Guides / Tropical
Tropical
Plants from warm climates.
A
African violet
Streptocarpus ionanthus
How to care for Streptocarpus ionanthus. Light for flowering, watering from below, avoiding leaf spots and understanding the name change.
Air plant
Tillandsia xerographica
How to care for Tillandsia xerographica. Soaking, drying the rosette upside down, mounting without glue and propagating after flowering.
Alocasia
Alocasia amazonica
How to care for Alocasia x amazonica. Recognising winter dormancy rather than death, getting the watering right, treating spider mite, and why it drips water.
Aluminium plant
Pilea cadierei
How to care for Pilea cadierei. Light, watering, pruning leggy stems, keeping the silver markings clear and replacing old plants.
Angel Wing Begonia
Begonia coccinea
Practical guidance for growing angel wing begonia, Begonia coccinea, including cane stems, silver-spotted wing-shaped leaves, watering, humidity, pruning, and toxicity to pets.
Angel Wings
Caladium bicolor
How to grow angel wings, Caladium bicolor. Why losing every leaf each year is dormancy rather than a dying plant, keeping the tuber dry through its rest, and the mouth pain calcium oxalate crystals cause if a leaf is chewed.
Areca palm
Dypsis lutescens
How to care for Dypsis lutescens. Watering a palm sold as a clump of seedlings, why the tips go brown, treating spider mite, and never cutting the growing point.
Arrowhead plant
Syngonium auritum
How to grow syngonium, Syngonium auritum. The arrowhead plant, why the leaf shape changes as it matures, and keeping it bushy rather than climbing.
Arrowhead vine
Syngonium podophyllum
How to care for Syngonium podophyllum. The plant that changes leaf shape as it climbs, why the arrowhead you bought turns into something else, and how to keep it compact.
Asparagus fern
Asparagus setaceus
How to care for Asparagus setaceus. Light, watering, humidity, toxic berries, its false leaves and its weed risk in warm climates.
B
Baby rubber plant
Peperomia obtusifolia
How to care for Peperomia obtusifolia. Light, watering, dry rooms, propagation and avoiding root rot.
Bird of Paradise
Strelitzia reginae
How to grow Strelitzia reginae. Light, watering, the cool winter rest, slow flowering and the bird-pollinated flower structure.
Bird's nest fern
Asplenium nidus
How to care for Asplenium nidus. Watering around the rosette, humidity, scale insects and protecting new fronds.
Blushing philodendron
Philodendron erubescens
How to care for Philodendron erubescens. The red-stemmed climber behind 'Pink Princess' and 'Red Emerald', why it needs a pole to make big leaves, and what the red pigment is for.
Boston Fern
Nephrolepis exaltata
How to grow a Boston fern, Nephrolepis exaltata. The humidity it demands, why fronds shed in winter, propagating from runners, and the Victorian craze that made it famous.
C
Cabbage Tree
Cordyline australis
How to grow cabbage palm, Cordyline australis. Why it is not a palm, tying the leaves up for winter, what to do when the trunk rots after a hard frost and how it regrows from the base.
Calla Lily
Zantedeschia aethiopica
How to grow Zantedeschia aethiopica. Why it will grow in standing water when its coloured cousins rot, how to get it through a cold winter, and why it is not a lily.
Cast iron plant
Aspidistra elatior
How to care for Aspidistra elatior. The Victorian parlour plant that survives dark corners and cold hallways, why it grows so slowly, and the two things that kill it.
Century Plant
Agave americana
How to grow the century plant. Flowering, sap irritation, overwintering in wet climates and propagating the offsets.
Chinese evergreen
Aglaonema commutatum
How to care for Aglaonema commutatum. Why cold does more damage than low light, watering it correctly, and why the pink varieties need brighter conditions than the green ones.
Chinese hibiscus
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
How to grow Chinese hibiscus, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Flowers that last a day, why bud drop happens, and keeping it through a cool winter indoors.
Chinese Money Plant
Pilea peperomioides
How to grow Pilea peperomioides. Light, watering, why the leaves curl, and how to take the offsets that carried this plant across Europe before any nursery sold it.
Coco Plum
Chrysobalanus icaco
Practical guidance for growing coco plum, Chrysobalanus icaco, including salt tolerance, coastal hedging, ripe fruit, pruning, wet soil tolerance, and container growing.
Coffee Plant
Coffea arabica
How to grow coffee plant, Coffea arabica. Why a plant can grow for years without ever flowering, telling a dramatic thirst-wilt from silent root rot, and keeping the caffeine in its leaves and raw cherries away from pets.
