Your grandmother was probably able to grow some plants in her house more easily than you are. Newer houses are might be more comfortable and energy efficient for humans to live in but some plants have a harder time. If you have a plant that just is not thriving since you moved to a new house you might be having one or several of the following problems.

If you live in a house that was built 10 years ago or less then you have Low-E windows. It is like your house has sunglasses on. The amount of transmittable energy from the sun is cut in half and this is not great for plants. What I am finding is that plants that I would normally keep out of direct sunlight are just fine in it. I have an angel wing begonia growing quite nicely in a south-facing window - not a place I would expect. If you are having trouble with certain plants you have been successful with in another house this might be a reason.

Another problem with a new house is that it is well insulated and there are no drafts. This does not bode well for plants either. Plants take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen. The bubble of oxygen will sit there around the plant until air movement pushes it away to make room for new carbon dioxide. No air movement means the plant does not thrive. So at the very least put your plant where there is some human or pet traffic that will move the air around a bit. Or group your plants together with a fan. Don't put plants under or next to a furnace vent, though, because the air, while moving, is too hot and dry.

Some houseplants do better with extra humidity - even here. Central heating really dries out the air in a house. Many houseplants are rain forest species and are happier if you group them together in trays of pea gravel that are half full of water. The plant sits on gravel but there is water underneath to increase the humidity. I water my plants in place and suck out the excess in the trays with a turkey baster. It is not proven that misting plants with a sprayer makes a difference. But I do it anyway.

Foliage houseplants don't seem to care if it is 65 or 80 degrees in the house, but blooming houseplants are picky. Orchids will grow just fine at the wrong temperature but won't bloom. There are so many varieties of orchids though, that you can probably find one that will bloom at the exact temperature you keep your house. I have one that has been blooming almost full time for more than a year in an unfinished, unheated part of my house. I've owned this orchid about 10 years and it has never bloomed before. When that part of the house is done, I am sure it will cease blooming because it won't like the warmer temperatures.

Many blooming houseplants such as Christmas/Easter/Thanksgiving cactus also are day-length dependent. If they get light at night, they usually don't bloom or bloom poorly. A good place to grow them is in a spare bedroom or place where no one regularly turns on the lights. Barring that, you can put them in a closet for six weeks before you expect them to bloom. And of course once they bud, bring them out of the closet or the spare room so you can enjoy them.

Last of all, you should quit considering as houseplants the potted chrysanthemums, azaleas, cyclamen, poinsettias and mini roses that you buy at the grocery store. Yes, they came into your house in a pot, they are really cute and they ostensibly have roots, but they are short-lived decorations. Consider them like cut flowers. The grower has given them extra fertilizer, changed the amount of light/dark, and changed the temperature so they will bloom dramatically - often at the wrong time of year. All of the energy that the plant would normally use to make good roots and good growth goes toward those blossoms. I am suspicious that many of the plants are legally dead when they come in the house. If, after the flowers shrivel, there appears to be a living plant left, you could try keeping it but don't expect much. And don't feel guilty about your inability to keep these plants alive. You are in good company.

(Cathy Denton lives in Glasgow and is a Master Gardener with the Coos County-Oregon State University Extension Service.)