- Chinese evergreens are big potted plants that are easy to care for.Jill Fromer/Photodisc/Getty Images
The shapes, colors and textures of indoor plants often add the finishing touches to interior decor, providing a bridge between outdoors and indoors, creating feelings of comfort and serenity. Live plants have an advantage over silk and artificial plants because they clean the air and grow over time if tended well. Big potted plants create drama and interesting backdrops by drawing nature into interior environments. - Split-leaf philodendron (Monstera deliciosa) is a popular houseplant also known as the Swiss cheese plant because of its unique leaves. The large, glossy green leaves are heart-shaped, deeply lobed and feature oblong perforations. Monstera is a tropical vine native to Central America. In its natural habitat, it grows high in the rain forest canopy on tree trunks and branches, dangling long, thick roots. Indoors, it needs indirect light and humidity to grow well, and will reach 4 to 5 feet tall if tended well.
- Rubber trees (Ficus elastica) are attractive plants native to Asia and Australia. They have large, thick oval leaves in dark green or variegated green and white or pink. They require bright indirect light, moist, rich soil and frequent fertilization to grow well indoors. Regular watering but not overwatering is important to rubber trees. The large leaves may need occasional dusting. Rubber trees are hardy, adaptable plants that do well indoors and grow up to 10 feet tall if planted in successively larger pots.
- Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema spp.) is a perennial native to Asia that features long oval leaves with attractive variegated patterns in green and white. Chinese evergreen is a hardy plant that grows in a variety of light conditions with little attention other than warmth and water; the plants don't do well if left to dry out. The plant has an attractive upright growth habit, with stems and leaves growing from the center crown in a fountain-like manner. Some species can reach 5 feet tall.
- Schefflera (Brassaia actinophylla), also called umbrella tree because of the distinctive growth pattern of its leaves, is native to Australia. It is an easy-maintenance and long-lived indoor plant that grows from 5 to 10 feet in the right conditions. To grow well it needs consistent warmth, bright light and regular -- but not too much -- watering and feeding. Schefflera is not drought-tolerant but requires less water in winter, when it goes dormant, than during the spring and summer growing seasons.
- Snake plant (Sansevieria spp.), also called mother-in-law's tongue, is an evergreen perennial plant native to tropical Africa. It has tall, stiff, waxy dark green leaves growing from a central crown that reach up to 4 feet high. The leaves feature horizontal yellow or white stripes and yellow vertical edges and are sharp at the edges and tips. The plant sends up new plantlets from underground rhizomes. It tolerates infrequent watering and low light conditions but will not survive overwatering. Several pots of snake plants in a row make an attractive screen or backdrop in interior spaces.
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