Coleus
Plectranthus scutellarioides
How to grow coleus, Plectranthus scutellarioides. Pinching out the flowers to keep the leaves, taking cuttings that root in a week, and overwintering it.
Corn plant
Dracaena fragrans
How to grow corn plant, Dracaena fragrans. Brown leaf tips, cane pruning, watering, light and toxicity to cats and dogs.
Creeping fig
Ficus pumila
How to care for Ficus pumila. The one ficus that takes real shade, why it climbs walls without support, and the adult growth phase that turns a neat green sheet into a coarse shrub.
Cretan brake
Pteris cretica
How to care for Pteris cretica. The variegated table fern that outlives the rest of a mixed bowl, why the two frond types look like different plants, and how it seeds itself.
Croton
Codiaeum variegatum
How to care for Codiaeum variegatum. Why it drops every leaf when you move it, the light it needs for colour, treating red spider mite, and settling a new plant.
Crown of thorns
Euphorbia milii
How to grow crown of thorns, Euphorbia milii. The caustic milky sap, flowering almost all year in good light, and the spines that make it a poor choice near children.
Crystal Anthurium
Anthurium crystallinum
Practical guidance for growing crystal anthurium, Anthurium crystallinum, including velvet foliage, silver veining, humidity, chunky compost, watering, and mild toxicity.
D
Devil's Ivy
Epipremnum aureum
How to grow pothos, Epipremnum aureum. Keeping the variegation, propagating in water, why a climbing plant grows different leaves, and the calcium oxalate that makes it toxic.
Dragon Tree
Dracaena marginata
How to grow Dracaena marginata. Why tap water browns the tips, cutting a leggy cane to make it branch, and the saponins that affect cats.
Dumb cane
Dieffenbachia seguine
How to care for Dieffenbachia seguine. Handling it safely, keeping it from going leggy, air-layering a bare stem, and where the name comes from.
Dwarf umbrella tree
Schefflera arboricola
How to care for Schefflera arboricola. The tough bushy shrub that takes hard pruning and medium light, why the leaflets drop, and how to stop it becoming a bare stick.
E
Earth Star
Cryptanthus bivittatus
How to grow earth star, Cryptanthus bivittatus. Why it roots in soil rather than needing a tank bromeliad's water cup, how brighter light deepens its pink-bronze stripes, and why the rosette fades once it has produced pups.
Emerald ripple peperomia
Peperomia caperata
How to care for Peperomia caperata. The deeply corrugated rosette peperomia, why water sitting in the crown rots it, and how to propagate one from a single leaf.
English Ivy
Hedera helix
How to grow Hedera helix. Whether it damages walls, the two completely different forms one plant takes, why it feeds bees in November, and where it is a banned weed.
F
Fiddle Leaf Fig
Ficus lyrata
How to grow Ficus lyrata. Why it drops leaves when moved, telling root rot brown spots from sunburn ones, and how to make a single stem branch.
Fishbone prayer plant
Ctenanthe burle-marxii
How to care for Ctenanthe burle-marxii. The toughest of the prayer plant family, why the leaves fold up at night, and how it differs from a calathea in the ways that matter.
Flamingo Flower
Anthurium andraeanum
How to care for Anthurium andraeanum, the flamingo flower. Light, chunky compost, humidity, watering and repeat flowering.
Flamingo Lily
Anthurium scherzerianum
How to grow flamingo lily, Anthurium scherzerianum. Why its calcium oxalate crystals cause an immediate burning bite rather than a slow poisoning, the curled spadix that sets it apart from Anthurium andraeanum, and the fluoride-sensitive browning mistaken for underwatering.
Flying Goldfish Plant
Columnea gloriosa
How to grow flying goldfish plant, Columnea gloriosa. Why its fish-shaped flowers need brighter light than the foliage alone, and what causes buds to drop before they open.
Foxtail Fern
Asparagus densiflorus
Practical guidance for growing foxtail fern, Asparagus densiflorus, including plume-shaped stems, tuberous roots, bright light, drought tolerance, and toxicity to cats and dogs.
G
Gardenia
Gardenia jasminoides
How to care for Gardenia jasminoides. Why the buds drop, the ericaceous compost and rainwater it insists on, and the steady conditions that decide whether it flowers.
Green aglaonema
Aglaonema modestum
How to care for Aglaonema modestum. The plain green original of the Chinese evergreens, tougher in shade and cold than the coloured cultivars that replaced it, and why the plain leaf is the point.
H
Heartleaf Philodendron
Philodendron hederaceum
How to care for Philodendron hederaceum. How to tell it apart from pothos for certain, why climbing gives bigger leaves than trailing, and how it behaves around pets.
