For more care advice about Nikhil, check out our complete guide to calathea care.

We love all calatheas, but there’s something that makes this one stand out. As well as having beautiful leaves that look like they’ve been painted, it blooms with pink flowers for up to 20 weeks of the year. Look after it well and this will be one of the standout plants in your collection.

Calatheas are native to Brazil, where you’ll find them growing in the shade of big trees in tropical rainforests. They’re often known as prayer plants, because their leaves curl up at night, like praying hands, then unfurl in the morning to catch the sun. 

If you consider where it’s from, it’s easy to remember how to look after it. It’s used to dappled light, so it doesn’t like direct sun. Too much sun will make its leaf pattern fade. It needs lots of rainforest-like moisture. You can either put it in a humid room, like a bathroom, or mist it regularly. It will also benefit from a feed with liquid fertiliser once per month in spring and summer. Follow those steps and you should have a blooming, happy houseplant.

Did you know? 

There are around 200 different species of calathea in the wild.