Thousands of plant owners confess they keep killing the 'unkillable' houseplants

Even the so-called "unkillable" houseplants are apparently no match for an enthusiastic watering can.

A Reddit thread posed a simple question: Which "easy" plant have you killed? The answers quickly became a confession booth for fellow plant parents.

What's Happening?

The post appeared in Reddit's r/houseplants community, with the original poster immediately fessing up to letting a pothos plant die.

Their admission and the prompt were enough to unleash over 14,000 upvotes and over a thousand comments, largely from people admitting they had somehow managed to take down plants with reputations for surviving just about anything. 

Snake plants, aloe vera, spider plants, mint, ZZ plants, and succulents were among the most frequently named offenders.

Why does it matter?

Gardeners struggling with even the supposedly beginner-friendly plants should know they're not alone. 

Indoor conditions can be especially tricky, with dry air, limited sunlight, and inconsistent watering routines making even hardy varieties struggle.

Many commenters pointed to the same culprit: overwatering. Others said their homes simply do not get enough light for plants often marketed as beginner-friendly.

Learning from others' mistakes and sharing pitfalls can help lead to better outcomes in the future. While it could be easy to get down and discouraged, the better move is to regroup and try to diagnose what went wrong.

Considering gardening's potential mental and physical benefits, it's worth persevering.

What are people saying?

The thread became a safe space to share all the projects that went very wrong in a sympathetic forum.

"The 'indestructible' snake plant always proves to be very destructible to me," one person wrote. 

Another dramatically confessed: "Mint. I killed mint."

"They really need to make separate lists for 'hard to kill' and 'easy to save,'" a poster suggested. "Separate ideas!"

Many comments returned to that same distinction. A user put together a thorough checklist of plants that added a lot more nuance. The table took into account how easily a plant survives, thrives, and revives.

It's definitely worth a look for gardeners wondering how they're killing off these easy plants. They should be comforted by this thread in that they are far from alone.

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