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Philodendron
The other great beginner houseplant, and the one pothos is constantly mistaken for. Several hundred species, one shared rule: nothing on a philodendron is food, and a chewed leaf fires oxalate needles into the mouth within seconds.
Not food. Every part carries calcium oxalate raphides - needle-sharp crystals that fire into the lips, tongue and throat when a leaf is chewed, causing burning pain, drooling and swelling. Toxic to cats, dogs and children. This is a mouth injury, not organ damage, and the pain normally stops an animal after one bite - but call a vet or poison control rather than waiting, and go in at once if drooling will not stop or breathing changes. Wear gloves to prune; the sap stings skin and eyes.
Overview
The one thing to knowThe one most people mean is heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum) - soft, deep-green, heart-shaped leaves on a vine that trails off a shelf or climbs a pole and asks for very little.
Philodendron is not one plant but a genus of several hundred rainforest species from tropical America, of which a handful have become fixtures in northern houses. The one most people mean is heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum) - soft, deep-green, heart-shaped leaves on a vine that trails off a shelf or climbs a pole and asks for very little. Alongside it on the same bench sit Brasil with its painted yellow stripe, velvety micans, the white-lined Birkin, the expensive and unstable Pink Princess, and the big self-supporting tree philodendrons that fill a corner rather than a shelf.
The rule they all share is that none of it is food, and chewing it hurts immediately. Like the rest of the arum family, philodendrons carry calcium oxalate raphides - microscopic needle-shaped crystals held under pressure in specialised cells. Bite a leaf and they are injected into the lips, tongue and throat, and the burning, drooling and swelling begin within seconds. Cats, dogs and toddlers all get the same treatment.
Calibrate that honestly. It is a chemical burn in the mouth, not an organ poison. The pain is so immediate that most animals spit the leaf out after one bite and never touch the plant again, and the great majority of cases settle within a few hours. That is a completely different thing from a true lily (Lilium), which kills cats by destroying their kidneys with no warning pain at all. Both are worth a phone call; only one is a race against the clock.
The other thing worth knowing on day one is that philodendron and pothos are sold side by side, look near-identical, and are endlessly confused. The confusion is harmless - same family, same care, same crystals - but there is a one-second test that settles it, in Grow below.
Quick facts
- Life cycle
- Perennial, lives about 20 years
- Height
- 60 in12 to 240
- Spread
- 30 in12 to 72
- Support
- Grows better on a trellis or stake
- Cold
- Killed by frostdamaged below 55°F
- Heat
- Struggles above 95°F
Part sun or part shade or shade · medium water · well-drained soil · 14 in apart (8 to 24) · transplant or cuttings or division
When to plant
Nothing is open today. Spring transplanting opens 5 months, Mar 1 to Sep 15.
- Transplant Mar 1 – Sep 15 Opens in 161 daysIndoors year-round, but pot up cuttings and repot in the warm half of the year, when roots move fastest. Do not plant philodendron outdoors in frost-free country - several species have escaped into hammocks and disturbed woodland in south Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
Frost here: last around Apr 10 (Mar 27 to Apr 24 most years), first around Oct 25. Zone averages, your own yard may run a week or two either way.
Life stages
One stage to settle in, then two that repeat each year. Windows are typical; your zone and weather move them.
Rooting a cutting or settling a new pot
Day 0 to 30- WaterPot in a chunky, free-draining mix and water oncePhilodendrons are rainforest plants whose roots run through leaf litter, not mud. Ordinary potting mix works, but it works far better opened up with a couple of handfuls of orchid bark or perlite. Use a pot with drainage holes, water thoroughly once to settle it, then leave it alone until the top inch or two is dry.
- InspectBright indirect light - never direct sunA few feet back from an east or north window is ideal. On a forest floor these plants live in dappled shade, and an hour of unfiltered midday sun bleaches and scorches the leaves. They survive in a dim corner but stretch there, with long gaps between smaller leaves and no new growth to speak of.
- ProtectDecide where it lives before it trails or climbsPhilodendron is chewable and painful to chew, so put it high - a wall bracket, a tall shelf, the top of a bookcase - rather than trailing down to where a cat or a toddler meets the soft growing tip at head height. If it is a climbing type, set the pole in now; adding one later means untangling a plant that has already committed.
