Table of contents for The Power of Plants 2025 in Real Simple

SUCCULENTS AREN’T JUST A UNIQUE DESIGN STATEMENT—they’re also a great choice for beginner plant parents or folks with busy schedules. These desert plants thrive in lots of sunlight, and their thick and fleshy leaves retain water, so they can withstand infrequent watering. And if you want to multiply your succulent collection on the cheap, try reproducing your own through propagation, or growing a new plant through the leaf or stem of an existing “mother” succulent. You can propagate succulents any time, but to increase your odds of success, consider trying it in the spring or summer months, when light—your plant’s most important resource for growth—is most abundant. “With most plant-related maintenance, the best time to propagate would be during the grow season,” says Stephanie Horton, an interior plant consultant…

PEOPLE GARDEN for many reasons, but one of the best is tomatoes right off the vine. Tomatoes are summer in edible form. When you keep tomato plants at home or in a shared garden, you get not only the satisfaction of having raised your own food, but the freshest tomatoes possible. In the early weeks of planting, you also get the anticipation of eating them. In a way, the work you put in acts as a seasoning. A tomato picked within a few dozen feet of your kitchen will be supremely fresh, yes, but the care you put into nurturing those summer fruits will add to your sense of satisfaction when you eat them. (What’s better than biting into a perfectly ripe tomato and having juices and seeds run…

IS THERE ANY SPOT MORE GLORIOUS than the garden center in fully blooming spring? The parking lot, empty throughout the winter months, teems with cars, soon to be brimming with flowers and optimistic visions of the perfect garden. This is the year to bring your vision to life. The fastest route to a satisfying garden experience is container gardening. You can brighten up a patio, deck, or porch with no backbreaking labor required. Just shop for plants, pots, and soil; assemble your design; and watch your greenery grow. Whether you want to dress up the front of your home or create a kitchen garden packed with fresh ingredients, we have a container plan to set you in the right direction. LUSH WINDOW BOXES THE FORMULA: Two reblooming annuals in the…

WE ALL KNOW FRUITS AND VEGETABLES are good for your body, and who can argue that a vase of flowers doesn’t add some cheer to a home? What you might be surprised to learn is that the process of growing your own produce or blooms may be just as good for you. Academic researchers have verified what your ebullient tomato-growing neighbor has been telling you: Gardening offers health benefits beyond just fresh produce or Technicolor tulips. From stronger muscles to lighter moods, the mental and physical benefits of gardening are real, and they are as close at hand as your own backyard or community garden. Exercise You may think “real” exercise involves putting on workout clothes and reporting to the gym, but heading outside in gardening gloves and an…

BRINGING HOME NEW PLANTS can be a huge rush. It’s a little like bringing home a new puppy or kitten, but with much, much less work. That isn’t to say that plants don’t need a little TLC, though. Sure, there are plants that don’t need sunlight and some greens that basically take care of themselves, but all plants need a little water now and then. In fact, learning the right way to water may be the number-one priority for plant parents. Anyone who has progressed beyond gardening for beginners may want to look into pruning, deadheading, fertilizing, repotting, and more, but plant-care newbies will want to focus on watering plants just the right amount. It’s possible to both over- and under-water plants, and figuring out how (and how often)…

EVEN AVID GARDENERS will admit that yard work can feel like a never-ending chore cycle. Every season brings a new set of tasks—planting in the spring, raking in the fall, weeding pretty much anytime you see those suckers—and all that lawn maintenance doesn’t take a toll on just your back and knees. The EPA estimates that Americans generate more than 35 million tons of yard trimmings a year. And up to half of the water we use outdoors goes to waste, experts believe, partly due to evaporation and runoff. The good news: Small changes can ease the burden on both your to-do list and the planet. Time to get down and dirty! WATERING Your yard can be a thirsty beast—but it doesn’t have to be. Look for flowers and plants…

WHETHER YOU’RE A beginning gardener or a pro, these perennials are some of the best to include in your garden. They’re easy to grow, and once you plant them, they’ll keep coming back every year to fill your landscape with their beautiful flowers and foliage. Check a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map online to see which zone you live in to make sure these flowers can thrive in your region. Blanket Flower A drought- and heat-tolerant perennial wildflower, blanket flower (Gaillardia) provides long-lasting color, even in spots with poor soil. In red, gold, or brown, its daisy-like, three-inch-wide, single or double perennial flowers bloom through the summer and into the fall. Although often short-lived, it’s easy to grow and will flower the first year from seed. LIGHT: Full sun WATER:…

A LITTLE BIT OF GREENERY can transform a space and breathe new life into a room. It’s one of the easiest ways to update your house without having to spend a fortune on new furniture or overpriced decor accents. But not all houseplants are created the same—and that means they won’t all thrive in any old place. To choose a plant for a specific spot in your home, you’ll want to keep two things in mind: plant care and your home’s aesthetic. Certain houseplants have different needs when it comes to sun exposure and humidity levels, so you won’t want to put a plant that needs full sun in a windowless bathroom, or an air plant in your sun-drenched living room when it prefers indirect light. Additionally, you don’t…

