I check in on them every day, inspect them for any signs of distress, and worry about them when I go on vacation. In exchange, they make my apartment look great, clean up my air a bit, and help me forget that I live surrounded by concrete. One way we can all save ourselves the heartache of dead greenery is by choosing different plants in the first place. In search of the ultimate hardy houseplant, I reached out to Joyce Mast, a longtime florist and designated Plant Mom at direct-to-consumer plant company Bloomscape. She was quick to tell me that the most resilient of all plants is the almighty ZZ. Here’s everything you need to know to keep ZZ plants alive (which, thankfully, isn’t that much!) In fact, Mast says you can get away with watering your ZZ plant as little as every 3-4 weeks, or 4-6 weeks during the winter. Wait until its soil dries out completely between waterings: You’ll know it’s time by sticking your fingers a couple of inches (to the second knuckle) into the plant’s soil. “If the soil feels wet at this level, then hold off watering and check again in a couple of days,” says Mast. “If the soil feels dry, take your plant to the sink and water it until the water begins to trickle out of the drainage hole at the bottom of the pot. Once it does, allow a bit of time for all the water to be expelled from the pot and then put it back on the saucer.” This is important because if there’s no place for water to drain from, this drought-tolerant plant will suffer from root rot—one of the most notorious plant killers. Emma received her B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy with a specialty in environmental communications from Duke University. In addition to penning over 1,000 mbg articles on topics from the water crisis in California to the rise of urban beekeeping, her work has appeared on Grist, Bloomberg News, Bustle, and Forbes. She’s spoken about the intersection of self-care and sustainability on podcasts and live events alongside environmental thought leaders like Marci Zaroff, Gay Browne, and Summer Rayne Oakes.
