I’ve always wanted to raise a plant, but until recently, I was too scared to try. I wasn’t confident in my ability to water on a schedule or provide the right sunlight. I feared that any plant of mine wouldn’t last long. However, everything is worth trying once, and I felt like my transition to college was as good a time to experiment as any. So I bought a plant. And then another. And now I have a total of three lovely plant children to keep me company in my room every day.
Why am I suddenly collecting more plants? How did I switch from being terrified of raising one, to confidently taking on three at once? Well, the reason is quite simple: plants make me happy. They keep me grounded, give me something rewarding to focus on. In general, they seem to benefit my mental health, even if only in small ways. Taking a moment out of my day to slow down and check my plants’ leaves, or make sure they don’t need watering, or move them into a better patch of sunlight, is beginning to feel like a self-care routine. It’s relaxing and pleasant, and nothing makes me prouder than when I see my plants perk up and know I’ve done well.
I love having plants in my life, and I want everyone else to have a similarly pleasant experience. This is where my expertise comes in, which has been garnered over a whopping month and a half of college plant-owning. There’s a plant out there for everyone, and I’m determined to help you try and find yours. Below is a list of the most durable dorm plants.
- Pothos plants
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When I first embarked on my college journey, I brought two plants with me, and a pothos plant was one of them. So, I speak from experience when I say that these plants are both tough and beautiful. One of the main reasons they survive so well in a dorm room setting is that they only need indirect sunlight, so if you’ve only got light coming in from one window, don’t sweat it. My pothos plant has done fine on the shelf beside my single window, even when the curtains are closed for extended periods of time. Pothos plants are also great because they tell you when they need to be watered; if their leaves start drooping, that means it’s time for a drink. Once they get one, they revive in a matter of hours. A final interesting feature of a pothos plant is the variety of ways they can be grown. If you have a fresh pothos cutting, you can place it in water rather than soil and it will grow happily there. If you have a hanging planter, that’s also a viable option; pothos are viney plants and may eventually grow enough to drape over the sides of the planter in quite an elegant manner. Or, if you want to use a traditional pot — as I have with my pothos — then it will thrive there, too! The possibilities are endless with pothos plants.
- Succulents
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When people think of easy plants, one of the first that comes to mind is usually succulents. The main benefit of this diverse group of plants is that most don’t need to be watered as much as other plants, so they can stand up to a certain amount of neglect. This is perfect if you’re worried you’ll forget to water your plant, but not as great if you tend to be someone who overwaters. Succulents also come in a range of sizes, so you can find plenty of cute, little ones that will fit snugly in rooms where space is tight (which, I must admit, is often the case in college). Another advantage of succulents is that they do not often need full sunlight. However, they still prefer more sunlight than the other plants on this list, so take that into consideration if you are going to buy one.
- Air Plants
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This is another personal favorite of mine, as I have recently adopted an air plant. These are unique and alien-esque plants that are most well known for the fact that they don’t grow in soil or water, but rather air. These plants are perfect decorations because they can be placed virtually anywhere. You can stack them in jars, place them in terrariums, hang them from ceilings, scatter them across shelves, etc. The only limitation is that you must be able to temporarily remove them so that they can be watered because air plants need to be watered in a way that is about as unusual as everything else about them: They need baths. In the wild, these plants grow in humid areas where the air is loaded with liquid, so you have to emulate those conditions in order to keep them at home. Since you likely don’t have a greenhouse lying around your dorm, the best way to do this is to completely submerge the plant for about an hour, then let it dry for a couple more, before placing it back where it was originally displayed. As long as you can fulfill this requirement, your air plant will be happy.
- Snake plants
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Last but not least, the snake plant is a great choice for a dorm room. These are another notoriously hardy species of plant, and are in fact related to succulents! When I first looked into them, just about every website I found told me they “thrive on neglect.” While this is definitely an exaggeration, it is true that these plants are easy to care for. They don’t need to be watered too frequently, and they are happiest in indirect sunlight, much like the pothos plant. The best part of these plants, though, is their striking and sleek appearance. They look like a bundle of tall, thick leaves sprouting straight out of the soil, and they can grow to be quite large when cared for properly. Their leaves are striped with dark and light green, and some develop borders of bright yellow. These are stately, professional-looking plants, and they won’t die instantly if you mess up your watering schedule or momentarily forget about them.
This is just a shortlist, so if you are interested in getting a plant for yourself, the best thing to do is research! You could use this article as a launching pad; if I mentioned a plant that sparked your interest, I encourage you to read more about it yourself. Or, if you’re really reckless, I suppose you could just jump straight in and get yourself a plant right away — something I must admit I have also done.
No matter what you do, though, I hope you find my list helpful, even if all of this advice is just coming from a novice plant parent. I wish you all the best in your future plant care pursuits!
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