The 8 Most Popular Houseplants For Singaporean Homes

Now that you got your keys to your BTO flat, the next thing on your agenda is deciding on how to style your new home. Whether it’s to bring the touch of the outside in, to purify the air, or because you love the look, houseplants add life and drama to any interior. There’s always a houseplant for every room and every homeowner, you just need to know how to help yours thrive.

World Farm At Bah Soon Pah Road

To make your selection a little easier, we went down to World Farm — Singapore's largest nursery farm and had a chat with Thomas, who is the resident plant enthusiast that cares for the ones in World Farm’s exotic species room, using our findings to put together a list of 8 best selling houseplants that World Farm has for beginners. Even those without a green thumb can appreciate the beauty of houseplants – if you're one of those people, this post is for you.

1. Swiss Cheese Plant

World Farm’s Monstera Deliciosa (Left and right)

Monstera deliciosa, the Swiss Cheese Plant is a species of flowering plant native to tropical forests of southern Mexico, south to Panama.

The specific epithet deliciosa means ‘delicious’, referring to the edible fruit, while monstera means ‘monstrous’, in reference to the size that this plant can grow up to, which is around 9 metres (30ft) if given the right environment or in an open garden. Smaller specimens of this species are popular as house plants as it is tolerant of indoor light levels — from very bright to bright shade.

It's popularly known as ‘swiss cheese plant’ or ‘cheese plant’ due to the holes which develop in the leaves, being humorously compared to some Swiss cheeses like Emmenthal cheese, which also have holes, but please do not consume the leaves!

Feeding a monstera plant with slow-release fertiliser will ensure the leaves grow lush and huge. They also prefer highly ventilated areas to grow well, otherwise, the leaves will develop fungus growth.