Most Unusual Houseplants – Top Unique Indoor Plants For The Home

Green Indoor Potted Plant
unique houseplant
(Image credit: Birute)

Are you tired of the same old houseplants and looking for some more unusual indoor plants? There are quite a few unique houseplant varieties that you can grow indoors. Let’s take a look at some interesting houseplants to grow.

Here are a few of the more common interesting plants you can grow indoors:

Bromeliads

Bromeliads are unique and beautiful indoor plants. In nature, most bromeliads are epiphytes so they grow attached to trees and branches. They are different because they have a central cup which you should keep filled with water. 

In the home, you should give your bromeliads three to four hours of sun. The potting mix should incorporate things like large bark chunks so that the potting medium has excellent drainage. After flowering, the plant will slowly die but will produce pups so you can keep growing them. One of the most common bromeliads to grow in the home is the urn plant, or Aechmea fasciata. It is also known as silver vase plant.

Most bromeliads are epiphytes, but one example of a bromeliad that grows in the ground is the pineapple plant. You can easily grow a pineapple by cutting off the top of the fruit. Leave only the foliage and about half an inch (1 cm.) of the fruit. Let it air dry for a couple days. Then root it in a vase with water. You can then plant it in soil once it has roots. 

Another type of bromeliad is the Tillandsia genus, or air plants, which are commonly available. 

Succulents

There are a number of succulent plants that are suitable for growing in the home, many of which are extremely unusual looking in form. One example includes those in the Lithops family, otherwise known as living stones or pebble plants.

Cacti are also included in the succulent group. These, too, have many unique and interesting varieties that can be easily grown indoors.

Both succulent and cactus plants thrive in bright light with little water or humidity. (Some popular ones can be found below.)

Other Unusual Houseplants

The swiss cheese plant, Monstera deliciosa, is a very showy plant with decorative leaves that can grow up to 3 feet (91 cm.) long. It grows well in indirect light and likes to be kept warm. Be sure to keep it warm even in the winter.

Staghorn fern is a very interesting fern that is usually sold mounted on a piece of wood. Like the common name suggests, the leaves look like animal horns. It is in the genus Platycerium. Be sure to regularly soak the mounted fern to make sure it receives enough moisture. 

Zig-Zag cactus is an unusual houseplant with jagged leaves. The botanical name for this plant is Selenicereus anthonyanus. It also goes by the name fishbone cactus. It is quite easy to grow and can produce pink flowers.

Rose succulents, or Greenovia dodrentalis, literally look like green roses! They are succulents, so be sure to provide standard succulent care to keep them beautiful. 

Euphorbia tirucalli ‘Firesticks’ is a gorgeous succulent that has a beautiful red color at the end of the branches. It is commonly known as pencil cactus

Various Oxalis make for interesting and unusual indoor plants. These are also known as shamrock plants and some have stunning mauve or purple leaves and either white or pink flowers. They prefer to be grown in moist soil and medium to bright light. 

There are many more unique indoor plants that you can grow. Some others include:

Why not try growing some of these unique houseplant varieties?