Calathea

Calathea is the common name for a large group of striking foliage plants, many recently reclassified into the genus Goeppertia. They are grown for boldly marked leaves that can look brush-painted in greens, creams, pinks and purples, often with deep maroon undersides.

Like their prayer-plant relatives, many calatheas gently raise and lower their leaves on a daily rhythm. They are rewarding but demanding: they crave warmth, humidity and clean water, and they protest dry air or hard tap water with crispy edges.

Recognize calatheas by large, patterned oval leaves on slender stems, often with colored undersides.

• Leaves: broad ovals with intricate stripes, blotches or feathering; undersides frequently purple or maroon
• Movement: subtle daily raising and lowering of leaves
• Habit: clumping, upright, typically 30 to 90 cm tall
• Flowers: mostly grown for foliage; indoor flowering is uncommon

Provide medium, indirect light; too much sun bleaches the patterns and too little dulls them.

• Water: keep evenly moist, never soggy or bone dry; use filtered, distilled or rainwater because they are sensitive to fluoride, chlorine and salts
• Soil: light, well-draining, peat-based mix
• Humidity: high (60%+); a humidifier is often needed to avoid crispy edges
• Temperature: 18 to 27 C; no cold drafts
• Feeding: dilute balanced fertilizer monthly in the growing season
• Propagation: by division at repotting

Calatheas are native to the tropical Americas, especially the rainforests of Brazil and the wider Amazon basin, where they carpet the warm, humid, shaded forest floor. Recreating that consistent warmth and humidity is the key to growing them indoors, where they are popular but sometimes challenging houseplants.

Grown almost entirely as ornamental foliage plants, valued for dramatic leaf patterns and their pet-safe, non-toxic status. In their native range the large leaves of some species are used to wrap food. Indoors they shine in humid spots, terrariums and bathrooms.