For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."
plants that can grow in low light 🌥️
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Happy New Year! I hope 2026 is off to a good start for you so far. We had a small house party on New Year's Eve and to everyone's surprise, all of us (including the kids 😳) stayed up till nearly 2am! (Got a second wind after the ball drop. 🥳) The new year started with a hearty brunch at home with all our friends who'd slept over, and then we were off to another friend's house for grilled oysters and black eyed pea soup (both of which are traditional symbols of good luck and prosperity, so hopefully we've got a lot of that coming in 2026... 😄). Now that we're past the solstice, I can see the sun climbing ever-so-slightly higher in the sky. We have big windows on the south side of our house and it's absolutely fascinating to watch the sun track throughout the year. The sun never hits some areas in our home in winter, so I'm often shuffling houseplants around to make sure they get enough light. Most people—including myself—don't have houseplants directly in front of a good sunny window. Sometimes they're in a north-facing window, in a corner by a small window, or all the way across the room from a window. And in many cases, these plants aren't going to do well unless they're low-light plants. But the problem is, if you're looking for low-light plants that won't die, you're going to find many sites (as well as Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT) making bogus lists of plants that can be grown in the dark. For example: No, no plant "loves" the dark. All plants need some light to photosynthesize (unless they're fake plants) and there are way too many sources listing supposed low-light plants that actually need more light than you're led to believe. I've been burned by such lists before, only to find out that my "low light" plant was simply dying a slow death due to not having enough light to survive in the long term, much less thrive. So I've come up with my own list of ACTUAL low-light houseplants that don't mind a dimly lit corner in your room. I've included the amount of foot-candles (a measure of light) that they need to live, and ways you can estimate foot-candles without a proper light meter. Find out which indoor plants you can keep in a room that doesn't get a lot of sun. If you can't move your plant to a brighter spot in the house, consider using artificial lights (especially in winter). Here's what I recommend:
P.S. If you're dealing with dimly lit spaces, here are my picks for low-maintenance, low-light houseplants that can brighten up a room. P.P.S. Planning to add a new raised bed to your garden this coming year? Vego Bed, which makes modular metal raised bed kits, is running a New Year sale through January 18! Get up to 40% off their raised beds and other garden products, a free gift with the purchase of a greenhouse, or a free gift box with orders of $300+. No code necessary. I bought their 17" tall modular metal raised bed last year and love how versatile it is. It's definitely steps ahead of the cheap metal beds you can find on Amazon and elsewhere. |
Garden Betty
For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."