Top 12 Flowering Houseplants to Add Color to Your Home

Some are easy to keep in bloom, others require master skills

By
Marie Iannotti
Garden Writer Marie Iannotti
Marie Iannotti
Marie Iannotti is a life-long gardener and a veteran Master Gardener with nearly three decades of experience. She's also an author of three gardening books, a plant photographer, public speaker, and a former Cornell Cooperative Extension Horticulture Educator. Marie's garden writing has been featured in newspapers and magazines nationwide and she has been interviewed for Martha Stewart Radio, National Public Radio, and numerous articles.
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Updated on 06/11/21
Reviewed by
Debra LaGattuta
Debra LaGattuta
Reviewed by Debra LaGattuta

Debra LaGattuta is a Master Gardener with 30+ years of experience in perennial and flowering plants, container gardening, and raised bed vegetable gardening. She is a lead gardener in a Plant-A-Row, which is a program that offers thousands of pounds of organically-grown vegetables to local food banks. Debra is a member of The Spruce Garden Review Board.

Learn more about The Spruce's Review Board
Yellow begonia flowers in white pot on living room table

The Spruce / Leticia Almeida

Flowering houseplants will brighten your home, but there's a big difference between keeping a plant alive and actually getting it to flower. Don't despair if you aren't a master indoor gardener—the plants on this list are usually already flowering when you buy them. Some, such as poinsettias, aren't meant to be brought to flower by home gardeners. Other plants on this list are easier to make flower at home, and once you get the basics, you can expect regular blooms.

  • 01 of 12

    African Violets

    African Violet (Saintpaulia 'Midnight Flame'), Close up of blue flowers with curley edges
    Chris Burrows / Getty Images

    African violets have a passionate following, and it's no wonder why. These plants are compact and free flowering with a wide variety of flower forms and colors. With careful watering, high humidity, and bright, but not direct, light, it is possible to coax forth several blooms every year. Some master growers can keep their African violets in bloom nearly all year round.

  • 02 of 12

    Poinsettias

    poinsettias on a coffee table

    The Spruce / Leticia Almeida

    Poinsettias are the single most popular houseplant in the world, which is even more incredible considering that virtually all of these plants are purchased around Christmas time. In recent years, growers have introduced new poinsettia varieties, in pink and white and variegated colors, but the standard red poinsettia is still the king of Christmas plants. The actual flowers on these plants are insignificant—it's the big red bracts surrounding the flowers that we like so much. Beware, though—only a truly dedicated grower can bring a standard poinsettia back into bloom the next year.

  • 03 of 12

    Orchids

    an orchid on the windowsill

    The Spruce / Viktoriya Stoeva 

    Orchids are the largest group of plants in the world, with as many as 30,000 known species and tens of thousands more hybrids. In her book "The Orchid Thief," author Susan Orlean described an orchid show and the dazzling variety of flowers in all colors and shapes. Some are breathtaking, some are strange, and some border on downright ugly. Home growers tend to concentrate on about five popular species, and despite their reputation for difficulty, any careful grower should be able to bring their orchids back into bloom.

  • 04 of 12

    Peace Lilies

    Peace lilies

    Usha J / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0

    Peace lilies (Spathiphyllum) are often found in upscale home designs, their folded white flowers nodding peacefully over glossy leaves. These tropical plants prefer filtered light, warmth, and humidity. Under the right conditions, flowers will appear in the late summer and last for weeks.

    Continue to 5 of 12 below.
  • 05 of 12

    Begonias

    Begonias

     Getty Images

    Flowering begonias are usually thought of as outdoor plants, but they also possess all the characteristics of a great indoor plant. They are tough, undemanding, and free flowering. A simple and economical pot of begonias will yield a nice season of color. Better yet, there are untold varieties of begonia, including the trailing or bushy varieties, and all manner of foliage begonias. Somewhere in this vast pool of plants is one that will grow in your particular conditions.

  • 06 of 12

    Bromeliads

    Close-Up Of Potted Bromeliad

    Marius Hepp / Getty Images

    Sometimes called urn plants, most bromeliads grow in rosettes of strappy leaves that form a central water-collecting cup. Their flowers arise from the center of this cup in tall, colorful spikes of bracts. They can be difficult to bring into bloom. Fortunately, new bromeliad flowers often last for weeks or months and they have beautiful foliage.

  • 07 of 12

    Desert Cacti

    Claret cup cactus

    Richard Cummins / Getty Images

    If you've ever seen a desert in full bloom, then you know that desert cacti feature some of the most beautiful flowers in the world. There are many varieties of cacti available, and about half of them can bloom in the average home. Give your cactus lots of sunlight, hold off on the water, and wait for spring or summer.

  • 08 of 12

    Kalanchoes

    Kalanchoes
    Ikonica / Getty Images

    These unassuming plants made the list for a simple reason: they are easy to grow and almost as easy to bloom with clusters of small, upright flowers. The most popular variety, K. blossfeldiana, is a dependable bloomer in the spring, provided it's given bright light and adequate water. Kalanchoes are succulents, so the basic rules for growing succulents will work well for them also.

    Continue to 9 of 12 below.
  • 09 of 12

    Amaryllis

    Amaryllis flower

    Rikuo Natsuume / Getty Images

    The amaryllis is one of the most magnificent of all bulbs. Technically a Hippeastrum hybrida, the amaryllis bears large, deeply colored flowers on tall stalks. They are sold as potted flowering plants or naked bulbs, and they are available in red, salmon, pink, orange and multicolored. They typically flower from late December until early summer, depending on when the bulb is planted. At the end of its growth cycle, bulbs can be removed from the soil and stored in a cool, dry place for at least six weeks, then replanted and brought to bloom again.

  • 10 of 12

    Christmas Cactus

    Christmas cactus blooming with pink flowers.

    Tom Applegate / Getty Images

    Christmas cacti are technically subtropical forest cacti. They have beautiful, drooping red or pink flowers on unique, paddle-like foliage. They are usually purchased already in bloom, but it is possible to bring a Christmas cactus back to bloom.

  • 11 of 12

    Hibiscus

    High Angle View Of Hibiscus Blooming In Garden

    Maria Andreea Lavric / Getty Images

    The hibiscus is one of the most enduring symbols of the tropics. These flowers are available in single and double forms, and in a dizzying array of colors. Some of the newer hybrids feature multicolored flowers as large as a salad plate. The hibiscus is not a plant for beginners, either to keep alive or bloom. They require warmth, lots of light, humidity, and they are prone to several varieties of bugs. But for those who have the gumption to make it happen, a flowering hibiscus is one of the most remarkable sights in any temperate home.

  • 12 of 12

    Anthurium

    Flamingo Flower, Red Anthurium tropical plant, of arum Araceae group of plants with water droplets. Also known as Boy Flower

    Tim Graham / Getty Images

    The genus Anthurium boasts some of the most striking plants in the world, but the only one you're likely to find in an average gardening center is the A. scherzerianum. These plants have distinctive red flower structures that feature a heart-shaped red spathe from which emerges a white or yellow flower spike. Anthuriums are true jungle plants, which makes them a challenge to grow and bloom in ordinary conditions. They thrive on humidity, heat, ample water, bright light, and rich soil. Most anthuriums are purchased already in bloom, and it takes a skillful hand to bring one back into flower.

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  1. Orlean, Susan. The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession. Ballantine Books, 1998.