Well, that’s a tough question! It depends on all kinds of things, from what kind of light exposure your space has to how much attention you’re willing to pay your plant each week. Not to mention your personal style. We picked out 20 low-maintenance plants that are all excellent choices for beginners. They range widely in appearance and size. Some of them even have flowers. The flowchart below can help you get an idea of what might work best for you. Important stuff to keep in mind There are plenty of plants that have a preference for one type of light, but they’ll mosey along just fine in less optimal situations. (Sort of how like most of us would prefer an apartment with, say, a dishwasher, but we manage without one.) Most of these plants fall into that category. If you only have a west-facing window but you really want to grow an African violet, that’s totally doable. Also, if you are blessed with the bright afternoon sun of a south-facing window, you can still grow shade lovers—just move them to the other side of the room! Similarly, none of these plants are needy, so the effort you need to put into them is somewhere in the range of little to almost none. Some like their soil damper than others, so they benefit from a weekly check-in, while others can be safely ignored for weeks at a time. All of them should be perfectly chill if you leave them alone for a 10-day vacation. The bottom line Use this as a starting place, not a definitive rule about what you can and can’t grow!