The Best Plants for a College Dorm

Care for an indoor plant by placing it toward a south facing window, if it requires direct sun.

When you start living independently in a dorm room, the last thing you want is more responsibility. However, adding a potted non-flowering or flowering plant to your room adds a bit of life to the cookie-cutter layout. The best plants for a college dorm room require little sun, watering or maintenance. Choosing a self-sufficient plant lets you focus on other parts of college life.

Spider Plant

Spider plants are hardy and low-maintenance.

The spider plant, Chlorophytum comosum, native to South Africa, is one of the most popular plants to grow indoors. Spider plants, as the name suggests, have long spindly, grass-like leaves which cascade up and out of the pot. The plants grow quickly, which is satisfying and fun to witness in the college dorm environment. If you can hang a basket in your dorm, the plant makes an ideal accent. However, the plant also thrives in a pot and can be grown in dwarf form. You only need to water the Chlorophytum comosum once or twice every two weeks -- if the leaf tips yellow, you are likely over-watering. Spider plants are sensitive to temperature, however. Keeping the dorm temperature between 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit at night will keep the plant healthy.

Snake Plant

The Snake plant, Sansevieria trifasciata, is one of the most common indoor plants because it is simple to grow and attractive in a room. Medusa-like leaves shoot up from the soil tall, slender and green. Some Sansevieria trifasciata varieties are all green, while others are mottled green or with yellow or white stripes. It is an evergreen herbaceous perennial plant and thrives in full sun, but can tolerate low light levels. However, the low light conditions will make the leaves less vibrant and strong. The plant is ideal for a dorm room mostly because it needs so little water -- they do not tolerate wet environments, or over-watering, so when in doubt, students can just water the plant every seven to 10 days.

Aloe Vera

An aloe vera plant requires sunlight to grow most healthily.

For college students lucky enough to live in a sunny dorm room, an Aloe vera, Aloe barbadensis, is an ideal plant. Aloe varieties come in spotted, striped, all green or yellowish cultivars. While the plants require a sunny spot in the room, they do not require much light, as aloe is a succulent plant which stores water in its vascular tissues. Aloe plants provide the antibacterial and soothing agent, aloe, which relives pain and infection from cuts, scrapes and burns, if you or your roommate are accident prone, this plant can come in handy.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana

The Kalanchoe is a succulent plant that can tolerate drought.

The Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is a flowering cultivar of the Kalanchoe genus. The plant is a durable potted plant that requires very little maintenance," writes Millie Davenport from the Clemson University Cooperative Extension. Because Kalanchoes are native to arid, desert-like environments, they can withstand drought --or your college spring break -- and still bloom. The leaves are thick and squishy and the flowers are small bright buds in red, pink, yellow or white. The Kalanchoe blossfeldiana thrives in sunny locations, especially in summer, and without enough sunlight plants grow thin and delicate. Watering in the summer is also required, but little watering is needed in winter when the plant can go almost completely without water for months. The flowers will bloom in late spring or early summer, depending on when the season warms up.

References

• Clemson University Extension: Spider Plant
• Colorado State University Extension; PlantTalk: Snake Plant; 2010
• University of Arizona; Cooperative Extension: Growing Aloe Vera; Jeff Schalau; 2006
• Clemson University Extension: Kalanchoe blossfeldiana; Millie Davenport; 2011