Low Light Plants: What Actually Grows in a Dim Bedroom, Bathroom or Office
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Short answer: the plants that take the least light are the ZZ plant, snake plant, cast iron plant, pothos (the plain green kinds), Chinese evergreen, parlor palm and heartleaf philodendron. "Low light" still means some daylight, like a north window or a spot well back from a window. No houseplant lives in a room with no light at all; a windowless room needs a grow light.
How dark is "low light"?
Sources don't agree on one number, but they're close enough to be useful. Light is measured in foot-candles:
- University of Minnesota Extension: low light is 50 to 250 foot-candles, "suitable for a north window or a fairly dark corner." Medium light (250 to 1,000) is an east window, or near a west window out of direct sun.
- Penn State Extension: "a common baseline for low light is 100 footcandles."
- University of Nebraska Extension: low-light plants can go more than 8 feet from windows, with no direct light. It describes low-light areas as having less than the 75 foot-candles you need to read comfortably.
- University of Florida: the ZZ plant kept growing and making new leaves at just 25 foot-candles for more than a year.
A rough guide: a spot where daylight lets you see clearly without a lamp can hold a low-light plant. A spot that needs a lamp on in the daytime needs a grow light. A phone light meter app gives you a rough number if you want one.
The best low light plants
| Plant | How little light it takes | Watering | Safe for cats and dogs? (ASPCA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ZZ plant | The toughest. Grew at 25 foot-candles for over a year, and handles low light better than snake plant or cast iron plant (University of Florida). | Very little. Florida researchers found it can survive 3 to 4 months without water. NC State: water only once the soil has dried out completely. | Check the ASPCA list before buying |
| Snake plant | On the low-light lists of Minnesota, Penn State and Nebraska Extension. Often grown in north windows (Penn State). | Let the soil dry between waterings; in winter only every 1 to 2 months (NC State). | No, toxic to dogs and cats |
| Cast iron plant | On Minnesota's and Nebraska's low-light lists | When the top inch of soil is dry (the general rule from Oklahoma State) | Yes, non-toxic |
| Pothos | On Minnesota's and Nebraska's lists. Penn State notes most pothos prefer bright to medium light, and the dark green 'Jade' handles low light better than variegated kinds. | Let it dry between waterings (NC State) | No, toxic to dogs and cats |
| Chinese evergreen | On Minnesota's, Nebraska's and Penn State's lists. Penn State saw one fade within weeks after a sudden drop in light, so move it to a dim spot gradually. | When the top inch is dry | No, toxic to dogs and cats |
| Parlor palm | On Minnesota's and Nebraska's lists | When the top inch is dry | Yes, non-toxic |
| Heartleaf philodendron | On Nebraska's low-light list (Minnesota lists philodendrons) | When the top inch is dry | Check the ASPCA list |
| Peace lily | On Minnesota's low-light list | Keep the soil moist but not soggy (NC State) | No, toxic to dogs and cats |
| Bird's nest fern | On Nebraska's low-light list | When the top inch is dry | Check the ASPCA list |
Dark green beats variegated. Penn State Extension: "As a rule, plants with darker green leaves are more suited to low-light conditions," because darker leaves hold more chlorophyll. Variegated plants in dim light tend to lose their pattern and turn plain green (Minnesota, Penn State).
By room
Bedroom. Usually the easiest dim room, since it often has a window. Any plant from the table works. If you have pets, the cast iron plant and parlor palm are the two the ASPCA lists as non-toxic to dogs and cats. Snake plant, pothos, Chinese evergreen and peace lily are all listed as toxic.
Bathroom with a window. Bathrooms add humidity, which many tropical plants like. Nebraska Extension says most houseplants prefer 40 to 60% humidity and are injured below 20%. Good picks are the bird's nest fern, peace lily and pothos.
Windowless bathroom. No plant will live on light from the occasional switched-on bulb. You need a grow light on a timer. Nebraska Extension says plants that struggle indoors "will thrive with 12 to 16 hours of supplemental light daily."
Office. Overhead lights alone are usually low light. The ZZ plant is a good pick: the University of Florida research on it was done for interiorscapes, the plants used in offices and other commercial spaces. Snake plant and pothos are good too. Penn State's author added LED grow lights to her low-light plants when they began to struggle, and a small clip-on grow light at a desk does the same job.
Caring for a plant in low light
- Water by the soil, not the calendar. A plant in dim light grows slowly, so its soil stays wet longer. Oklahoma State Extension's test: push a finger an inch into the soil, and water only if it's dry.
- Feed less. Nebraska Extension warns to avoid over-fertilizing, "especially for plants growing under low-light intensity."
- Turn it. Light comes from one side, so rotate the pot to keep it growing straight (Nebraska).
- Move it gradually. A new plant may drop a few leaves in its first week or two at home, because your home has less light than the greenhouse it came from (Nebraska). Nebraska suggests starting it in your brightest spot, then moving it to its darker home over about four weeks.
- Dust the leaves. Dust blocks what little light there is. The New York Botanical Garden gives this advice for fiddle leaf figs, and it holds for any big-leaved plant: wipe the leaves with a damp cloth now and then.
Signs it needs more light
University of Minnesota Extension lists these:
- leaves turning pale green, yellow or white;
- "leggy" stems, long and thin with big gaps between leaves;
- older leaves dropping;
- variegated leaves turning solid green;
- flowering plants that stop making buds.
Nebraska Extension adds small new leaves. If you see these, move the plant closer to a window or add a grow light.
Do low light plants clean the air?
Not in any way you'd notice. Many lists call these plants "air purifying," going back to chamber tests where plants removed chemicals from small sealed boxes. A 2019 review of 30 years of those studies, by Drexel University researchers, found that normal air exchange in a building removes indoor pollutants far faster than plants do. Matching a building's ventilation or a couple of open windows would take "between 100 and 1,000 plants per square meter of floor space." As one of the authors put it: "Plants are great, but they don't actually clean indoor air quickly enough to have an effect." Grow them because you like them.
Sources
- University of Minnesota Extension, Light requirements for houseplants, Julie Weisenhorn and Natalie Hoidal, reviewed 2026: https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/light-requirements-houseplants
- Penn State Extension, Low-Light Houseplants, Joan Jubela, updated December 13, 2024: https://extension.psu.edu/low-light-houseplants
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, Guide to Growing Houseplants (G2205): https://extensionpubs.unl.edu/publication/g2205/pdf/view
- University of Florida IFAS, Cultural Guidelines for Commercial Production of Interiorscape ZZ (EP252), McConnell, Henny and Chen: https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/EP252
- NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: snake plant (https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/dracaena-trifasciata/), ZZ plant (https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/zamioculcas-zamiifolia/), pothos (https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/epipremnum-aureum/), peace lily (https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/spathiphyllum/)
- Oklahoma State University Extension, Houseplants FAQ: https://extension.okstate.edu/programs/gardening/faqs/houseplants
- New York Botanical Garden, Fiddle Leaf Fig care guide: https://libguides.nybg.org/fiddleleaffig
- ASPCA Animal Poison Control plant list: https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants (golden pothos, mother-in-law's tongue, Chinese evergreen, peace lily, cast iron plant, parlor palm entries)
- Cummings and Waring, "Potted plants do not improve indoor air quality: a review and analysis of reported VOC removal efficiencies," Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology 30: 253-261, 2020: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-019-0175-9, and Drexel University's summary, November 2019: https://drexel.edu/now/archive/2019/november/potted-plants-do-not-improve-air-quality/