Three underrated houseplant genera
If you're bored of the usual suspects on the houseplant scene, read on. Here's my list of three highly underrated genera to start exploring today.
Plectranthus
This genus is part of the mint (Lamiaceae) family and includes many excellent houseplant species, including:
Plectranthus ciliatus, aka Indian borage - includes cultivars such as 'Nico' and 'Easy Gold'. (From South Africa, not India.)
The classic 70s houseplant Swedish ivy (P. verticillatus - pictured above left). (Not from Sweden but from, you guessed it, South Africa).
Brazilian coleus (P. oertendahlii) is a plant not often seen as a houseplant, but it is starting to pop up occasionally. Don't mistake it for a Fittonia as I did at first! (And, at risk of repeating myself, not from Brazil but South Africa).
Want to go deeper on this genus? There's an interesting research paper on the significance of Plectranthus in South Africa here.
Pilea
Yes, we all know about the Chinese money plant, Pilea peperomioides, but there's a whole host of other interesting Pileas. This genus is part of the nettle family, something that only becomes obvious when you see the flowers. There are many houseplant species to grow, including:
Pilea involucrata 'Moon Valley' (pictured above middle) has pleated leaves and makes a beautiful terrarium plant.
Pilea libanensis (often mislabelled as P. glauca) hails from Cuba and grows as a waterfall of silvery leaves: it is easy to care for (one downside is that this is a messy plant, shedding lots of tiny leaves at some times of year).
Pilea spruceana aka silver tree has chocolate and silver striped leaves. Another great terrarium plant.
I'll be talking about these and other underrated Pilea species in On The Ledge podcast episode 242, out later today).
Saxifraga
We are used to seeing species from this genus as alpine or garden plants, but cultivars of he species Saxifraga stolonifera make great houseplants. They are much more popular in their native Japan than they are here, so I can't promise they will all be easy to source. Here are three of my favourites:
'Tricolor' is the most striking, with cream and green leaves tinged with hot pink, as well as hot pink leaf backs (pictured top right). It's also the most widely available.
'Maroon Beauty' has reddish leaves and fuller flowers than most. Available now from Farmyard Nurseries.
'Harvest Moon' is for you if you like gold-tinged leaves.
This blogpost was taken from The Plant Ledger, my twice monthly email newsletter about the houseplant scene. Subscribe here and get my free in-depth guide to fungus gnats.