Complete guide to caladium care

The key to caring for your caladium is understanding how they grow and where they grow in the wild. This will tell you everything you need to know to keep your houseplant happy.

• Caladiums grow naturally in hot, tropical climates, which means they need a warm, humid environment to thrive. 
• Caladiums like a spot that’s bright but not in direct sunlight, which could scorch those delicate leaves. 
• Slightly moist soil is best. Check the soil weekly and water if the top two inches of soil feel dry. 
• Give your caladium a regular feed with plant food from late Spring through to late Summer. 

Caladiums originate from Central and South America where they spring to life in the wet season, adding colour to forest floors and river banks. They are often referred to as ‘angel wings’ because of the wing-like shape of their fine leaves. They come in many colours, shades and patterns, making them a popular houseplant for adding something unusual to an urban jungle.

Alas, no. But don’t be put off. One of the qualities of caladiums is that they will very quickly tell you if they’re unhappy, giving you time to tweak your care to their needs. This will usually come down to one of two things: water, or light. 

One of their other unique features is that they die back and become dormant over autumn and winter. This doesn’t mean that they’re dead though, just that the tubers are waiting beneath the soil surface until the light levels and temperature increase again in spring.  

While in the wild caladiums tend to like shady spots, as a houseplant they like somewhere quite bright (UK homes are less sunny than Central America). To make the most of their colour and pattern, place your plant in medium to bright light. The more indirect sunshine they get, the more colourful the leaves. 

If you notice your plant losing colour or fading, you may have put it somewhere a bit too dark.

While they’re in active growth from spring through to summer, make sure to keep the soil lightly moist. It’s best to check on watering weekly. When you do give them a drink, water the soil slowly and evenly to make sure that all of the roots have access to moisture. If there’s loads of excess water at the bottom of your pot, tip this out after half an hour or so, to make sure the roots don’t rot and your plant’s lovely leaves don’t collapse early.  

As your plant starts to die back in autumn, reduce your watering until stopping altogether. This will encourage your caladium to go into dormancy. The soil will need to be completely dry before you put it to sleep for winter.

The more humid, the better. Top dress the soil with clay balls or gravel to help retain moisture and slowly release water vapour. Or, pop your plant in a steamier environment like the bathroom or kitchen.

Avoid misting unless you're using a very fine mist. Any large water droplets sitting on those paper-thin leaves are likely to damage them.

Once all the leaves have died back and the compost has dried out, pop your pot plant in a cool, shady place over winter. 

Come spring when it starts getting lighter and warmer again, place your plant back in a bright spot and start watering it again very lightly. Gradually increase watering as it starts springing back to life and more and more of its gorgeous leaves start growing again. Miraculous!

Start feeding your caladium lightly as soon as the growth re-emerges in spring, right though until the leaves start dying back in autumn. Making sure it puts on as much leafy growth as possible over summer means that its tubers will have lots of energy to store over winter. 

A feed with liquid plant food once every two weeks to once a month should do it.

It's completely normal for the older leaves of your plant to die back as new leaves emerge. It’s a good idea to let them die back completely, so that all of their energy can go into the tubers. Once they’re brown and dry they should pull off really easily, otherwise just snip them off at soil level with clean secateurs.