Calathea has a reputation as too fussy for a reason: a single winter of crispy, curling leaves is enough to make many people give up on the whole genus. The plants are often fine, though — with a humidifier running nearby and distilled water instead of straight from the tap, the same plant that looked … Read more
Two plants labeled croton can look completely different: one with narrow, twisted leaves splashed with yellow and red, the other with broad, oak-shaped leaves in deep burgundy. Croton comes in an enormous range of cultivars, and the care is basically the same across all of them, so picking one comes down to which leaf shape … Read more
Chinese money plants are famous for being passed around: a tiny pup in a paper cup, pinched off someone else’s plant, is how most people end up with one. That’s basically the plant’s whole personality — it multiplies itself so readily that most people get one from a friend rather than a store, and a … Read more
A jade plant can live on a kitchen windowsill for decades, and by then the trunk has gone thick and woody, more like a miniature tree than the soft little succulent most people picture. The usual way to kill a young one is by babying it with too much water, treating it like a delicate … Read more
A calathea bought on the assumption that it is the same easy prayer plant as the one at home can have leaf edges that turn crispy and curl inward within a few weeks, even with the same watering schedule. Calathea and prayer plant are related but different genera, and calathea is considerably more particular about … Read more
A croton bought for its color, with streaks of red, orange, and yellow across every leaf, and then set in a dim corner of a home office where it gets little actual daylight, tends to disappoint. Within a couple of months the new leaves curl slightly at the edges and come in mostly green instead … Read more
A Chinese money plant left alone for two weeks during a trip can come back looking completely flat, every leaf drooping straight down off a limp stem like it has given up entirely. It looks dead, but a good watering often has the whole plant perking back up to its normal upright shape, coin-shaped leaves … Read more
Moving a jade plant from a bright south-facing windowsill to a spot by the front door in October, thinking it will still get enough light, is a common way to end up with a dozen leaves on the floor within a week or so. It looks like the plant is dying, but jade plants react … Read more
Peperomia has thick, almost rubbery leaves, so it’s easy to treat it like a succulent, watering it on the same sparse schedule as a jade plant. The leaves start curling inward and a few stems go soft near the base before the mistake becomes clear. Peperomia looks succulent-adjacent, but it doesn’t behave like one when … Read more
An alocasia can drop every single leaf one November, down to a bare pot of soil, and it is tempting to throw it out. The plant is often just dormant: leave it alone and keep the soil barely damp through winter, and new growth typically shows up in spring, right on schedule. Composting a perfectly … Read more