Holly fern
Cyrtomium falcatum
How to care for Cyrtomium falcatum. The stiff, dark, glossy fern that takes cold halls and dry air, why it looks nothing like a houseplant fern, and where it has escaped.
Hoya
Hoya carnosa
How to care for Hoya carnosa, the wax plant. Never cutting off the flower spur, keeping it pot-bound so it blooms, and the winter rest that sets the buds.
K
Kentia palm
Howea forsteriana
How to care for Howea forsteriana. Watering a palm that hates wet feet, why the brown tips appear, never cutting the growing point, and the one island it comes from.
King Anthurium
Anthurium veitchii
How to grow king anthurium, Anthurium veitchii. Why its huge corrugated leaves need far more humidity than an average anthurium, and what a moss pole does for its pendant habit.
L
Lady palm
Rhapis excelsa
How to care for Rhapis excelsa. The most shade-tolerant palm in cultivation, why it costs what it does, and why a plant that suits cool dim rooms is still sold as difficult.
Lipstick Plant
Aeschynanthus radicans
Practical guidance for growing lipstick plant, Aeschynanthus radicans, including tubular red flowers, dark calyxes, trailing stems, bright light, humidity, pruning, and non-toxic houseplant care.
Lucky bamboo
Dracaena sanderiana
How to grow lucky bamboo, Dracaena sanderiana. It is not bamboo, why tap water yellows the tips, and moving it from water into compost.
M
Maidenhair Fern
Adiantum raddianum
How to care for Adiantum raddianum. Why it crisps in an ordinary room, the one thing that revives a fern you think you have killed, and how it differs from its near-hardy wild relative.
Mind your own business
Soleirolia soleirolii
How to care for Soleirolia soleirolii. The tiny-leaved carpet that fills a shaded pot in a season, why it is a nettle without a sting, and why it is hard to remove once loose in a garden.
N
Nerve plant
Fittonia albivenis
How to care for Fittonia albivenis. The plant that faints when it dries out, keeping the humidity it demands, growing it in a terrarium, and pinching to keep it bushy.
Never-Never Plant
Ctenanthe setosa
How to grow never-never plant, Ctenanthe setosa. Why its leaves fold upright every evening and flatten again by morning, and telling hard-water leaf scorch from simple dry-air browning.
P
Parlour palm
Chamaedorea elegans
How to care for Chamaedorea elegans. The Victorian drawing-room palm that still tolerates a dim corner better than almost anything, why it stays small, and the two things that brown the tips.
Peace Lily
Spathiphyllum wallisii
How to care for Spathiphyllum wallisii. Why it wilts on purpose, what brown tips are telling you, why a shop-bought plant often refuses to flower again, and how it behaves around cats.
Pencil cactus
Euphorbia tirucalli
How to grow pencil cactus, Euphorbia tirucalli. Not a cactus, the seriously caustic sap, and why 'Firesticks' needs full sun to keep its colour.
Poinsettia
Euphorbia pulcherrima
How to buy a poinsettia that lasts, keep it alive past January, and get the bracts to colour up again. Plus the truth about whether poinsettias are poisonous.
Polka dot begonia
Begonia maculata
How to care for Begonia maculata. Pruning to stop it going leggy, watering a cane begonia without rotting it, keeping the spots bold, and rooting cuttings.
Ponytail palm
Beaucarnea recurvata
How to grow ponytail palm, Beaucarnea recurvata. The swollen base that stores water, why it needs watering monthly rather than weekly, and its slow growth.
Prayer Plant
Maranta leuconeura
How to care for Maranta leuconeura. Why the leaves fold up at night, what causes the crispy edges everyone gets, and one of the few striking houseplants that is safe with cats.
Purple Heart
Tradescantia pallida
How to grow purple heart, Tradescantia pallida. Why light matters more than feeding for keeping the purple colour strong, and the sap that can trigger a skin rash even after years of handling it without trouble.
R
Rabbit's foot fern
Davallia fejeensis
How to care for Davallia fejeensis. The Fijian fern whose furry rhizomes crawl over the pot rim, why they must never be buried, and how to grow one in a hanging basket.
Raindrop Peperomia
Peperomia polybotrya
How to grow raindrop peperomia, Peperomia polybotrya. Why its thick, teardrop leaves cope better with a missed watering than with compost left wet, and why it is safe for a home with cats, dogs or a toddler who chews everything.
Rex begonia
Begonia rex
How to care for Begonia rex. The begonia grown entirely for its leaf, why humidity matters more than light, and how to raise a new plant from a single leaf.
