Weird + Wonderful Plants

A fun plant with leaves that look like it’s been splashed with paint. Comes in a variety of colours!  The Polka Dot plant originates from the island of Madagascar.  It is also found in South Africa and Southeast Asia. The beautiful polka dots on its leaves symbolize creativity and it is believed to bring positive energy and enhance the ambiance of any room.

Scientific Name: Hypoestes Phyllostachya

Common Name: Polka Dot Plant

Light: Bright indirect light

Growth: Can grow up to 12 inches tall

Watering: Keep evenly hydrated, likes to be misted

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Intermediate 

A weird little succulent that looks like…well…baby toes!

Scientific Name: Fenestraria rhopalophylla

Common Name: Baby Toes

Growth: 2-3 inches tall

Watering: Let dry between watering 

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Intermediate 

Light: Bright, indirect light

The Venus Fly trap is a unique carnivorous plant.  It looks like a creature from an alien movie but don't let this plant scare you, it only munches on insects!  With its leaves ending in little claw like hands, this plant closes the instant an insect lands on it.

The Venus Fly Trap originates from coastal bogs of North and South Carolina.  They have adapted to low nutrient environments by using the insects they eat to give them the nutrients they need. 

Substrate needed: The substrate needs to be nutrient poor, acidic and well draining.  Typically a good blend is 1:1 sphagnum peat moss and perlite. This mimics the bogs they are from.  Always use distilled water when watering your Venus Fly Trap.

As long as you keep up with the watering, let them take care of catching the flies!  

Scientific Name: Dionaea muscipula

Common Name: Venus Fly Trap

Light Requirements: Bright indirect light, direct sun

Water: Use ONLY distilled, rain or reverse osmosis water. They grow in bogs so they like to have wet soil.  Make sure the air flow is good.  Be sure to take them out of their packaging as soon as you get it home.

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Intermediate

A member of the nettle family, this plant is known for its moss-like dense foliage. It drapes nicely in a hanging pot! Baby tears originated in the Mediterranean Region. It's a creeping, mat-forming, evergreen perennial that thrives in damp, shaded area.  It is known to have calming effects on some plant lovers due to the texture and softness of the foliage.

Scientific Name: Soleirolia Soleirolii

Common Name:  Angel Tears/Baby Tears.

Light: Bright indirect light

Growth: it can spread 3-6 feet

Watering: Keep well watered, don’t let dry

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Intermediate -  they like high humidity

The Anthurium is known for their glossy, heart-shaped leaves with vibrant coloured waxy flowers.  These "flowers" are actually called spathes.  These spathes comes in all different colours such as red, pink, white and black. These plants are native to South and Central America.

Scientific Name: Anthurium Andraeanum

Common Name: Anthurium

Light: Medium-bright indirect 

Growth: 1-2 feet tall

Watering: Likes a humid environment - keep evenly hydrated + mist regularly

Pet Safe: No

Care: Easy

The Cobra Fern is best known for its wavy, undulated leaves that resemble a cobra's head.  This is a low maintenance, air-purifying houseplant that thrives in low light and high humidity.  This plant originates from Southeast Asia and Indonesia.

Scientific Name: Asplenium Nidus 

Common Name: Cobra Fern

Light: Indirect/filtered sunlight

Watering: When top inch of soil is dry.

Growth: 12-18 inches tall

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Easy

Bloodleaf Herbstii, which means hybrid! This plant is super dramatic, if it needs water it will let you know. It droops over the side of its pot, but do not be alarmed. Give it a good soak and it pop right back up! These guys love high humidity so a bathroom is a great spot for them. It’s hot pink stems and heart shaped, striped leaves turn heads. Fun Fact: they are sometimes used in their native South America as medicine to treat issues like fever or headaches and are even used in salads!

Scientific Name: Iresine Herbstii

Light: Bright indirect light

Watering: Keep evenly hydrated, likes being misted.

Growth:  12 to 18" tall when grown indoors

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Easy

Native to dry cliffs in Honduras and Mexico, this cool looking plant is very easy care.  The less you do for it the happier it will be!

Scientific Name: Sedum Morganianum/Sedum burrito

Common Name: Burro’s Tail

Light: Bright light, morning sun is best

Growth: Slow growing and trailing habit.  Up to 4 feet in the wild, it will remain much smaller indoor.  Burro's  tail is a very long lived plant. 

Watering: Let dry between watering 

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Easy

Sedum burrito - blue green rice shaped leaves

sedum morganianum - spiky banana leaves

Delicate but hardy. Bring the forest inside with this adorable Button Fern.  Originating from Australia and New Zealand, this little guy typically grows in moist, open forests, rocky crevices, and on limestone cliffs.

Scientific Name: Pellaea Rotundifolia

Common Name: Button Fern

Light: Bright indirect light

Watering: They need a very deep watering followed by letting them dry out.

Growth: Can grow up to 12 inches

Pet Safe: yes

Care: Easy

Scientific Name: Chlorophytum Comosum

Common Name: Spider Plant

Light: Bright, Indirect Light

Growth: 12-24 inches long

Watering: Water when top two inches of soil are dry

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Easy

It's the Shrimp Plant!  This quirky plant has beautifully interesting flowers that resemble shrimps!  Native to Mexico, it is a tropical evergreen shrub that has made an interesting house plant.  With its constant flowering, you can enjoy the flowers all year round.

