Figs are good houseplants for a reasonably sunny window. You can keep one in the house permanently, but it will grow very, very slowly, so you have to buy one that is what you want to look at just like it is. Don't regularily rotate the pot, it has an inside side that you look at and and a window side that will grow better. Rotate 180° once a year in spring. You also need to buy it in the right season or from the right circumstances. Going from a typically bright greenhouse in summer to a house will probably result in a lot of dropped leaves (which will regrow). It's better to buy something in a situation more similar to where it's going. Like that same greenhouse in Dec.,Jan. or Feb. the down months.
A south window is best, east and west equally second best and north not normally a good choice. The amount of blue sky outside the window matters. Put your face where the plant would be. What percentage is unobstructed by roof overhang, buildings, bushes, trees, etc.? You need 50% blue sky to call it a
good south, or
good east or west. You can also see that the closer to the top of window the plant is, the less direct light is available to the top of the plant in a house with a roof overhang, so size matters. Here is a bathroom window Ficus benjamina variegated 'Too Little' forest on a 4" windowsill...
This window is SSW facing, but has a tall home 20' away, so it's a 25% south blue sky window. The plant summers outdoors in bright shade.
It has to be cleansed of outdoor bugs in autumn, sprayed with dove-soapy water, rinsed with clear water, leaves sprayed and soil drenched with 5% Pyola and brought indoors immediately. Otherwise a progression of bugs emerge over winter which my wife notices, without fail.
This is another variety of variegated 'Too Little' but with a very attractive arc in the leaf. It stays indoors all year, every year...
It has a Coffee arabica neighbor which is also a very good year-around houseplant. The Coffee is my watering guide. It will droop several inches when it needs water and I water everything in the house when it does so, maybe every 5 to 8 days depending upon season. Watered more often than that, the Coffee will brown at the tips. The figs are happy with that. The Sansevieria is happy with water every two weeks or so. The fig on the other windowsill gets watered every 3 days. They all get about 20 to 25% of the volume of the pot of water, or the surface covered with water 1/2" deep. Only the windowsill pot has drain holes, but the water never gets all the way through the pot. I use a very organic media, unlike everyone else. Choose your poison.
The plants mentioned above by others can receive the same treatment.
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