‘Green Thumb’ Just a State of Mind

QUESTION: I love houseplants. I love the way they look and I know they help purify the air in your home, but I have a “black thumb.” Everything I buy dies. Are there any plants someone like me can grow?

ANSWER: You bet there are. A “green thumb” is simply a positive state of mind about growing things. Raising houseplants successfully requires a combination of lots of actions: Providing light, water, humidity, and yes, love--but the most important factor is buying the right plants for the right places.

Here’s a good “starter set” of plants for people like you--these hassle-free plants need only moderate light, an occasional misting, a once-a-month feeding and water when their soil is dry to thrive:

Philodendron, pothos, arrowhead (syngonium podophyllum), peace lily (spathiphyllum), Chinese evergreen (Aglonema modestum), corn plant (Dracaena massangeana) and the old reliable snake plant (sansvieria laurentii). Once you build your confidence by successfully growing these beauties, you’ll be able to graduate to growing more exotic things.

Tropical Plants Need Much More Humidity

Q: I have two large kentia palms in my living room, which are doing very well except the tips of all the leaves have turned brown. Am I watering too much?

A: No, this isn’t a watering problem. Those brown tips appear because the plant isn’t getting enough humidity. This is a very common symptom with almost all tropical plants, especially palms and dracaenas, which in their natural habitats enjoy humidity as high as 70% or 80% and in our homes must endure the dry heat in winter and air conditioning in summer, which brings the humidity down to as low as 10% or 20%.

The cure is simple enough: First, cut off the brown tips with a pair of sharp scissors. Then provide additional humidity by placing an inexpensive humidifier in the room someplace near the plants--it’ll be as beneficial to you as it is to your palm trees. Also, spray the plants daily with a fine mist of water.

‘Boston Fern Strangler’ Wants to Do Better

Q: I’m known to my intimates as “The Boston Fern Strangler” for obvious reasons. Every fern I buy winds up looking like crepe paper in a matter of weeks. What am I doing wrong?

A: It could be any number of things. But let me tell you what to do right, and you should be able to shed the nickname next time around: Make sure your Boston fern is either hanging or sitting on a stand so its fronds are free to breathe.

Do not put it on the floor or into a bookshelf. It should be someplace where it’s light and cool--ideally in a northeast window that is not in a kitchen.

Ferns love water, so they should be taken to the sink once a week and watered thoroughly. Lift the fronds and water directly into the soil so as not to rot the crown.

And while you’re there, trim away any crepe-paper fronds that have died to make room for the inevitable new fronds that have appeared during the preceding week. Mist your fern every day--they love humidity--and feed it every week.

Final tip: If you’ve got an outdoor, shady area, hang the fern outside for the spring and summer. That’s cheating a bit, but if it makes for a happier plant, so be it.