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An anthurium is not a bunch of flowers in a pot. It is a foliage plant that happens to produce coloured leaves, and once you treat it as one it becomes a straightforward plant that flowers most of the year.
Bright indirect light, chunky mix that drains fast, water when the top few centimetres are dry, and warmth. Cut spent stems back to the base. Do that and it will keep producing blooms for most of the year.
The two mistakes
Not enough light, then waiting for flowers. An anthurium in a moderately lit room stays alive and green indefinitely and simply never blooms. It is the single most common complaint about them and it is almost always position rather than anything you did wrong.
Treating it like a pot plant and using ordinary potting mix. These grow on trees in the wild. Their roots want air, and dense mix around them leads to root rot, which on an anthurium usually shows first as yellowing lower leaves that people mistake for underwatering.
What normal looks like
- A new bloom appearing between every few new leaves, rather than a flush all at once.
- Each spathe holding its colour six to eight weeks, then fading toward green before it dulls and dies.
- The spadix, the upright spike at the front, changing colour as it matures. Normal.
- Thick pale roots working their way out of the top of the mix and out of the drainage holes.
- The oldest lower leaf yellowing and going once or twice a year.
- Slower everything between May and September.
Where it comes from
Warm wet forest in Colombia and Ecuador, growing on and against trees rather than in open ground. Constant warmth, constant humidity, bright but filtered light, and roots that are never sitting in anything heavy.
Anthurium andraeanum comes from the humid tropical forests of western Colombia and north-western Ecuador. It grows as an epiphyte or a hemiepiphyte, meaning it lives on tree trunks and in leaf litter caught in branch forks, rather than rooted in deep soil.
Those conditions are worth picturing, because every care instruction follows from them. Temperatures that barely move through the year. Humidity high enough that leaf surfaces rarely dry out. Light that is bright but almost never direct, filtered through canopy. And a root run of loose bark, moss and debris that water pours straight through.
The mismatch with a New Zealand living room is mostly humidity and winter temperature. Everything else is easy to provide. A plant that gets bright indirect light and a chunky mix will forgive a fair amount on the other two.
Go deeper: why the roots come out of the pot
Anthurium roots appearing at the surface and pushing out of the drainage holes look like a plant desperate to be repotted. Usually they are not. An epiphyte's roots are meant to be partly in the air, gripping bark and taking moisture from humidity.
Repot when the mix has broken down or the plant is genuinely tipping out of its pot, not simply because you can see roots. If exposed roots bother you, top-dress with a little sphagnum moss rather than burying them in more mix.
Naming and history
The genus name means tail flower, describing the spike rather than the showy part. The species is named after the French botanist who came across it in Colombia in the 1870s, and nearly every anthurium sold today is a hybrid bred from it.
Tail flower
Anthurium is built from the Ancient Greek anthos, flower, and oura, tail. It refers to the spadix, the narrow upright spike, which is where the actual flowers are. It is a precise name that describes the botany rather than the decoration, which is unusual and rather nice.
The species name andraeanum honours Édouard François André, the French botanist and landscape architect who encountered the plant during travels in Colombia and Ecuador in the 1870s. It reached European cultivation shortly afterwards and caused a stir, because nothing else in the trade produced a lacquered scarlet surface like that.
From species to supermarket
The plants sold today are hybrids rather than the wild species, bred over more than a century for compactness, flower size, colour range and the ability to bloom continuously indoors. Dutch breeding programmes did much of that work, and it is why a modern anthurium flowers far more freely than its wild parent would.
That breeding is also why the colour range now runs well past the original red, into pink, white, coral, purple, and the green and white marbling of a variety like Whispering Love. Our three are all selections from the same hybrid background and share a single set of needs.
The flower that is not a flower
The coloured heart-shaped part is a spathe, a modified leaf. The real flowers are the dozens of tiny ones packed onto the spike. Because the showy part is leaf tissue rather than petal tissue, it lasts weeks instead of days.
Spathe and spadix
Every plant in the arum family shares this arrangement, and once you have seen it you cannot unsee it. The spathe is the flat coloured bract, structurally a leaf that has taken on colour and a display job. The spadix is the spike standing in front of it, and it carries the actual flowers: dozens of tiny, complete, unremarkable ones packed along its surface.
This is why anthurium blooms last so absurdly long. Petals are delicate, short-lived tissue built to be discarded after pollination. A spathe is leaf tissue, tough and waxy, built to persist. Six to eight weeks is ordinary, and in a cool room it can go longer.
Why the spadix changes colour
Watch a spadix over a few weeks and you will see a band of colour move along it. This is the flowers opening in sequence, and it happens in two phases: the female phase comes first, and only once it has passed does the male phase begin and release pollen.
