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Tropical Houseplant Profile: Pothos

When it comes to easy care and low maintenance houseplants, no one can deny that Pothos should be at the top of the list. These lush, trailing specimens can handle most light situations and even thrive in low levels of sunlight, which means they can go just about anywhere! And they’re incredibly low maintenance; just a deep watering after drying out slightly and an all-purpose fertilizer every 4^th watering is all they need to thrive. It’s this easy going lifestyle that makes Pothos the perfect gift for anyone on your list, especially if you’re not sure of their home lighting or watering habits!

Pothos have long, trailing tendrils that are covered with lush heart-shaped foliage that is a bit wider than a Philodendron. The most famous variety is the Golden Pothos which features bright green and golden yellow marbled leaves; other varieties come in solid green, bright chartreuse, or green marbled with creamy white. Their trailing habit makes them perfect for hanging baskets, or they can be trained to grow up a trellis and other vertical support (but you’ll have to encourage it to deny the laws of gravity).

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Tropical Houseplant Profile: Tropical Fern Family

If you’ve been looking for a tropical houseplant that has incredible foliage in a wide range of shapes and textures, look no further than the tropical Fern family. This family is HUGE and spans a wide range of environments and habitats; for this blog we’ll focus solely on the indoor varieties and leave the perennial outdoor garden types for another time. But even when we limit ourselves to tropical ferns, there are still way too many varieties to count so let’s get to it!

Some of our Favourite Tropical Fern Varieties:

Asparagus Fern: Technically not a fern! But it’s perfect for adding texture to any space, with its arching fronds of delicate green foliage. Plumosa Fern is even more delicate and airy!

Bird’s Nest Fern: Striking foliage! The wide leaves unfold from its centre like a green rosette! A close relative is the Crispy Wave Fern, which has a little extra ruffle to its fronds.

Boston Fern: This one’s dominated the Top Houseplants lists for decades! The arching, deep green fronds offer a full and lush appearance for that instant “indoor jungle” look. Kimberly Queen looks similar but with a more upright habit, and Fluffy Ruffle is exactly that – fluffy!

Button or Lemon Button Fern: So cute! Their arching fronds are covered with tiny, rounded leaves to add great texture to your collection. Lemon Button foliage has a slight citrusy fragrance.

Blue Star Fern: Delicate and long foliage with a gorgeous blue-green hue! This one’s perfect for adding a bit of colour interest to your fern collection.

Heart Fern: Low growing but still intriguing! The heart-shaped foliage also goes by the name “tongue fern”.

Kangaroo Fern: Perfect for hanging baskets, the name comes from the arching fronds that look like green kangaroo paws!

Maidenhair Fern: So soft! Delicate and airy only begins to describe these arching fronds of rounded, lush green foliage.

Rabbit’s Foot Fern: These get their name not from their fronds but from their roots! The hairy rhizomes pop up and over the pot’s edge for a soft and tactile treat!

Ribbon Fern: These often have a two-toned effect, offering long fingers of silvery leaves edged with deep green for a beautiful contrast.

Staghorn Fern: Not your typical fern! The giant toothy fronds do indeed look like antlers, so the name makes sense. They can have lower brown fronds that cover the bottom of the pot, which are actually the fern’s “feet” and are used to attach themselves to trees!

Please note: not all varieties will be available at all times as our selection changes constantly and quickly.

Caring for Your Indoor Ferns

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Tropical Houseplant Profile: Philodendron  

     No doubt about it, you just got to admire a plant that can handle anything from dark corners to bright sunrooms no matter its size or growth habit. And the fact that it’s one of the best tropical houseplants for cleaning the air makes it that much more desirable for the home and office. Whenever customers come into the greenhouse looking for an easy care/low maintenance houseplant and they’re not really sure what kind of sunlight it would get, one of our first suggestions is the Philodendron.

Of course, you don’t really need to take our word for how amazing this plant family is; just look on social media! There are thousands of plant enthusiasts and new home gardeners snapping photos of their giant Split Leaf/Monstera specimens, and showing off the green curtain they’ve achieved with a wall of trailing Philodendron varieties. And speaking of trailing varieties, you won’t believe the colour combinations out there! Not just solid green but tones of yellow, chartreuse, even orange and purple!

Whether you go for a small pot or hanging basket of trailing Philodendron or larger pots of Selloum, most varieties can handle any light location from low indirect light to high light, though they do best in medium light and prefer to have protection from long periods of direct sunlight. They all like to dry out slightly between deep waterings, and would appreciate getting a dose of all-purpose fertilizer every 4^th watering. Along with the occasional foliage cleaning, that’s really all the care they require to be happy and healthy. When it comes to easy care houseplants, Philodendrons are some of the easiest available.

Still wondering which Philodendron is right for your space? Here are some of our favourites:

Low Growing / Trailing Varieties: Baby Hope, Birkin, Brasil, Lemon, Micans, Rhapidophora Tetrasperma, Silver Satin, Swiss Cheese.

Upright Varieties: Split Leaf/Monstera, Selloum, Moonlight, Rojo Congo.

Please note: not all varieties will be available at all times as our selection changes constantly and quickly.

Fun Facts about Philodendron!

• They can be found in tropical forests of Central America and the West Indies.
• Philodendrons are believed to have been discovered by European botanists and naturalists since 1644, but the name Philodendron wouldn’t be used as a means to classify this family until 1829 by Austrian botanist, Heinrich Wilhelm Schott.
• There are nearly 500 species of Philodendron, which are then broken into nearly a dozen subspecies including Monstera and Rhapidophora Tetrasperma.
• Some Philodendron species happily share their living space with ants. Up in the tropical canopies, the ants use the plants’ roots to help hold their nests together, while the plant absorbs nutrients from the nests and uses the ants as security against other insects.
• Many trailing varieties are super easy to grow from cuttings! After trimming the tendrils, which also helps keep the plant full and bushy, take any cuttings that have at least 2 leaf nodes (where new leaves emerge from the stem) and place them cut-side down in potting soil. Water your cuttings lightly (they don’t have roots yet to suck up the moisture) and keep them evenly moist until they’ve rooted and are ready for transplanting.