Watch for- Soggy mix that never dries (the main cause of early failure)
- Scorched pale patches from direct sun
- Trailing ends within reach of pets or small children
Vine and leaf growth
Mar to Oct, every year- WaterWater when the top inch or two is dryweeklyPush a finger into the mix. If the top inch or two is dry, water until it runs from the drainage holes and empty the saucer; if it is still damp, wait. Philodendrons want a little more water than a pothos and a lot less than they look like they want. A thirsty one droops and recovers within hours; a waterlogged one rots and does not.
- PruneCut it back to keep it full - wearing glovesTrailing philodendrons run long and shed their older leaves, leaving bare stems with a tuft on the end. Cut a vine back to just above a leaf joint and the plant branches from behind the cut; do that two or three times a year and it stays dense. Wear gloves - the cut ends weep a sap that stings skin and is properly painful in an eye. Every piece you remove is a free plant.
- SupportGive a climbing type something to climbPhilodendron means tree-loving, and the climbers mean it. Tie a heartleaf, Brasil or micans loosely to a moss pole or a trellis and each new leaf comes out larger than the last; the big-leaved species will not develop their adult shape at all without something to grip. Keep a moss pole damp so the aerial roots grow into it.
- FertilizeFeed lightly through the growing seasonA balanced liquid houseplant fertilizer at half the label strength, roughly monthly from spring to early autumn, is plenty. Stop feeding in winter: growth slows almost to nothing and unused fertilizer salts build up in the pot and burn the leaf tips. Flush the pot through with plain water once or twice a year to clear them.
Watch for- Long bare vines with leaves only at the tips (too little light)
- New leaves smaller than the last (too little light or a spent pot)
- White cottony mealybugs in the leaf joints
- Silvery scarring and distorted new leaves (thrips)
Winter slowdown
Nov to Feb, every year- WaterWater much less in winterShort days and cool rooms slow the plant almost to a stop, and it uses a fraction of the water it did in July. Keep to the summer schedule and you will rot it. Check the mix rather than the calendar, and expect the gap between waterings to roughly double from November to February.
- ProtectKeep it off cold glass and away from draftsPhilodendrons sulk below about 55°F. Leaves resting against a freezing windowpane go black in patches overnight, and a spot beside an outside door in January does the same thing more slowly. Move the pot a few feet inward for the winter and it comes through untouched.
Watch for- Blackened patches where leaves touch cold glass
- Yellowing lower leaves from winter overwatering
- Fungus gnats in mix that stays damp too long
Watch out for
6 to know. 1 is high-risk: Root Rot from Overwatering. 6 are active in September.
Root Rot from OverwateringSeverity High DiseasenowPhilodendrons are the fastest of the common aroids to rot in a dense peat mix.
Opening the mix up with orchid bark or perlite removes most of the risk before it starts.
Lower leaves yellowing while the mix stays damp, a sour smell from the pot, stems going soft, brown or black at the soil line, and a plant that wilts even though the soil is wet.
Tip the plant out, cut away every soft brown root, and repot the healthy remainder in fresh mix in a clean pot, watering sparingly until it recovers. If most of the root system has gone, take clean cuttings from the healthy top growth and start the plant again - that usually works better than nursing the original.
Water by checking the mix rather than the calendar - only when the top inch or two is dry - use a pot with drainage holes, empty the saucer after every watering, and cut back sharply on water from November to February.
The single most common way an indoor plant dies. Soil-borne fungi rot the roots and stem base in potting mix that is kept wet, in a pot without drainage, or in a saucer that is never emptied - and it is worst in winter, when short days and cool rooms mean the plant uses a fraction of the water it did in summer while the watering schedule stays the same.
MealybugsSeverity Medium PestnowOn a philodendron they shelter where the cataphyll wraps the stem and inside furled new leaves - open those before deciding the plant is clean.
White cottony specks where a leaf stalk meets the stem, sticky patches on leaves or the surface beneath the plant, black sooty film, and new growth that comes out puckered or stunted.
Dab each colony with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, then spray the whole plant with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil, covering leaf undersides and joints. Repeat weekly for at least a month, because eggs keep hatching. Cut off badly infested growth rather than trying to save it.
Inspect any new plant carefully and keep it apart from the others for a few weeks, check leaf joints whenever you water, and wipe the leaves occasionally - most indoor infestations arrive on a new purchase and spread from there.
Small sap-sucking insects that hide as white cottony tufts tucked into leaf joints, along stems and under leaves. Indoors there is nothing to eat them, so a small infestation becomes a permanent one - they weaken growth, deform new leaves and coat everything below in sticky honeydew that turns sooty black.