The plant does this to avoid pollinating itself. It is a common arrangement in the arum family and it is the reason your anthurium almost never sets berries indoors, since it would need pollen from a second plant at exactly the right moment.
Why the spathe fades to green
An ageing spathe usually turns green before it dulls and dies. This is not a fault or a sign of stress. As the display job ends, chlorophyll becomes visible in tissue that was always leaf tissue underneath. It is the plant getting a last bit of photosynthesis out of the structure before letting it go.
Cut those stems at the base once they look tired. The plant redirects into new growth rather than maintaining a spent one.
Growing it
Bright indirect light, chunky aroid mix, water when the top few centimetres are dry, keep it warm, and feed lightly through the growing season with something that supports flowering.
Light
Bright indirect light, and be more generous than you think. In New Zealand, a spot near a north-facing window behind a sheer curtain, or right beside an east-facing window, is close to ideal. Direct midday summer sun will scorch both leaves and spathes, so filter it.
Too little: healthy green leaves and no blooms for months, plus new leaves that are large, thin and floppy. Too much: bleached pale patches or dry brown scorch, and spathes that fade quickly.
Water
Water when the top few centimetres of mix have dried. Check with a finger, not a calendar.
- Check first. Push a finger in to the second knuckle. Damp means wait.
- Water thoroughly at the sink until it runs freely from the drainage holes.
- Drain completely, then tip out anything sitting in the cover pot.
- Wait and check again. Roughly weekly in an Auckland summer, closer to fortnightly in winter.
Anthuriums dislike both extremes. They are less drought-tolerant than a ZZ and far less tolerant of standing water than almost anything. Aim for a mix that is damp but never soggy, and that dries meaningfully between waterings.
Water quality
New Zealand tap water is generally fine. If you see persistent brown leaf tips and your water is hard, rainwater or filtered water may help, though dry air is a more common culprit for tip browning than water quality is.
Temperature and humidity
Warmth matters more here than for most houseplants. Comfortable between 18 and 27 degrees, and it will sulk below about 15. Cold is the bigger risk in a New Zealand winter, so keep it away from single-glazed glass on frosty nights and away from draughty doorways.
Humidity above 60 percent suits it best. In dry air the leaf tips brown and new spathes can emerge slightly deformed. Grouping plants, a bright bathroom, or a humidifier through winter all help. Misting does not do much and is not worth the water sitting in the crown.
Potting mix
Chunky and free draining, the same principle as any aroid. Roughly equal parts quality indoor potting mix, orchid bark, and pumice or perlite, with a handful of coarse coir or sphagnum if you have it.
Ordinary potting mix on its own holds too much water around roots that evolved on the side of a tree, and it is the most common underlying cause of the yellowing lower leaves people bring to us.
Feeding
Feed through the growing season, October to April, with a balanced liquid fertiliser at half strength every three to four weeks. A feed slightly higher in phosphorus supports flowering, though a balanced one is perfectly adequate.
Always onto damp mix rather than dry, and flush the pot with plain water every couple of months to clear accumulated salts. Stop or reduce over winter.
Repotting
Every two years or so, in spring, going up one pot size only. The better trigger is the state of the mix rather than the roots: once bark has broken down and the mix looks dark and dense, it is time regardless of how the plant looks.
When you repot, sit the plant at the same depth it was before and work chunky mix in around the roots. Anthuriums often develop a short bare stem over time, and you can pot slightly deeper to cover it and encourage rooting from the buried section.
Keeping it flowering
Light first, then warmth, then feeding, then removing spent blooms. A well-lit anthurium in a warm room flowers most of the year without any special intervention.
Unlike an orchid, an anthurium does not need a temperature trigger or a rest period. It flowers more or less continuously when conditions suit, producing a new bloom between every few leaves. If yours is not flowering, something on the following list is missing.
- Light. The first and usually the only problem. Move it brighter, keeping the sun off the leaves, and expect a response within a couple of months rather than immediately.
- Warmth. Below about 15 degrees it stops thinking about flowering. A cold corner in winter can stall a plant for a whole season.
- Feeding. Blooming costs resources. A plant that has not been fed in a year in the same pot is short of what it needs.
- Remove spent blooms. Cut the stem at the base once a spathe has gone green and dull. Leaving them costs the plant energy it could put into the next one.
- Do not over-pot. A plant in a much too large pot puts its effort into roots rather than blooms. Snug is better.
Anthuriums respond to improved conditions on their own schedule. After moving one somewhere brighter, allow a full growing season before concluding it has not worked.
Propagation
Division is the reliable method and the only one worth planning around. Stem cuttings work on older plants that have developed a visible stem with aerial roots.
Method 1: Division
Mature anthuriums produce offsets from the base, which can be separated with their own roots. Best done in spring, at repotting.
- Slide the plant out and clear the mix away from the base so you can see where the offsets join.
