newcs 3 things I've had good luck with (and I usually kill all houseplants): Aloe, spider plants and my new favorite are the mini orchids from Just Add Ice. I don't use ice since it damaged a leaf but this little plant from the grocery store has been going strong and blooming for a couple months now, even though I went away for 2 weeks. I just water it a little bit each weekend and don't do anything else.

nagoose The only plants I haven't killed are the plastic ones. The live ones that are still alive don't look nearly as good as the fakes, either looking sickly or near death. And I only get the "unkillable" ones!

I keep trying even after saying in despair to my husband as I recycle yet another plant I am just going to replace each one as they die with plastic ones. I definitely love plants to death. They don't last too long with me. Sigh.

Rick Frame Polycarbonate and fiberglass might not be a good choice for edible plants -- Polycarbonate is plasticized with Bisphenol-A and fiberglass is made with epoxy resins, meaning that toxic chemicals can be leached from the container into the plants, and into your food supply.

Steve Masley Consulting and Design Plastics leach very little into soils, unless they're strongly acidic (or alkaline)--too acidic or alkaline to grow vegetables. Most of what does leach is flushed out when water runs down the sides of the pot. And then there's the matter of root uptake of toxins. While some plants to concentrate toxic metals--ferns, for instance, concentrate lead--there's very little evidence they take up more complex molecules like Bisphenol-A or epoxy resins.