Chinese Evergreen, An Easy Growing Houseplant
‘Jasper Jones’ Red Chinese Evergreen
Coined one of the Plants of Steel (along with ZZ Plant), Aglaonema, or Chinese Evergreen, is certainly an easy to grow houseplant. Native to the jungles of Southeast Asia, they made their way onto the houseplant market many years ago and have become known as one of the toughest, most reliable, and easiest to grow plants around.
Want to learn more? Keep reading for tips on Chinese Evergreen, an easy growing houseplant!
‘Cutlass’ Chinese Evergreen
Proper Lighting for Aglaonema
Although these plants are known as low light plants, they would prefer medium light. Aglaonemas can also grow alright in or bright indoor light. Avoid placing in direct sunlight; cover direct west or south facing windows with a sheer curtain. If they get enough light, you might be lucky enough to get a few calla lily-like blooms! No natural light? No big deal; Chinese Evergreens grow well in fluorescent light. No sure what kind of light you have? Here is an article on houseplant lighting.
Watering Aglaonema
These plants are also forgiving about inconsistent watering. They can grow when kept evenly moist and forgiving if a watering is forgotten now and then. Good drainage is key; here is a link to more information about houseplant watering. Aglaonemas can handle low air humidity (think of our dry, heated homes in the winter) with ease.
Although fertilizer isn’t required for a healthy Chinese Evergreen, they benefit from a few fertilizer applications a year; just avoid doing so in the winter when they aren’t growing as actively. This is true for many houseplants; here is our post about fertilizing houseplants.
‘Sparkling Sarah’ Red Chinese Evergreen
Red Aglaonema
In the past, most aglaonemas featured green leaves with various patterns of silver throughout. Some varieties have large, wide leaves; others have narrow leaves. More recently, cousins of the Chinese Evergreens have become available. These plants, called Red Aglaonemas, feature a wider variety of foliage colors and variegations of white, pink, red and lime green.
‘Spring Snow’ Chinese Evergreen
Aglaonema Varieties to Consider
‘Shades of Green’ is a lush, green and silver leaved variety, growing to around four feet at maturity.
‘Sparkling Sarah’ features cream, pale green and pink leaves on light pink stems.
‘Spring Snow’ has dramatic dark green leaves, with white speckles that resemble a heavy dusting of snow.
‘Ruby Ray’ leaves have green edges with bright speckles of pinkish-red.
‘Jasper Jones’ leaves are green and light green speckled with bright magenta colored edges.
We almost always have some Chinese Evergreen plants in stock; call for availability and pricing! On today’s order (June 26, 2020) we got Shades of Green, Sparkling Sarah, Spring Snow and Jasper Jones varieties and have Cutlass in stock as well.