- Find a section with its own leaves and its own roots. Ease it away by hand where you can, using a clean blade only if you must.
- Let cut surfaces dry for an hour or two in the shade.
- Pot each division into chunky mix in a pot only slightly larger than its roots.
- Keep warm and humid, and water lightly until you see new growth.
Method 2: Stem cuttings
Older anthuriums develop a thickening stem with aerial roots along it, much like a philodendron. A section of that stem carrying at least one node and one aerial root will root and grow on.
Cut cleanly with sterilised secateurs, let the cut callus for an hour, then root in damp sphagnum moss in a humid environment. Expect roots within four to six weeks, and pot into normal mix once they are several centimetres long.
Diagnose a problem
Tick everything you can actually see on your plant. The more you tick, the better this gets at separating causes that look alike.
Water problems
Yellowing lower leaves are the anthurium's signature complaint and they usually mean too much water, not too little. Feel the mix before you reach for the watering can.
Root rot
The most common way an anthurium declines, and the underlying cause is usually the potting mix rather than the watering habit. Fine dense mix holds water against roots that expect air, and the plant slowly drowns even on a sensible schedule.
How to identify it
- Lower leaves yellowing progressively while the mix is still damp.
- Leaves drooping despite wet mix, because damaged roots cannot take water up.
- Mix staying wet more than a week after watering.
- A sour smell from the pot.
- Roots brown, soft and stringy rather than firm and pale. The definitive test.
If you repot into the same fine dense mix, the problem returns within a season. Chunky mix is part of the treatment, not just the prevention.
How to treat it
- Remove the plant and wash the old mix off the roots.
- Cut away every soft brown root back to firm pale tissue with sterilised secateurs.
- Remove any leaf whose stem has gone soft at the base.
- Let the cuts dry in the shade for an hour or two.
- Repot into a chunky aroid mix in a pot sized to the remaining roots.
- Wait several days before watering, then water sparingly until new growth appears.
Underwatering
Less common and easily fixed. Leaves go limp and the pot feels light with mix pulled away from the sides. Water thoroughly at the sink, or soak the pot in a basin for 20 minutes if the mix has gone hydrophobic. Leaves usually recover within a day. Anthuriums are less forgiving of drought than many houseplants, so do not make a habit of it.
Light problems
Too little light does not harm the plant, it just stops it flowering. Too much scorches leaves and spathes and shortens how long blooms last.
Insufficient light
The most common complaint about anthuriums, and it causes no visible damage, which is exactly why it goes unrecognised. Signs are healthy green foliage with no blooms across months, and new leaves that come through large, thin and floppy as the plant reaches for light.
Move it near a north-facing window behind a sheer curtain, or beside an east-facing window. Give it a full growing season to respond, since it will not bloom on demand.
Sun scorch
Direct sun through unshaded glass, most likely November to February. Damage appears as bleached pale patches or dry brown areas on the side facing the window, over days rather than months. Spathes are as vulnerable as leaves and will fade fast in direct sun.
Move it back from the glass or add a sheer curtain. Scorched tissue does not repair, so remove badly marked leaves once the plant has good growth elsewhere.
Pests
Thrips are the one that matters. They target new growth, they love aroids, and a single treatment never works. Mealybugs and scale turn up on new plants, and spider mites arrive in dry rooms.
| Pest | What you see | Where to look | Confirm it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thrips | Silvery or bronze streaking with tiny black specks, and distorted or marked new spathes | Inside the furled new leaf, along the spadix, and in leaf joints | Tap over white paper. Slender fast-moving insects under two millimetres confirm thrips |
| Mealybugs | White cottony blobs and sticky residue on leaves below | Leaf joints, the base of stems, and around aerial roots | Touch one with alcohol on a cotton bud. Mealybugs go translucent brown |
| Scale | Small firm brown bumps that look like part of the plant | Leaf undersides, along the midrib, and on flower stems | Scrape one with a fingernail. Scale lifts off and leaves a mark |
| Spider mites | Fine pale stippling, dull leaves, and eventually webbing | Leaf undersides and leaf joints | Tap over white paper. Moving specks the size of dust confirm mites |
Treating thrips
- Isolate the plant immediately, away from every other plant in the house.
- Rinse the whole plant thoroughly in the shower, paying attention to the furled new leaf, the spadix and every leaf joint.
- Treat with Yates Mavrik, adding Grosafe Enspray 99 as a wetting agent. Both are available at Mitre 10, Bunnings and garden centres.
- Repeat every five to seven days for at least four rounds. Eggs are laid inside leaf tissue and survive contact sprays, so you are treating each new hatch.
- Remove badly damaged spathes, which will not recover and give thrips somewhere to shelter.
