AMERICAN GARDENER

Maidenhair ferns are among the most delicate and beautiful ferns in the world, instantly recognized by their fan-shaped leaflets arranged along wiry, jet-black stems that give the plant an extraordinarily light and graceful appearance. With over 200 species found across tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions on every continent except Antarctica, they are one of the … Read more

Prayer plants are a beloved group of tropical foliage houseplants celebrated worldwide for two defining characteristics — their extraordinarily patterned leaves and their remarkable nyctinastic movement, in which the leaves fold upward at night like hands pressed together in prayer and reopen flat again each morning. Native to the tropical rainforests of Central and South … Read more

Boston Fern [Nephrolepis exaltata] is a lush, evergreen tropical fern native to humid forests, swamps, and riverbanks across tropical regions of the Americas, including Mexico, Central America, South America, the West Indies, and parts of Florida. It belongs to the family Lomariopsidaceae and is one of the most widely recognized and extensively cultivated houseplants in … Read more

Ferns are among the oldest plant groups on Earth, with fossil records dating back more than 360 million years to the Devonian period, predating flowering plants, grasses, and most conifers by hundreds of millions of years. There are approximately 10,500 known species of ferns distributed across nearly every continent on Earth, thriving in environments as … Read more

Nerve Plant [Fittonia albivenis] is a compact, low-growing tropical perennial native to the rainforests of South America, particularly Peru and Colombia. It belongs to the Acanthaceae family and is widely cultivated as a houseplant for its striking, highly decorative foliage. The plant rarely exceeds 6 inches in height, forming a dense, spreading mat of lush … Read more

Aralia plants are a diverse and visually striking group of ornamental trees, shrubs, and houseplants that have been prized in gardens and interiors around the world for centuries. Belonging to the broader family that also includes ginseng and ivy, aralias are native to a wide range of regions including Asia, the Pacific Islands, the Americas, … Read more

Philodendrons are one of the largest and most diverse genera of tropical houseplants in the world, with over 500 recognized species and hundreds of additional cultivars and hybrids developed through decades of horticultural breeding. Native primarily to the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and parts of Southeast Asia, they have adapted … Read more

One of the most common reasons people avoid keeping houseplants is the assumption that every plant needs a bright, sunny windowsill to survive. In reality, a surprisingly large number of plants have evolved in the shaded understories of dense tropical forests, where direct sunlight rarely if ever reaches the forest floor. These plants have developed … Read more

Peperomia plants are a vast and extraordinarily diverse group of tropical houseplants belonging to one of the largest plant genera on earth, with more than 1,000 documented species identified to date and new ones still being described by botanists each year. Native primarily to the tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, with … Read more

Spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum) are among the most widely grown houseplants in the world, recognized for their long, arching leaves and the cascading baby plantlets they produce on long, slender stems called stolons. Native to tropical and southern Africa, they have been cultivated as ornamental plants for over 200 years and are now found in … Read more