My living room is quite dark and the window blind is down all the time, as it faces the road. I'd like a nice, large, archtitectural-type house plant for the room. Would monstera be any good - or something on a moss pole?

You are really asking a lot of a real plant to live under such conditions. I would probably opt for Asplenium nidus. This is a fern that can grow quite large in the shape of a funnel. Alternatively how about an aspidistra. They are remarkably tolerant of low light conditions.

Palms do well for me in my lounge - they are quite a way from the east-facing window and they don't get that much light - but I do open the curtains most days!

I agree with Mary you are asking alot of a plant to live without light - could you not open the blind a few hours each day when you are in but in another room. Or how about a blind where people can't see in but light is let in.

Thanks for your extremely quick responses. I was very surprised. I understand the light is a problem and that plants can't really be expected to survive without it. I do have some light coming in through glass in the front door, although I'll make a note to lift the blind a little.

As a freelance cameraman, I am away quite a lot with work, so I'm looking for a plant that can take care of itself - sorry it sounds like I'm trying to make it even harder for the poor plant. I'll have a look at a fern or aspidistra like you suggest. I just want something big that looks quite dramatic.

Look for something with really dark green leaves. The darker the leaf, the less light it needs as the cells are adapted to making the most of what they can get (forest floor dwellers, in the wild). Aspidistra is a good choice.

My son is in a top floor flat, some light, but not very sunny. He has a dracaena (dragon plant) that did well until winter last year, then part of it died. We repotted it, but same has happened this year. Out of three stems, the tallest stem has dropped all the leaves, and on taking it out of the pot, found roots rotten and the very top also. He was told to water from the bottom and rest on pebbles, which he has done, but I suspect it is too much water? How should you feed and water these large architectural plants, and care for them. I would appreciate your help.

Most houseplants (except those that flower in our winter) need less water when the light levels are low. They enter a kind of dormant period, and you only need to water enough to just keep them alive. This means keeping the compost barely moist. The rotting you describe sounds like your son probably kept on watering at the summer rate, as if the plant was growing strongly. Standing the pot on pebbles allows moisture to evaporate around the leaves & increase humidity, but if the base of the pot actually stands in water, the roots will rot.

I have a very dark bathroom which I like to keep plants in. The solution I have come up with is to have 4 plants which can cope with reduced light levels and swop them around on a weekly basis. One week two of them live on the shelf in the bathroom and two on the windowsill in the utility room, and the next week the other two. This seems to work quite well and I don't feel so guilty about starving plants of life!!

I believe parlour palms are very tolerant of low light levels.

I always found Christmas and easter cactus to be pretty tolerant of neglect. Mine seem to thrive on neglect (they only get watered every other month as I work away). They are 3 or 4 metres from a west facing frosted glass window so light levels are lowish but not blinds-down low.

Hi Moubert

Monstera is a plant that originates from the tropical forest floor, so would be used to having a canopy of leaves above it blocking out the light. Think it's a great-looking plant for architectural structure, but I believe Aspidistra would be a better bet for very low light levels.