Treating mealybugs and scale
Isolate the plant, then remove every visible insect individually with a cotton bud dipped in isopropyl alcohol. Follow with horticultural oil across the whole plant, repeating every seven to ten days for three to four rounds. Check around aerial roots and the base of the stem, where they hide and where reinfestations start.
Treating spider mites
Isolate, rinse thoroughly with attention to leaf undersides, then treat with Yates Mavrik or Grosafe Enspray 99 every five to seven days for at least three rounds. Raising humidity afterwards makes a repeat much less likely, since mites prefer dry still air.
Other issues
| What you see | Most likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Spathe turns green then dulls after several weeks | Normal ageing. The spathe is leaf tissue and reverts before it dies | Cut the stem back to the base so the plant invests in the next bloom |
| Healthy plant, no flowers for months | Not enough light, or a room too cold through winter | Move it brighter and warmer. Allow a full growing season |
| Roots growing out of the top of the mix | Normal for an epiphyte | Top-dress with a little sphagnum moss if it bothers you. Do not bury them in dense mix |
| Short bare stem developing at the base | Normal upward growth as lower leaves are shed | Pot slightly deeper at the next repot, or take a stem cutting from the top |
| Brown crisp leaf tips | Dry air, often with heat pump flow, or salt buildup | Raise humidity and flush the pot. Move it out of direct heat pump air |
| Spadix changing colour along its length | Normal. The flowers are opening in sequence | Nothing |
| Occasional berry forming on the spadix | Successful pollination, which is uncommon indoors | Nothing needed. Remove it if you would rather the plant did not spend energy on it |
| Lower leaves yellowing while mix is damp | Root rot, usually caused by mix that is too dense | Act now. See root rot |
Safety and pets
Toxic to cats, dogs and people if eaten. All parts contain sharp microscopic crystals that cause immediate mouth pain if chewed. Unpleasant rather than usually dangerous, and the pain tends to stop animals after one bite.
Like the rest of the arum family, Anthurium contains insoluble calcium oxalate as raphides: needle-shaped crystals held under pressure in the plant tissue. When bitten, they are released into the soft tissue of the mouth. The effect is mechanical rather than chemical, which is why it hurts instantly rather than hours later.
Symptoms in cats and dogs
- Pawing at the mouth or rubbing the face along the floor.
- Sudden heavy drooling.
- Head shaking and reluctance to eat.
- Vomiting or diarrhoea if a quantity has been swallowed.
What to do
Remove any remaining plant material from the mouth and offer water, milk or a small amount of food to help flush the crystals through. Symptoms usually settle within a few hours. Contact your vet if drooling persists, if there is swelling around the mouth or throat, or if breathing seems affected.
For people
The sap can irritate skin and eyes. Wash your hands after cutting spent blooms, dividing or repotting, and avoid touching your face while you work.
If you need a flowering plant that is safe around animals that chew, our Phalaenopsis orchids are non-toxic and flower for just as long.
Questions
My anthurium has not flowered in months. What is wrong?
Almost certainly light, and the plant is probably not unwell at all. An anthurium in a moderately lit room will stay green and healthy indefinitely without ever blooming. Move it near a north-facing window behind a sheer curtain, or beside an east-facing one, keep it above 18 degrees, and give it a full growing season to respond.
The red flower has turned green. Is it dying?
It is finishing, which is normal and takes six to eight weeks or more. The coloured part is a modified leaf rather than a petal, and as its display job ends the underlying chlorophyll shows through. Cut the stem back to the base and the plant will put its energy into the next one.
Why are the lower leaves going yellow?
If it is one old leaf at the bottom occasionally, that is normal ageing. If several are yellowing and the mix is still damp, that is root rot, and the usual underlying cause is potting mix that is too dense. Slide the plant out and check the roots before watering it again, and repot into a chunky aroid mix.
Roots are coming out of the top of the pot. Should I repot?
Probably not just for that. Anthuriums are epiphytes and having roots partly in the air is normal. Repot when the mix has broken down and gone dense, or when the plant is physically unstable, rather than because you can see roots. If they bother you, top-dress with a little sphagnum moss.
Are the three colours cared for differently?
No. Bugatti, Esudo and Whispering Love are selections from the same hybrid background, differing in spathe colour and in how many blooms they tend to hold open at once. Everything on this page applies to all three equally.
Can I cut the flowers for a vase?
Yes, and they last remarkably well, which is why anthuriums are a significant cut flower crop. Cut the stem at the base with clean secateurs. A cut spathe will often hold for two to three weeks in water. Wash your hands afterwards, since the sap irritates skin.
What are the tiny bumps on the spike?
Those are the actual flowers, dozens of them packed along the spadix. They open in sequence, female phase first and male phase afterwards, which is the plant's way of avoiding pollinating itself. That sequence is what you are seeing when a band of colour appears to travel along the spike.