Do plants wilt at the sight of you? With these tips, anyone can keep a houseplant alive – even you!
植物一看見你就枯萎了？采用下面的建議，任何人都能讓室內植物保持存活——甚至是你。

Step 1
Pick a plant that’s tough to kill. Hardy varieties include spider, rubber, and snake plants, and pothos, aloe vera, and peace lilies.
選一個生命力頑強的植物。頑強的種類包括醉蝶花屬植物， 橡膠植物（葉厚而有光澤, 常作室內盆栽）和蛇型植物，以及石柑屬，蘆薈和和平百合。

Step 2
Choose a good location. Plants do best in the light and temperature of their native environment. For instance, tropical plants like their surroundings bright and humid, while cacti need sunlight but very little water.
選一個好位置。植物在光照和適于它們的自然環境下的溫度中生長得最好，比如：熱帶植物喜歡明亮且潮濕的環境，而仙人掌需要光照但只需要很少的水。

Tip:Put houseplants that thrive on humidity in the bathroom – the dampest room in the house.
將那些需要潮濕的室內盆栽植物放到洗漱室——屋子中最潮濕的地方。

Step 3
Find out your plant’s foot-candle requirement, which is how many candles it would take to light the plant from one foot away. A plant that needs 250 or fewer candles is a low-light plant; one that needs more than 1,000 requires very bright light. If your plant didn’t come with this information, search for it online.
找出植物所需要的“英尺燭光”，即在一英尺的距離需要點多少蠟燭來提供它光。需要250只蠟炬或少于250只的屬于低光植物；需要超過1000只蠟燭的屬于喜光植物。如果你所栽種的植物沒有附帶信息，可以去網上找。

Step 4
Poke the soil with your finger before watering. If it’s moist, leave it alone. Overwatering is the no. 1 killer of houseplants.
澆水前用手指戳一下泥土。如果土是濕的，就不用澆水了。過量澆水是殺死室內盆栽的頭號殺手。

Step 5
Fertilize a few times between the spring and fall. Low-light plants only require fertilization once or twice a year. Slow-growing plants need less fertilizer, while faster growing varieties need more. Choose a fertilizer that contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Water the soil before fertilizing to prevent fertilizer burn.
在春季和秋季之間要施肥。低光植物一年只需要1至2次施肥。生長緩慢的植物需要的肥料也少，生長快的品種需要更多的肥料。選擇含有氮，磷和鉀的肥料。在施肥前給花澆水以免肥料被蒸發掉。

Tip:Watering your plants with the water in which you boiled vegetables or water from your fish tank gives them nutrients that help them grow.
用煮過蔬菜的水或是用洗過魚的容器中的水來澆花，這樣能會給植物營養，從而幫助它們生長。

Step 6
Talk or sing to your plants. Some research has indicated this can help them thrive, as does playing certain kinds of music. Indian sitar music works best, followed by classical music. Stay away from heavy metal: Plants exposed to loud rock music died after a few weeks in one famous experiment.
和你的植物說話或唱歌給它聽。一些研究表明這么做能幫助它們存活，有些植物需要放些特定的音樂。印度西塔琴音樂效果最好，其次是古典音樂。不要放重金屬音樂。在一次有名的實驗中，給植物放大聲的搖滾樂，結果植物很快就死掉了。