Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing

11.8 in

In-row spacing

11.8 in

Between rows

15 in

Square-foot density

Not suited to SFG

Growing

Type

Houseplant · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Sunlight

Bright indirect light, and nothing direct.

Watering

Keep it evenly moist, and never let it stand waterlogged.

Feeding

A diluted balanced feed monthly from spring through summer.

Frost tolerant

No

Pruning

Pull off yellowed leaves, and shorten leggy stems in spring.

Through the year

• Mar–Dec Spring Growth
• Jan–Mar Spring Growth

Pests & problems

• Mealybugs Mealybug hidden in the leaf axils
• Spider mites Spider mites, which arrive readily in warm, dry air
• Root & crown rot Root rot where the soil stays waterlogged
• Brown tips and edges from dry air or the fluoride in tap water
• Leaves curling in on themselves after cold drafts or dry air

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. ★ companion plant

• Green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea
  Hunts MealybugsSpider mites

  Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.

  Plant nearby CilantroCosmosDillSunflowerYarrow
• Ladybird (lady beetle) Coccinellidae
  Hunts MealybugsSpider mites

  The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.

  Plant nearby CalendulaCilantroCosmosDillFennelYarrow
• Big-eyed bug Geocoris spp.
  Hunts Spider mites

  A stubby 3 mm bug with enormous wrap-around eyes, working the soil surface and the low foliage for aphids, mites, thrips and insect eggs. It is the main natural check on chinch bugs in a lawn and it is killed outright by insecticide.

  Plant nearby CalendulaCloverCosmosGoldenrodSweet alyssum
• Hoverfly Syrphidae
  Hunts Mealybugs

  Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.

  Plant nearby CalendulaChamomileFennelFrench marigoldPhaceliaSweet alyssum
• Minute pirate bug Orius spp.
  Hunts Spider mites

  A pinhead-sized true bug that is the best natural check on thrips, and happily spears aphids, mites, and insect eggs too. It needs pollen when prey is scarce, so keep something flowering nearby.

  Plant nearby CosmosFennelFrench marigoldSweet alyssum
• Predatory mites Phytoseiulus & Amblyseius
  Hunts Spider mites

  Fast orange mites that hunt spider mites egg-by-egg, and cousins that clear thrips and fungus-gnat larvae. Sold as a biological control for greenhouses; outdoors they follow humidity — mist and mulch, don’t dust with sulfur.

• Rove beetle Staphylinidae
  Hunts Spider mites

  Slim, quick beetles with short wing cases that hunt in soil and litter, taking root-fly eggs and larvae, fungus-gnat larvae, and mites. Mulch and undisturbed ground keep them resident year-round.

  Plant nearby MintThyme