The Zizi! A beautiful, easy to care for plant that seems to tolerate both overwatering and total neglect with equal gusto. It makes a fun and cheerful starter plant that will continue to grow even if not kept by a window. 

Snake plants come in so many varieties that you can honestly and truly start off an urban jungle with a snake plant collection. It's plant name being "sansevieria", it is a lovely, upright growing, desert-type plant that will survive even in low light conditions. 

While snake plants do not like to be heavily watered, I have found that they will tolerate a heavy watering can hand for quite a while before making its distress known. I recommend planting it in a large container and letting it get settled in because with good care, this easy plant can grow large pretty quickly, giving you a wonderful sense of accomplishment during your plant parent journey. 

The pothos plant also comes in many varieties and is a luscious vining beast of a plant that is difficult to kill does the best and grows the fastest in a sunny window but will also stay very much alive in...no light situations. Seriously. I've seen people growing pothos plants in elementary school offices with fluroescent lighting and no windows in sight. A lovely, fun plant that propogates easily and is great to share with all your plant parent friends. 

Often confused with the pothos (by me and surely by other people!!), the philodendron is equally easy to care for, propagates just as easily, and will TAKE OFF during its growing season when provided with ample nutrients and adequate sunlight. 

Philodendron plants also do very well in non-soil plant growing substitutes like leca clay balls and spaghum moss so if you're not feeling the soil, let it go! 

Once established, needs very little care, just sa bit of water every now and then. 

A desert-type plant, the dracena comes in many forms and has waxy, dark leaves that strike a pose wherever they are. Despite being sold as "plants", many of them grow into trees if given enough time and patience. They're also easy to propagate from cuttings and make great office plants as they will survive some shadier living arrangements. 

The flapjack plant, aptly named for the way its leaves are shaped like pancakes. This cute plant needs little water and basically no attention. It can literally go weeks without watering and be absolutely fine. It tends to take on a reddish hue when given more sunlight but will do just fine in a most any window that gets a bit of sun. 

Like many plants, the peperomia comes in a lot of varieties and I haven't met one yet that didn't survive even when utterly forgotten about. They don't need high humidity. Keep growing even when in a low light situation, are hardy, and are just so much FUN. 

I'd make the argument that the Peperomia plant species provides as many varities as the snake plant, giving you the option to create a more casual plant collector look in your home, with the minimum amount of effort. 

I thought it was dead...truly I did. I moved the pot with my first alocasia to my outdoor garden and even potted something else in it. The summer passed and my alocasia popped back up and started growing as if it had never torn out my heart and hurt my feelings. 😓😓😓

After having a similar experience this past winter, I've discovered that the alocasia like to have little plant naps. Which it seems to get through just fine without much watering as long as the plant is well-established and has access to a little light. 

Alocasias are bouncy, upright plants that can be arranged near the back of your urban jungle arrangement of planters as they will grow tall and be seen above most other house plants, adding depth to your urban jungle. 

This is another plant that is supposedly native to Africa. What this means is that the Mandarin Fire Flash will give you a lovely and bright orange leaf and can be left to care for itself for a ridiculous amount of time without giving up on life. 

This is a very versatile plant that will keep growing in low light conditions but is far more impressive when kept in a window to more easily view its beautiful color, large leaves, and cheerful upright form. Plus, it'll grow faster and be more durable if it has access to the light and plant nutrients it needs to produce leaves at its top speed. 

A cactus that produces edible fruit? Absolutely yes. My peruvian apple cactuses have been bone-in the-desert dry, and have been nearly floating away while planted in planters without drainage holes and have just...stayed alive through it all. 

The peruvian apple cactus has a lovely, columnular structure and can grow to be very large. This gives you something else to look forward to while you stare at it and try to restrain yourself from overwatering it and wait for it to flower and fruit.