Anthurium - Pink

Generally found in the wild across the warmest parts of South America and the Caribbean, the anthurium is one of the most striking houseplants. The vivid pink part is not actually its flower, but a spathe. We won’t overdo the science bit, but essentially a spathe is a brightly-coloured leaf that attracts insects. The flowers are tiny little things on the spike in the middle of the spathe. 

A useful way to think about how to care for your plant is to consider where it comes from. Anthurium adreanum lives in rainforests, either in the branches of larger trees or on the ground beneath them. That means it’s used to getting dappled light, rather than direct sun, and regularly getting soaked by rainfall.

In a home, that means giving it indirect light and making sure its soil is kept lightly moist. You'll help it grow, and encourage flowers, by feeding it with liquid fertiliser once per month in spring and summer.

Did you know?

There are over 1,000 different varieties of anthurium. No, we can’t name them all.