Rose Apple
Syzygium jambos
Practical guidance for growing rose apple, Syzygium jambos, including frost sensitivity, fruit fly hosting, fragrant fruit, pruning, humid soil, and container growing in cooler climates.
Round-Leaf Calathea
Goeppertia orbifolia
How to grow Goeppertia orbifolia. Humidity, filtered water, leaf movement at night and the Calathea name change.
Rubber Plant
Ficus elastica
How to care for Ficus elastica. Why it drops leaves when you move it, what the red sheath on new growth is, how to stop it becoming a bare pole, and the latex problem.
S
Sacred Fig
Ficus religiosa
Practical guidance for growing sacred fig, Ficus religiosa, including its heart-shaped drip-tip leaves, obligate fig wasp pollination, its role as the Bodhi tree, frost tenderness, and its milky irritant sap.
Sago palm
Cycas revoluta
How to care for Cycas revoluta. Watering a cycad that stores its own water, the one flush of fronds a year, treating cycad scale, and why it is lethal to dogs.
Satin pothos
Scindapsus pictus
How to care for Scindapsus pictus. The silver-spotted trailer that keeps its markings in far less light than a variegated pothos, why it is not a pothos at all, and how to stop the leaves shrinking.
Silver Vase Plant
Aechmea fasciata
Practical guidance for growing silver vase plant, Aechmea fasciata, including central cup watering, pups after flowering, silver banding, bright light, humidity, and non-toxic houseplant care.
Snake Plant
Dracaena trifasciata
How to grow a snake plant, Dracaena trifasciata. Watering, light, why variegated cuttings turn green, and what the air-purifying claims are worth.
Spider Plant
Chlorophytum comosum
How to grow a spider plant, Chlorophytum comosum. Fixing brown tips, rooting the babies, and whether it is safe for cats.
Spotted Dumb Cane
Dieffenbachia seguine
How to grow spotted dumb cane, Dieffenbachia seguine. Why a bitten leaf can swell the tongue enough to affect speech and breathing, and why it needs a shelf out of reach rather than just supervision around children and pets.
Staghorn fern
Platycerium bifurcatum
How to grow staghorn fern, Platycerium bifurcatum. Mounting it on a board, why the brown shield fronds must be left alone, and watering by soaking.
Star jasmine
Trachelospermum jasminoides
How to grow star jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides. Evergreen scent for a sheltered wall, why it bronzes in winter, and whether it is hardy where you live.
String of hearts
Ceropegia woodii
How to care for Ceropegia woodii. Watering a semi-succulent trailer, getting tight leaf spacing rather than bare threads, and propagating from the beads on the stems.
String of pearls
Curio rowleyanus
How to care for Curio rowleyanus. Bright light, careful watering, shallow pots, propagation and signs of stress in the beads.
Sweetheart Hoya
Hoya kerrii
How to grow sweetheart hoya, Hoya kerrii. Why a single heart-shaped leaf sold as a gift can never grow into a vine unless it was cut with a stem node, and why letting the mix dry out fully matters more than any feeding schedule.
Swiss Cheese Plant
Monstera deliciosa
How to grow and care for Monstera deliciosa, the Swiss cheese plant. Watering, light, feeding, common problems, and whether it is safe around pets.
Swiss cheese vine
Monstera adansonii
How to care for Monstera adansonii. The small-leaved monstera with holes and no splits, how to tell it from the plant sold as obliqua, and why the holes only arrive with age.
T
Taro
Colocasia esculenta
How to grow taro, Colocasia esculenta. Why every part of it has to be cooked, how the same plant became the elephant ear in a garden centre, and the crop that fed the Pacific.
Ti plant
Cordyline fruticosa
How to care for Cordyline fruticosa. The red-leaved Pacific plant carried across an ocean by canoe, why fluoride in tap water browns the tips, and how much light the colour needs.
W
Watermelon peperomia
Peperomia argyreia
How to care for Peperomia argyreia. The silver-striped peperomia whose markings are structural rather than pigment, why the stalks snap, and how to propagate one from half a leaf.
Weeping fig
Ficus benjamina
How to care for Ficus benjamina. Why it drops every leaf when you move it, settling a new plant, treating scale, and handling the irritant sap when you prune.
Z
Zebra Alocasia
Alocasia zebrina
Practical guidance for growing zebra alocasia, Alocasia zebrina, including striped petioles, arrow-shaped leaves, humidity, watering, winter dormancy, mild toxicity, and pest control.
ZZ Plant
Zamioculcas zamiifolia
How to care for Zamioculcas zamiifolia. Low light, dry compost, rhizomes, leaflet propagation and the false cancer claim.
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