Choosing the right pot

Most house plants need to be grown in a pot that has drainage holes in the base. There are some plants that do well without drainage, such as bog-loving carnivorous ones, but you still need to be careful that you don’t overwater them. Pots can be as basic and cheap or as elaborate and expensive as you wish, but consider this a chance to stamp your style on your house-plant collection.

◼ Simple containers can be the plastic nursery pots your plant came in or you can even recycle food containers, such as a plastic yoghurt pot. Punch some holes in the bottom, then place it on a saucer to catch water and stop it from damaging your furniture.

◼ Clay pots make more visually pleasing alternatives, but you will need to water a little more often if the terracotta is not glazed. Some glazed pots come with a single hole in the bottom and are designed to be planted into, but one hole may not be enough to stop compost getting waterlogged. You can add drainage holes to terracotta and china pots using a drill fitted with a ceramic tile bit, but don’t try this with anything really precious.

◼ Cache pots are decorative and used as a cover-up for plastic nursery pots. These are pots without holes in the bottom, and are often made from glazed pottery. Before reusing a nursery pot or cache pot, to remove any risk of transferring pests and diseases to its new resident, scrub it inside and out with hot, soapy water, then rinse well. If you are using a porous terracotta pot, as long as you are not repotting a succulent in winter, it’s wise to soak the pot in water before you begin.