Dear Just Be: I just moved into my first apartment and want to add plants. Are fake plants ok, I don't think I have a green thumb.

Plants are a great addition to your living space, but not fake plants. Fake plants look, well, fake. Indoor plants are not hard to take care of. First figure which room or rooms you want to put plants in. Second, assess which way the light streams into the room, from the north, south, east or west. East, south and west rooms should get prime sunlight. North facing rooms and windows will have very little to no sunlight and are not ideal for plants. Once you have this information go to your local nursery or home improvement store and purchase plants that do well in the sunlight that you have.

If you are not home often or don't have much of a routine then cactuses are the best plants for you. Pacha trees are great, as are air plants if you are home to care for the plants. For majority of the year in Colorado you will be fine with watering these house plants once a week. During the summer months when it is extremely hot and if you don't have air conditioning you will need to water your indoor plants two times at most three times. If you can set a routine where you always water your plants on Monday or Wednesday you will be doing yourself a favor as well as your plants.

In addition to watering your indoor plants you also need to prune and take off any leaves that are dying. Making sure your plants are in breathable pots is also important to the plant's health. Breathable pots are made of natural products such as taracota and help ensure the health of your plants roots; do not purchase and put your plants in plastic. As your plants grow you will also need to transplant them into bigger pots. If you don't have the room for big plants then divide the plant into smaller plants. Dividing your plants into smaller plants is also a great gift idea. It is also a good idea to add a fertilizer for the plant into the water you feed the plant. Most soil comes with a fertilizer in it, but its effectiveness runs off in three months. Follow the recommendations on the back of the fertilizer to see how often you should feed your plant.

Unlike a lawn, most house plants require very little maintenance. This is not to say you can put them in your house and do nothing with them. You do need to give them at least a minute of your time each week with watering, pruning and rotating the plant so all sides receive about the same amount of sunlight. You will enjoy what live plants bring to your home.