Plant spotlight: pothos
Pothos is one of the most gifted green plants. They are very low maintenance, come in multiple varieties, and flourish in a wide variety of lighting and care conditions. Pothos can add organic beauty and bright pops of color to almost any room in your home or office.
Known as a common vining houseplant, pothos comes in more than 50 different varieties, some of which can even produce blooms under the right conditions. Potted, indoor pothos plants generally come in shades of green, white, and gold with leaves that can grow up to four inches long. While pothos is sometimes called by the nickname devil’s ivy, it isn’t an ivy plant at all. Ivy comes from the Araliaceae plant family while pothos is part of the Araceae family.
One of the fascinating things about pothos is that the normal houseplant variety will transform into something unrecognizable in outdoor tropical weather conditions. Their leaves can grow to gargantuan sizes — several feet in length and width. Their shape will also change dramatically — from a delicate, consistent heart-shape to random, irregular lobe shapes.
Pothos can survive in a variety of soil conditions, but it does like consistency. Whether the soil is usually moist or dry, try to maintain some amount of stability in your plant’s conditions and allow them to dry out between waterings. Overwatering is generally never a good thing for houseplants.
Pothos can also do well in a variety of lighting situations, but they really thrive under partial shade or bright, indirect light. This is one reason they generally do so well under standard office lighting. If they are placed in direct sunlight for too long, their leaves will burn, and the color will bleach out.
‘Golden’ pothos is the most common variety. Some of our favorites are the whites and creams of the ‘Pearls and Jade’; the bright ‘Neon’ pothos; the heart-shaped, variegated leaves of the ‘Marble Queen’; the wide, rounded leaves of the ‘Manjula’; and the highly variegated white leaves of the ‘Snow Queen’ pothos. Almost every variety is hardy, easily propagated, and grows well with other plants. Try a splash of pothos in your next potted floral design!