I must get some of these to try out in the dull corners of my living room.

Aglaonemas (Aglaonema) commonly called "Chinese Evergreen" are great plants. The Thai varieties have very colorful leaves, as shown in my photo below:


Here's our full database listing of Aglaonemas: https://garden.org/plants/sear...

Pretty easy, tolerant of average home and office.

I looove my Chinese Evergreen and can definitely recommend it! I actually just recently identified it thanks to Lin (who posted above, thanks Lin!). My grandma gave it to me about 10 years ago when I was in college and it tolerated my random watering schedule and moving 5 times. It's bloomed every year and has really been thriving in its current spot - behind our kitchen sink, about 10 feet from our all glass and NE facing back door. I water it about once a week now. I've also never had to repot it. It's been content this whole time in the original pot!

Thats excellent, I have a lot of dark places around my home, there are only very few places that get natural light so these Aglaonemas would be great placed in the more duller areas to Brighton things up.

I'm also conducting an experiment to see if I can create an indoor rockery/garden with the lowest light tolerant plants.

I'm not sure they will thrive in extremely low light situations. They can't take direct sun but they do like bright, indirect light.

Remember, LIGHT energy is the driving force for all plant functions.

My Chinese Evergreen is always droopy, even after I water. Is it because the leaves are heavy or what? I have it in moderate/low light in my bedroom.

It may be trying to reach more light.

Or, sometimes they become such that water doesn't soak into the center of the root mass. It should feel heavier after watering. And water should not all seem to "run right through." but OK for some water to drain out when you water.

Got it! It's at a brighter location now. I'll observe the draining the next time I water. Thank you!

If there is not enough light in the areas I plan to put them then I could always move them to a lighter spot or provide some artificial lighting.

Its very hard to understand exactly what low light means and some low light tolerant plants do ok where as others need more light, so far from my experiments, the winners are the Ficus Elastica, Peace Lily and snake plant along with the ZZ plant.

I've never tried Chinese Ever greens before but once I get one or two I look forward to see what kinda low light they will be ok in.

I particularly like the plants that can grow and stay happy under artificial light but if they do reasonably good without then thats always a bonus. I want to fill my house with plants.

Idontknowatall said:My Chinese Evergreen is always droopy, even after I water. Is it because the leaves are heavy or what? I have it in moderate/low light in my bedroom.

Sometimes re-potting into a larger pot can help.

If I have a space in lighter areas I always try to give as much light as possible to all my plants, mainly by or next to windows.

sallyg said:Remember, LIGHT energy is the driving force for all plant functions.

I always think of the leaves on plants as being solar panels providing the plant with energy.

I don't have a light meter but I have made a small device which has a small solar panel on it with a volt meter that I can move around my house to give me some kinda idea of the light measurements although its probably not the best way but better than testing with nothing.

I've heard that there are many low light tolerant plants that can live happily in windowless offices under the florescent ceiling lights.

Hi, I care for plants where I work.. library.. they appreciate the artificial light which is on 12 hours a day and all brighter than typical home lighting.

sallyg said:Hi, I care for plants where I work.. library.. they appreciate the artificial light which is on 12 hours a day and all brighter than typical home lighting.

I believe office lighting is about 500lm per square foot or more.

I have a few of my plants under some bright artificial lighting which get about 12 hours of light a day and I'm in the process of working something out so that I can light up a whole room to match that of office lighting.

AmberLeaf said:
If I have a space in lighter areas I always try to give as much light as possible to all my plants, mainly by or next to windows.

I agree! The only reason my Chinese Evergreen was in a lower light location is because the good lighting places have limited space, so I put the plants that NEED bright light to grow there. They pretty much take up all the room.

AmberLeaf said:I must get some of these to try out in the dull corners of my living room.

I've had good luck with mine. It likes the spot on my bookshelf next to the window. It's growing so much! I try to remember to turn it so all the sides can get a bit of light next to the window but it seems to not care one way or another. I moved it once and lost a leaf (the first leaf it ever lost) so apparently it liked where it was and I put it back. I call mine "Hulk"

I've moved things about in my bedroom and created a nice spot that receives some good natural light and seems to be brighter then the spot in the living room where I've got plants but I'm not sure how it will be in winter time, I may hook up a couple florescent lights just encase I need to use them for the winter months. I'd quite like to move my Ficus Benjamina into the bedroom which may be ok but for now I'll leave it where it is in the kitchen and test out the new spot with some smaller lower light tolerant plants to see how they do first.