The Beautiful Indoor Plant That Thrives In Humid Bathrooms

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If you're on a journey to find the best indoor plants for every room in your house, you may run into a wall with the bathroom. This challenging room has conditions that are strikingly different from any other room in your home. The place you brush your teeth or remove your makeup is warm, humid, and, depending on where the windows are, dimly lit — at least where natural light is concerned. Thankfully, this unique indoor climate is perfect for tropical houseplants, including a distinctive, warm climate-loving epiphytic vine called the Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa).

This beautiful evergreen vine, which also goes by the name split-leaf philodendron (although, confusingly, it isn't a philodendron at all), is native to Mexico and Central America. In the wild, it can grow as tall as 70 feet. You don't, however, need to worry about this vine taking over your entire bathroom. When grown as a houseplant, it's unlikely to exceed 8 feet. However, before adding this Monstera plant variety you should know about to your home, it's important to learn how to properly care for it and familiarize yourself with its ideal growing conditions. After all, not all bathrooms are the same. Before a Swiss cheese plant can brighten your bathroom, you may, for example, need to add artificial lighting or up the humidity for the best results.

When growing any plant indoors, there are two main factors you want to consider when choosing the right spot: climate (namely water and temperature) and sun exposure. While climate may seem like something that's only important to outdoor plants, your home also has a relative humidity and ambient temperature. Swiss cheese plants won't survive below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which is why they work so well as houseplants. However, they also prefer humidity levels between about 40 and 60 percent. If you have steamy showers, your bathroom is likely humid enough for this moisture-loving plant. Otherwise, you'll have to invest in a humidifier or try other humidity-boosting tactics. The secret to keeping your Monstera deliciosa happy and healthy is misting it often or placing its pot on a tray filled with pebbles and water.

As far as sunlight goes, consider the Swiss cheese plant's native environment. These vines are used to competing with other plants for sunlight in the dense tropical forests of Central America. Thus, they grow best in dappled light — the equivalent of around two hours of direct sunlight per day. Depending on whether your bathroom has a window and, if you have one, the location of that window in the bathroom, this may or may not be an easy requirement. You may need to install an AJABotanics 100W Waterproof Hanging LED Grow Light in bathrooms with no windows. Otherwise, the growth of your Swiss cheese plant may stall. Outside of these requirements, this vibrant houseplant is fairly low-maintenance. Fertilize it throughout the growing season (spring to fall) and keep the soil moist but not waterlogged. You might also need to dust its large, eye-catching leaves to aid photosynthesis.