We get asked a lot of questions. So rather than have you dig through all the comment sections looking for answers we share some of the frequently (and some of the infrequently) asked questions and our answers to them on this page instead.
That's quite a fun question to answer, and we recently wrote a full article about it called Understanding Plant Names. However basically it's all thanks to a Swedish man called Carl Linne (or Carolus Linnaeus) born in 1707. Before Linnaeus, plants were given a brief description in latin and that was its "scientific name", this was ultimately a confusing approach.
Linnaeus proposed that very closely related plants be given a genus name. Obviously there can be many different varieties or species within any one genus, so the species itself became the second part of its name.
Back when Linnaeus was writing, Latin was the only language which could be universally understood by the majority of the world (at least out of those who were sufficiently educated and capable of reading and writing).
Naming almost every single plant on Earth in this way obviously took enormous time and effort. This combined with the fact Latin names are now so ingrained and pretty much universal, it seems unlikely it will ever be converted to anything else.
On our website though we mix it up and use the most "common" name that people use in everyday conversation, so you know what plant we are talking about. Sometimes that is the actual official scientific name, but often it's a nickname.
As discussed about above, all plants have an official scientific latin name, but the majority also have several semi official nicknames or Common Names. Generally speaking differences in names can be broken down across countries, for example some of you in Europe will know Sanservieria trifasciata laurentill as the Mother-in-Law's Tongue, in America it tends to be called the Snake plant, or the Snakeskin plant.
The choice of common name is almost always because in some way the name will resemble the plant of which they are describing. We talk about this in much more detail on our Understanding Plant Names article.
Never Give Up! We all have to start somewhere, and even the very experienced houseplant owners will lose plants from time to time. The key to turning that black thumb (or hand in some cases) to a green one, is knowledge. Arm yourself with your plants requirements and you'll be successful. It's that simple, we completely and totally promise.
There isn't a clear distinction, and sometimes a plant can easily be both! In fact the majority of plants kept indoors all year round actually originate from countries where they exist as a garden plant all year.
Generally speaking a house plant will have to be indoors for certain parts of the year (i.e. during winter) in order to survive and mostly people will have brought the plant specifically to live indoors.
Each of our plant profiles has a "propagation" section just for this question. But if you want a more generic understanding then see our Propagating Houseplants guide.
The best thing to do is have a look at our plant hub and look for the plant you need help with, it's full of plant profiles and helpful care tips so with a bit of luck we can help you rescue it.
If the article itself doesn't address matters fully for you, leave a comment underneath the article and one of the the Our House Plants.com team or (hopefully) someone visiting the site will have a suggestion or two for you!
Plants have always been popular, and for as long as people have had homes they have made their way indoors. House plants appear everywhere from your own home to public buildings, with lots of different fashions and styles over the years. The plant landscape is constantly changing which can make them as exciting as the latest clothing fashions.
Despite changing trends, varieties and presentation one thing is always consistent and that is the majority of people do enjoy, find pleasure and take satisfaction from plants. Perhaps this comes from an innate desire within us to cultivate our (normally) green leaved friends that we share the planet with. Or maybe we just think they are pretty awesome to have around.
Whatever the reason, we wanted to make a website that brings everything together and gives house plant owners tips and knowledge. We want you to enjoy the hobby to the best of your ability and take pride in doing it, hopefully this website helps with this. And therefore to answer the question simply; we created this website for you.
We sure do! You can check it out here
Yes! Absolutely. Welcome aboard! We love contributions, if you want to start small, you can make comments in the comments section (good or bad we love them all). If someone is asking questions and you know the answer share it! Send us your plant pictures. If you want to write a full length article on something you have a interest in contact us so we can make it happen.
Our content is pretty extensive but still completely free. However we don't sell memberships, or products directly like a commercial plant website might. So in order to cover the costs associated with a website and to ensure we can keep producing free content, we do have adverts and affiliate links. In both cases, the adverts and affiliate links should be at least semi related to plants or things which are hopefully of interest to you.
We don't, No. If you want to help us out like that, then just get involved with the site. Send us your pictures, make comments in the comment sections, follow us on a Social Media platform, share us with your friends! The best reward you can give, is telling us you are out there reading and enjoying our site.
It's applicable for anyone who wants to find out more about house plants! We're from England (UK), but the principles of houseplant ownership and care is pretty much universal across the world.
Not currently. But if you want a message board let us know, in the meantime you can communicate with us through the Disqus conversations that you will find at the bottom of every page.
We get asked this so often and the answer is no we do not sell any Houseplants directly. We suggest you check out our Where to buy houseplants article for some ideas of where you can get some plants or look at our Shop Page.
Between us we own quite a few plants so a large number are pictures we have taken ourselves. Some of our visitors kindly snap some and send them for use on the site. Others come from places like Flickr or Wikipedia Commons.
We always try to only use pictures which we are permitted to use, if you spot one that belongs to you and you don't want it on the site please let us know. We'd rather just remove it than cause you any upset.
You bet!
Get in contact by using our Contact Form, or send us a direct email. The address for this is on our Contact Us page. If you share a photo, and if you want, we will put a link to your web space at the bottom of the article that your photo is shown on.
You may use our copyrighted images providing you provide appropriate credit by way of a link and credit back to ourhouseplants.com. Ideally underneath the picture itself please.
This falls into the Creative Commons License. You may not use the images for commercial gain or profit.
If you do not follow the above, you are using our copyrighted images without the correct license. Use of our images are monitored and non complaince may result in legal action.
You can quote us for sure. But you may not lift large sections of our text and pass it off as your own. Expect a DMCA takedown request if you do.
Yes! We talk about our favorite plant books in our Bookshop.
Yes! We talk about our favorite plant website's on our "About" page
No thank you. No really, NO. we don't need anything like this, please don't message asking because we no longer respond to these types of messages.
Sometimes, yes.
Criteria for guest posts.
- Original content that provides useful and highly relevant information to readers and fits in with the Ourhouseplants.com style.
- The content should not be written by Robot (A.I) Writers or duplication of something we've already covered.