FRONT COVER rattiya lamrod/Shutterstock BACK COVER Clockwise from top: Emely/Image Source/Getty Images; Alan Shapiro/Stocksy; Svetlana Glazkova/iStock/Getty Images TITLE PAGE AND CONTENTS P. 1 Nadine Greeff/Stocksy PP. 2–3 From left: Nadine Greeff; cjp/E+/Getty Images; FollowTheFlow/iStock/Getty Images; Grace Canaan CHAPTER 1 PP. 4–5 Vertikala/Stocksy PP. 6–7 Ruth Black/Stocksy P. 8 Francesco Carta/Moment/Getty Images PP. 10–11 cjp/E+/Getty Images PP. 12–13 Anastasio Usenko/iStock/Getty Images PP. 14–15 Si-Gal/DigitalVision/Getty Images P. 17 Pixel Stories/Stocksy P. 18 Johner Images/Offset/Shutterstock P. 21 Abdul Kadir Audah/Photodisc/Getty Images P. 22 Courtesy Jane Delury CHAPTER 2 PP. 24–25 iStock/Getty Images PP. 26–30 Bryan Gardner (6) P. 31 Tatjana Zlatkovic/Stocksy P. 32 Mallmo/Shutterstock PP. 34–35 Valentina Barreto/Stocksy PP. 36–37 From left: Boris Jovanovic/Stocksy; Foto Helin/Alamy PP. 38–39 igaguri_1/iStock/Getty Images PP. 40–41 From left: Vincent Jary/Moment/Getty Images; Kelly Jo Elliott/iStock/Getty Images PP.…

IT’S NO SECRET THAT GARDENS CAN BRING US CLOSER TO NATURE, but they can also bring us closer to one another, connecting us with a fertile community. Even when we’re by ourselves in the flower beds, deadheading zinnias, we’re connected to the ones who taught us how to sow seeds, who introduced us to new varieties, who showed us how to cultivate the soil: our horticultural ancestors. I think of my great-grandmother, who planted peonies that continued to bloom more than 100 years later, and of my grandmother, who grew peas, string beans, and cucumbers to feed her family in Japan during World War II. Every time we sink our trowel into the earth, we honor those connections. As author Elizabeth Lawrence wrote, “No one can garden alone.” It helps…

FERNS IN A SUNNY SPOT IN THE DEN. A little snake plant on the bedside table. Basil on the windowsill. Plants have a special ability to turn a house into a home. Being a plant parent, however, is not without its worries. Chief among them: How do we keep these leafy life forms from ending up in the compost heap? “My journey with plants involved a lot of trial and error,” admits Hilton Carter, an Instagram star whose home is filled with hundreds of specimens. “But if you educate yourself a bit, you can avoid having to say, ‘Oh, I messed that one up. Let me go buy a new one.’ With a little knowledge, anyone can keep plants alive.” THE 3 MOST COMMON PROBLEMS The best way to…

IF YOU’VE ALWAYS ASSUMED that your yard was too dry, too shady, or too sandy-soiled to support beautiful plants, guess again. These common problems just mean you have to get more creative with your plant picks. With expert advice and care tips from a couple of plant pros, we’ve identified 15 pretty plants that should thrive in even the least plant-friendly spaces. Fragrant, flowering dianthus can not only survive in sandy soil but can fill your backyard with color and a lovely, slightly spicy scent. If you have a shady yard that doesn’t get much sun, skip the grass and carpet the ground with common oak sedge, which adds textural interest to the area. With these hard-to-kill plants readily available at nurseries and garden centers, there’s no reason to…

1 Know Your Region It may sound obvious, but not everything grows everywhere, so what you plant is determined by where you live. “Take a look at the characteristics of your garden area—from the climate to sun exposure,” says Brian Sullivan, vice president for glasshouses and landscape at the New York Botanical Garden. “It’s the most important thing to start with because you’ll want to understand the limits and the possibilities.” Talk to someone who works at your local garden center about the best native plants for your region, says Chris Lambton, professional landscaper and onetime host of DIY Network’s Yard Crashers: “These will perform the best with less maintenance.” 2 Test Your Soil To get a thorough reading of your soil’s pH and nutrient levels, send a sample to…

A FEW WELL-DESIGNED PLANTERS are the perfect addition to your front porch or stoop—and they’re a cost-effective way to add some pizzazz to the front of your home. But finding the perfect planters—and the best front-porch plant ideas—can be a little tricky with so many amazing options out there. Here’s how you can add some instant (and super easy) plant-filled curb appeal to your front porch. Choose Your Focus Areas. Most people place planters flanking the stairs or the doorway, but depending on your porch size and style, there are plenty of other options—like hanging baskets from the eaves or putting a large, showy fern or mini tree in the corner near a seating area. Pick the Right Porch Planters. Consider the style of your house when you’re choosing…