or a single plant stand by the brightest window.
• Skip anything that needs a grow light unless you really want the gadget.

We plan plant spots the same way we plan storage, which is covered in our guide to one bedroom flat storage ideas that work for two people. For more small-flat ideas, browse the rest of our home section.

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest houseplant for a dark room?

The ZZ plant and snake plant are the easiest for dim rooms because they store water and grow slowly. They cope with neglect better than almost anything else. Water only when the soil has dried out completely, which may be once every three to four weeks.

Can a plant survive in a room with no windows?

Not for long without artificial light. Even shade-tolerant plants need some light to photosynthesise, so a windowless bathroom will slowly starve them. If you want greenery there, rotate a plant back to a brighter spot every week or use a small LED grow light.

How often should I water plants in low light?

Less often than you think, because plants in low light use water slowly. Check the soil with a finger and water only when the top few centimetres are dry. In winter, many low light plants need water only every two to four weeks.