Scientific Name: Justicia Brandegeeana

Common Name: Shrimp Plant or False Hop

Light: Part shade or indirect light

Watering: Keep soil consistently wet but not soggy.

Growth:  Can grow to 4 feet tall

Pet Safe: Yes, but consuming large amounts can cause your pet to get sick.

Care: Easy

Originating from the rainforests of Brazil, in its native habitat, it thrives in the warm, humid, and shaded conditions found on the rainforest floor, growing under the canopy of taller vegetation.  With its stunning spotted leaves with beautiful dark and light green colours, this is sure to be a plant that everyone admires in your home.

Scientific Name: Goeppertia insignis

Common Name: Rattlesnake Calathea

Light: Bright,indirect light

Growth: Can spread 2-3 feet

Watering: When the soil in the pot is dry halfway down

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Difficult

This funny succulent has leaves that look like pickles!

This quirky little guys is native to South Africa. In the Spring and Summer this plant can produce cute little daisy-like flowers.  But if yours doesn't flower, the appeal and beauty of the pickle plant is all due to its cute, funny-looking leaves. Guaranteed to start a conversation with other plant lovers.

Scientific Name: Delosperma echinatum or Kleinia stapeliiformis

Common Name: Pickle Succulent, Stapelia Stemmed Senecio, Stapelioid Kleinia, Trailing Jade, Spider Plant, Inch Worm, Candle Stick, Candle Plant

Growth: A maximum height of 18 inches (45 cm). 

Light: Bright indirect 

Watering: Only when soil has completely dried

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Easy

MA jade plant variety with stripes of green, white, and pink!

These star-shaped flowers have pink overtones appear in showy clusters at the ends of the branches. This Jade plant is native to South Africa.  Also known as "Cassula Ovata", this Jade plant grows on dry, rocky hillsides. 

Scientific Name: Cassula Ovata

Common Name: Jade

Growth: 2-4 Feet indoors

Light: Bright indirect light to full sun

Watering: Let dry out between waterings

Pet Safe: No

Care: Easy

The Haworthia Cooperi grows in clumps of small rosettes of tiny, fleshy, light green leaves. One of the interesting features about this plant is that the leaves have transparent streaks around their tips.  Originating from the arid regions of South Africa.  It grows in the wild, often in the shade of rocks and other vegetation to protect its delicate, translucent leaves from the intense sun.

Scientific Name: Haworthia Cooperi

Common Name: Haworthia Cooperi

Lighting: 4-5 hours of bright indirect light in the morning sunlight per day

Watering: When the soil is completely dry, give it a good soak

Growth: 2-4 inches

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Easy

This easy care, non-toxic beauty has the best party trick: Its dark green leaves are a deep wine red underneath! Delight in flipping it upside down for a visual shock.

An eye-catching plant with thick, weighty stems that will eventually trail. Looks beautiful in a contrasting white planter.

Scientific Name: Peperomia verticilla

Common Name: Whorled Peperomia, Red Log, Belly Button

Size: 12" indoors

Growth: Trailing stems start upright, then spill over

Watering: Loves humidity + evenly hydrated soil

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Bright, indirect light. Prune stems to keep bushy

Rare pink variegated leaves make this philodendron variety a prize to be proud of!  Originating from Columbia, this plant, in the early 2000's, was a rare and expensive plant often traded in small circles.

Scientific Name: Philodendron erubescens 'pink princess' 

Common Name: Philodendron pink princess, blushing philodendron 

Light: Direct-bright, indirect light

Growth: 3-4 ft tall, 1-2 ft wide

Watering: Let the top several inches dry between waterings; ensure proper drainage with airy, well-draining soil

Pet Safe: No

Care: Intermediate

Alocasia Jacklyn originates from the tropical rainforests of Indonesia. It is officially known as Alocasia Tandurusa and its local name, "Tandurusa," translates to "deer antlers" in Indonesian, referring to its unique leaf shape. The name Jacklyn comes from the fact that a woman named Jacklyn shared the plant online giving it a surge in popularity.

Scientific Name: Alocasia Sulawesi and Alocasia Tandurusa

Common Name: Alocasia Jacklyn

Light: Bright, Indirect Light

Watering: Water when the top inch of soil are dry.  They thrive in high humidity.  Keep evening moist but not waterlogged.

Growth: Moderate to fast depending on if it is in ideal conditions

Pet Safe: No

Care: Moderate to difficult

Delicate but hardy. Bring the forest inside with this adorable Blue Star fern. A popular beginner friendly plant known for its attractive blue green leaves.  It originates from tropical and sub-tropical regions of the Americas.

Scientific Name: Phlebodium Aureum

Common Name: Blue Star Fern

Light: Bright indirect light

Growth: 2-3 feet indoors over several years

Watering: They need a very deep watering followed by letting them dry out.

Pet Safe: Yes

Care: Easy

This succulent is very reminiscent of a certain green fellow wouldn’t you say?

It originated in cultivation, not from a specific natural habitat, though its parent plant, Crassula ovata. The most distinguishing feature is the unique, leaves with a slight inward curve, resembling suction cups or fingers!

Scientific Name: Crassula ovata

Common Name: Gollum, Shrek Ears

Growth: Up to 3 ft (30 cm to 91 cm) tall, and up to 2 ft (30 cm to 60 cm) wide

Light: Bright indirect light to full sun

Watering: Let dry out between waterings

Pet Safe: No

Care: Easy