This is the normal condition of a small apartment, not a problem you have created. Almost everyone who likes plants ends up with more plants than good positions, because plants are easy to acquire and windows are not.
So the question is not how to fix it. It is how to allocate what you have, deliberately, instead of by accident.
First, say what you are allocating
The University of Illinois Extension sets out where each band sits:
- Direct Light: a south window directly in front.
- High or Bright Light: an east or west window directly in front, or a south window up to 5 feet away.
- Medium Light: a north window directly in front, an east or west window a few feet away, or a south window 3 to 10 feet away.
- Low Light: a north window a few feet away, an east or west window 3 to 10 feet away, or a south window 15 to 20 feet away.
Walk the apartment and list your positions by band. Not rooms, positions: the spots that are in a band, can hold a pot, and are not in a walkway.
You now have a supply list. Most people are surprised by how short it is and by how many of their plants are standing outside it entirely. The room-by-room survey is the longer version of this exercise.
The obvious answer is not mine to give
The first thing most people reach for here is supplemental lighting.
That is a legitimate route and it is not this site's subject. Anything involving lamps, fixtures, spectra, run times and equipment is a different specialty with real detail behind it, and it deserves a proper treatment rather than a paragraph from a placement site.
What this page can do, and what almost nobody does, is the thing you should do before buying any equipment: work out whether the plants you own could be arranged better than they are. Frequently they can, and it costs nothing.
Triage, in the order that actually works
1. Rank your plants by light requirement, honestly.
Not by how much you like them. By what they need. Check the demanding ones by botanical name on a grower's label or a university extension page rather than by impression.
2. Match the top of that list to the top of your position list.
The plant with the highest requirement gets the best position. This sounds obvious and is the step people skip, because the best position is usually already occupied by a plant that has been there longest.
3. Work down both lists together until the positions run out.
4. Look hard at what is left over.
This is where the real decision is, and there are only four honest options for it.
The four options for the plants that did not get a position
Put them in the least bad position and accept holding rather than growing. Legitimate for plants that genuinely tolerate low light. Not legitimate as a general policy, because a high-requirement plant in a low position is a slow loss.
Change what occupies a good position. Very often the best spot in the apartment holds something that does not need it: a plant that would be equally happy two bands down, or an object that is not a plant at all. This is the cheapest win available and it is the one people overlook, because the arrangement feels settled.
Give some away. The least popular option and frequently the correct one. A plant in somebody else's window is a plant that is alive.
Stop acquiring until a position opens. The unglamorous discipline that prevents the whole problem recurring. If your position list is full, the next plant does not have anywhere to go, whatever the shop says about how easy it is.
What not to do
Do not rotate everything through the good spot. This is the most common improvisation and it is worse than choosing. A plant moved in and out repeatedly never settles anywhere, and the rotation means every plant spends most of its time in a position that does not suit it. Rotating a plant within its own position, so it grows evenly, is a different thing and is fine. Rotating plants between positions as a way of sharing scarce light is not.
Do not fill the dark places because they are empty. An empty dark corner is not a wasted opportunity, it is a place with no light. What can actually live in a hallway with no light is the honest version of that.
Do not judge a position by how bright the room feels. Human eyes adapt and are very poor at this. Use the distances in the table instead, which are the same whether or not your eyes have adjusted.
The seasonal version of this problem
Positions change. The bright spot in summer is not always the bright spot in winter, and a building going up opposite or a tree filling out can move your whole list.
So the allocation is worth redoing once or twice a year, not because the plants changed but because the supply did. That is a twenty-minute job with the light table in hand and it catches problems months before the plants show them.
If your best window faces north
Then your top band is Medium, directly in front of the glass, and everything else is Low. That is a genuinely constrained apartment and the triage matters more, not less: the narrow strip at the window is the whole budget, and it should go to whatever needs it most. What a north-facing window supports sets out what that band can carry.
If you have pets
Triage usually means moving plants, and a plant that moves to a lower position is usually moving to a more reachable one. Check anything you relocate, by botanical name, against the ASPCA's toxic and non-toxic plants database.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I work out how much light I actually have to allocate?
Walk the apartment and list positions rather than rooms, using the University of Illinois Extension's bands. Direct is a south window directly in front. Bright is an east or west window directly in front, or a south window up to 5 feet away. Medium is a north window directly in front, an east or west window a few feet away, or a south window 3 to 10 feet away. Low is a north window a few feet away, an east or west window 3 to 10 feet away, or a south window 15 to 20 feet away. Count only the spots that sit in a band, can hold a pot, and are not in a walkway.
Which plant should get the best position?
The one with the highest light requirement, judged by what it needs rather than by how much you like it. Rank the plants, rank the positions, and match from the top of both lists until the positions run out. People skip this because the best spot is usually already occupied by whichever plant has been there longest.
What do I do with the plants that did not get a position?
There are four honest options. Put them in the least bad position and accept holding rather than growing, which works for genuinely low-light plants and not as a general policy. Change what occupies a good position, since the best spot often holds something that does not need it, which is the cheapest win available. Give some away, which is the least popular answer and frequently the right one. Or stop acquiring until a position opens.
Can I share the good spot by rotating plants through it?
No, and this is the most common improvisation. A plant moved in and out repeatedly never settles anywhere, and the rotation means every plant spends most of its time somewhere that does not suit it. Rotating a plant within its own position so it grows evenly is a different thing and is fine. Rotating plants between positions to share scarce light is not.
How often should I redo the allocation?
Once or twice a year, because the supply changes even when the plants do not. The bright spot in summer is not always the bright spot in winter, and a building going up opposite or a tree filling out moves the whole list. It is a twenty-minute job with the light table in hand, and it catches problems months before the plants show them.
The part worth remembering
Having more plants than positions is normal. Handling it by rotating everything, or by hoping, is what turns it into losses.
List your positions, rank your plants, match them from the top, and make a real decision about the remainder. The apartment has the light it has, and the only variable you control is who gets it.