6 Valentine's Day Houseplants That Are Just as Beautiful as a Bouquet—but Will Last for Years

Flowers can be a beautiful and welcome way to show appreciation, love, or friendship on Valentine’s Day, but I’ve always thought that a living plant makes a more thoughtful, longer-lasting gift. A good bouquet of cut flowers can last anywhere between five to 12 days, depending on what’s in it, but a houseplant can last for years if well cared for, making the memory of Valentine's Day last far longer than any flower arrangement ever will. 

Winter is prime houseplant season; people spend more time indoors, and plants play a big part in bringing that green, outdoor feeling into the home. And since the majority of houseplants are from tropical regions, their peak time of growth is often during winter months in the northern hemisphere, so you generally see a lot of plant growth and blooms during this time of year.  

If you’re looking for the perfect houseplant to give someone for Valentine’s Day, I’ve highlighted some of my favorite options, as well as tips for growing and caring for each plant. 

Orchid

One of the beautiful things about orchids is that there’s a flower color, shape, and style to suit almost any house setting. Martha loves orchids, and has hundreds of them. As each goes into bloom, they are brought into all of the different rooms of her home for display. They also tend to have quite a long bloom time, with individual flowers lasting for many weeks. It’s a fantastic Valentine’s Day choice that gives the bouquet feeling, while still being an actual living plant. 

Orchids should be grown in a soilless mix, like some sort of bark substrate. With proper care, they will go through periods of flowering and dormant stages. A skilled gardener can keep orchids going for years, whereas a novice tends to treat them more like a cut flower and throw away the plant after blooming. 

Begonia 

Begonias make a great Valentine’s Day plant for one primary reason: color. Instead of your typical green leaves, begonias have foliage that ranges from red to brown to orange to purple. What’s more, begonias flower with masses of hanging pink, red, or white flowers in February and March. 

The low-maintenance plant needs bright, indirect light and well-draining soil. I like to plant them in regular potting soil mixed with half cactus soil. Begonias like to be on the drier side, so it’s best to water them thoroughly and let the soil almost completely dry out before watering again. (You can typically tell when they need more water by how rigid or droopy the leaves are.) 

When cared for properly, begonias can last for many, many years and can be easily propagated from leaf cuttings. Being both low maintenance and beautiful, begonias have easily become one of Martha’s favorite houseplants. We have dozens of them in the greenhouse, and they provide great pops of color and texture throughout the house. They look especially beautiful in Martha’s Green Room, where the green walls provide a fantastic contrasting background for the begonia to stand out. 

Money Plant

A newer plant that has been exploding in popularity over the past few years, money plants (Pilea peperomioides) are a great choice because they are extremely easy and hands-off. They have beautiful, shiny round leaves and can take on different forms and shapes. Martha loves displaying hers in large bowl-shaped planters and forming them into a rounded shape. 

Money plants are beginner-friendly, and aren’t fussy about soil, light, or food. They can go without regular watering for quite some time—a good drench every once in a while is all that's needed. Money plants make tons of babies and can be divided and propagated easily, so you can make multiple plants from one parent. 

Anthurium

Anthuriums are a popular houseplant with distinct heart-shaped blooms (which are really modified leaves) that come in a range of colors, from bright to dark red, pink, and white. They are very easily sourced during this time of year due to the fact that their leaf shapes and colors are very well-suited to Valentine’s Day.

Anthuriums are fairly easy to care for, and like moist, well-draining soil, and medium light conditions. Keep in mind when giving Anthuriums that they might not fit into every home décor setting because they have an extremely tropical look and they typically only last for a few years. 

Philodendron

An older houseplant that has gone in and out of popularity, philodendrons are extremely easy to grow and come in numerous shades and blends of greens, yellows, and whites. Another foliage houseplant, they are generally not fussy about soil or light, and survive with a regular all-purpose food feeding.

Philodendrons are especially beautiful displayed on top of shelves and furniture, as most create long trailing stems that hang down. They also look nice displayed on pillars, allowing their stems to delicately hang. Their main tie-in to Valentine's Day is that quite a few of the species have very distinct heart-shaped leaves. 

Hoya

A class of succulent-type plants, hoyas are relatively easy to care for. They’re very water wise and hands-off, needing drier, well-draining soil and not too much water. Most hoyas are vines and trailing type plants, making long chains of leaves of various shapes and shades. The long-lasting houseplant does technically flower, but it’s primarily grown for its foliage. 

When giving this houseplant for Valentine’s Day, the best choice is the heart Hoya (or Valentine’s Hoya), which comes in not just green, but green with either white or yellow variegation as well. It is a cutting that usually consists of a single leaf that is shaped exactly like a heart. While they can last for a while as is, they don’t really grow further than how they come, so you may only get about a year of life out of this variety.