Whether a houseplant thrives or just survives depend on getting the right amount of light. How come those beautiful leaves stretchs, or turn yellow, in weeks? Most people purchase a plant for its look, but then wonder what went wrong. The issue is typicaly that its growth needs don’t match where you placed it. Some plants evolved in areas with full sun; others can handles shade.
To make placing them easier, I put together this infographic that groups most popular houseplant by four primary light categories. Knowing which group your plant belongs to also help you understand other care tasks.
How to Give Your Houseplants the Right Light
Sunlight means several hours per day of direct sunlight hitting the leaves. This is what cacti, succulents, and many herbs requires. It usually comes from a west- or south-facing window with no curtains.
Tropical foliage generaly prefers bright indirect light (meaning the room is bright, but sun doesn’t hit the leaves directly). For this, an east window will work, or one on the south side with a sheer curtain to diffuse the light. Medium light are found near north-facing windows or a few feet away from a bright window. Most of the popular foliage plants will grows happily here, even if they’re not actualy on the sill.
Low light can be tricky. Only a handful of plant tolerate true dim conditions over time. Which ones? Those marked on chart can survive such darker areas without supplemental light.
A plant will look very different under high versus low light conditions. In a brightly lit room with indirect light, a pothos is fast-growing and highly variegated; in the dim corner, it’ll be all green and reach for the light. The chart shows these pattern so you can avoid trial and error if you are new to plant.
It gets more complex if season shifts. A plant might have done fine by a window during summer but require being closer when the days get shorter in winter and the light is also weaker, coming in from a lower angle. Many people observe the lack of growth through November-February, assuming it’s because something has gone wrong with the plant. More likely, it is simply reacting to shortened days; growth will pick up again as days gets longer.
If you lack sufficient natural light, grow lights can helps. Most houseplants do well under full-spectrum LED fixtures, which can be set on a timer to eliminate the erratic schedule that confuses plants. Adjust the light strength to what the plant needs. You should of not just give it maximum brightness regardless of its needs.
Placing things where they’ll thrive means watching week by week to see response. Good growing conditions mean new leaves emerge in their regular size and color. Bad signs includes fading colors or a stem that stretches. You might also see leaves that is burned or scorched, or a plant wilting even when the soil is moist. Both of these mean you have too much sun.
Labels from the nursery can’t tell you what’s right; the eye does better. Make your matches to real-life light condition in the house, which will make everything easier to manage based off this chart explains it all.