As the leaves turn to shades of warm yellow and burnt orange, it may be time to bring a touch of autumn into your home with carefully chosen houseplants.
There are plenty out there, from gingerbread-coloured orchids to the bright orange flowers of Calathea crocata and the deep purple leaves of oxalis – but which are the best types to give your home an autumnal tint?
“It’s been a long summer and when we look into our gardens now, they are not looking as happy as they have done previously at this time of year. There’s a lack of colour, a lack of flower,” says Claire Bishop, senior houseplant buyer at Dobbies Garden Centres.
“Flowering houseplants have hit a bit of a trend and are really starting to compete more in sales,” she says.
Bishop offers six top choices for autumn:
1. Calathea crocata
“This is a dark-leaved calathea with bright orange flower spikes and is the only calathea really grown for its flower spikes and is perfect for this time of year.
“It has lovely dark leaves and, like any other calathea, prefers indirect sunlight. Make sure it doesn’t dry out and don’t put it in draughts,” she advises.
If you already have foliage plants in your house, put them next to it to give it a more lush autumn feel. “If contrasts fantastically well with other green foliage,” she adds.
2. Zamioculcas zamiifolia (ZZ) ‘Black Raven’
“This is a fantastic easy-maintenance ‘hard-to-kill’ plant, with an upright habit and really interesting thick leaves on it.
“The great thing about ‘Black Raven’ is that it produces really bright green shoots and then fades to black, so there is a green-black contrast, which makes quite an interesting plant, especially for Halloween,” she says.
“It’s one of my favourites because it’s so easy to look after and the new bright green leaves come out in contrast with the really black-green ones. It won’t grow vigorously, so won’t take over your space, but will shoot up new leaves during the growing season.”
3. Calathea insignis
Also known as the rattlesnake plant because of distinctive marking on the leaves, this remains Dobbies’ bestselling houseplant, says Bishop.
“It has a really bright, vibrant pattern and looks quite atmospheric because of that and also the leaves are slightly narrower, more spear-like.
“The interesting thing about calathea is that the leaves open and close with the light, adding movement to your indoor display.”
Calatheas don’t like to dry out, so make sure they are watered or misted to keep the environment a little humid, she suggests.
4. Nertera
This little plant produces small orange berries in abundance which add colour and impact to the indoor scene.
“It’s quite flat in habit and all green, but the berries are impactful,” says Bishop. It’s generally just grown for the seasonal colour.
“It would look nice with all the other plants mentioned because it has a different texture and vibrancy of the orange berries and looks great against dark foliage and bigger plants in a combination. You could even do a little grouping with gourds.”
5. Aglaonema (Chinese evergreen)
This low-maintenance, big-leaved plant in shades of white, pink and red is notable because of its striking foliage.
“I like the white ones, which contrast brilliantly with the existing foliage that you have. If you have lots of greenery, you can just pop in the white one which freshens it up, maybe also adding a peace lily, which makes everything feel clean and crisp,” she says.
“It’s a good plant for people who don’t like the darker nights as we go into autumn and want something lighter in their home.”
Aglaonema are quite similar to calathea in their needs. They don’t like to be really dry, but are pretty low-maintenance, needing some indirect sunlight, but don’t put them on a sunny windowsill.
6. Indoor chrysanthemums
Available in a huge variety of shades, we are most familiar with the plants which brighten up your patio pots in autumn, but you can also buy indoor varieties, says Bishop.
“There’s some really good ones called ‘Fireworks’ with spiky flowers in shades of white and yellow. We also have pom-pom varieties which come in white and yellow, rainbow mixes which have striped petals in all colours.”
Indoor chrysanthemums are generally treated as temporary indoor display because they are tender and won’t survive winter or frost.
They are more compact than other outdoor chrysanthemums, she says. Don’t let them dry out, and keep them cool, but other than that they are pretty straightforward.
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