My houseplants and I have an understanding. They understand that I love them, and want them to do well, but also that sometimes my heart just isn't in it, or I'm busy, or I forget, or that, well, I'm lazy and so I don't exactly water and feed them at optimal times. I couldn't tell you the number and variety of houseplants that I've killed over the years. I always feel terrible. Sometimes I even think it a fluke, and buy that particular kind of plant again. It's almost never a fluke. There are certain kinds of plants that I get along with. They know I love them, and they can deal with their lot in life and grow and thrive for me in spite of myself. Over the years, a lot of people have come into my home and exclaimed that I have such a green thumb. If they only knew! Sure, some of my plants are old, and quite large, but I normally have fewer than one dozen plants, and I've probably killed a hundred or more experimenting with new varieties. As each plant dies, I mourn its passing. But then rejoice with the longevity of the ones that are left, the ones that can get along with my haphazard watering and feeding schedules. The big ones are getting really big. Like the eight foot tall rubber tree. And the leafy thing in the corner, that I don't even know what it is. Some philodendron relative of some sort. Imagine, it used to be small enough that it lived on the back of my toilet in a sunny apartment I had about 16 years ago. There's no way it would fit there now. Even if you could balance the pot on the back, you'd feel like you were in a jungle, fighting leaves to get your business done. Too funny. I think my favorite plant is the one that I've had since about 1977. Sometimes it's huge, sometimes it's not so huge, sometimes it's so dry that the stems are shriveled and dry, sometimes I actually get a lot of water to it and it grows and blooms its funny dieffenbachia blooms. It's currently a little smaller again, which isn't a bad thing at all. When in its last large stage we had to put a heavy metal stake in the pot, and tie the stake to the wall to keep the thing from toppling over from the weight of the branches that insisted on leaning over the sides of the pot. But it got quite staggly again, and I lopped off a bunch of branches, cut them down to about 1-1/2 feet tall and stuck them in water. The branches are now plants in their own right. They rooted quite readily in their bucket of water next to the window in the family room. I didn't really want another plant at this point, so once rooted with significant, large, twisting, sinuous roots, I gave the group away to an old friend. The remaining plant is happy as a clam, for some unknown reason. New branches are coming up from the soil, and sprouting from the sides of old lopped off branches, and all are green and thick and heavy and growing straight up, for the time being. And the new leaves are huge. This particular plant has many tales to tell of places it's lived, friends and family it's known. I wish it could tell me what happened that day in the mid 1980s when I came home and found it lying on the floor, broken in two, and the cat with a guilty look on her face. Ah, the tales it could weave for us, if only it could speak. But then, I think I'm just as glad that it can't speak... Finding your match My biggest tip with houseplants would be to discover what kind of plants you get along with, which ones like your style. Do you fuss over plants? Are you more prone to neglect? Do you live in a bright, sunny house, or do you really only have one good window? All these are important questions to ask when looking for a plant that will live happily with you. As I think I've already mentioned, I don't fawn over my plants, so plants that require constant attention just die when they get near me. They know. They can sense these things, and they simply give up almost as soon as I bring them home. I can tell you right now, that if you garden like I do, you will probably have the most luck with African violets, philodendrons, pothos, and other plants that don't need constant care, including, believe it or not, orchids. A lot of orchids actually like to dry out between waterings. A perfect match! Right out is anything that requires evenly moist soil, regular feeding, constant pruning, or is prone to getting bugs.     My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. H. Fred Ale