Oxalate Burn from ChewingSeverity Medium DisordernowCalibration: this is a chemical burn in the mouth, not organ damage.
It is genuinely painful and worth a call, but it is not the kidney failure a true lily causes in cats.
Sudden pawing at the mouth, drooling, refusal to eat, retching, or swollen lips and tongue in a pet; a crying child near a chewed leaf; and any change in breathing or in the voice, which is the sign that matters most.
Call a veterinarian, an animal poison line, or poison control immediately - do not wait to see how it develops. Rinse the mouth with water and follow the advice you are given. Go to an emergency clinic or emergency room at once if drooling will not stop, if swallowing is difficult, or if breathing or the voice changes. For sap in an eye, flush with running water for 15 minutes and be seen the same day.
Hang or shelve philodendron above pet and toddler reach rather than trailing it to floor level, keep rooting jars and trimmings off counters, and wear gloves when pruning so the sap never reaches your eyes. If a cat grazes plants regardless, keep philodendron out of that room and give it a pot of cat grass instead.
Every part of a philodendron contains calcium oxalate raphides - needle-shaped crystals held under pressure in specialised cells that fire on contact. Chewing a leaf drives them into the lips, tongue and throat, producing immediate burning pain, heavy drooling, swelling and often vomiting. It is rarely life-threatening because the pain stops the animal or child at once, but the swelling occasionally becomes serious, and the sap also causes skin irritation and painful eye injury.
ThripsSeverity Medium PestnowSilvery or bronze streaking on leaf surfaces with black specks alongside it, distorted or stunted new growth, and slim dark insects that run for cover when a leaf is turned over - tap a leaf over white paper to see them move.
Silvery or bronze streaking on leaf surfaces with black specks alongside it, distorted or stunted new growth, and slim dark insects that run for cover when a leaf is turned over - tap a leaf over white paper to see them move.
Wipe or rinse the foliage to knock the adults down, then spray thoroughly with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil, undersides included, and repeat every five to seven days for at least a month - eggs are laid inside the leaf and pupae sit in the mix, so one round never finishes it. Cut off badly scarred leaves; they will not recover. Blue sticky traps catch the flying adults and tell you when the population is finally gone.
Quarantine every new plant for a few weeks and inspect the newest unfurling leaves, where thrips concentrate. Keep plants from touching each other so a population cannot simply walk across, and check anything that has summered outdoors before it comes back inside.
Slender dark insects a millimetre or two long that rasp at the leaf surface and drink the sap that wells up, leaving silvery-bronze scarring, tiny black dots of excrement, and new leaves that open puckered and distorted. They breed fast in warm rooms, hide inside unfurling leaves, and are the hardest indoor pest to clear because eggs sit inside the leaf tissue and part of the life cycle is spent down in the potting mix.
Fungus GnatsSeverity Low PestnowLittle black flies around the pot and at nearby windows, and larvae - tiny translucent maggots with black heads - in the surface of mix that never dries out.
Little black flies around the pot and at nearby windows, and larvae - tiny translucent maggots with black heads - in the surface of mix that never dries out.
Dry the mix out further, hang yellow sticky traps to catch the adults, and for a persistent population water in a Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis product, which kills the larvae without harming the plant. Repeat until the traps come up empty.
Let the top inch or two of mix dry out between waterings, which breaks the life cycle on its own, avoid standing water in saucers, and top-dress with a layer of coarse grit or sand so adults cannot lay eggs at the surface.
Small dark flies that drift up from the pot when it is disturbed. The adults are harmless; their larvae live in the top inch of permanently damp potting mix and feed on organic matter and, when numerous, on fine roots. They are less a pest in their own right than a symptom that the mix is being kept too wet.
Spider MitesSeverity Low PestnowFine pale speckling across the upper leaf surface, a dull bronzed cast to the foliage, and gossamer webbing in the leaf joints - hold a sheet of white paper under a leaf and tap it to see the mites drop.
Fine pale speckling across the upper leaf surface, a dull bronzed cast to the foliage, and gossamer webbing in the leaf joints - hold a sheet of white paper under a leaf and tap it to see the mites drop.
Rinse the whole plant thoroughly under a shower, paying attention to leaf undersides, then treat with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil and repeat every five to seven days for three or four rounds to catch newly hatched mites.
Raise the humidity around the plant, keep it away from heating vents and radiators, and rinse or wipe the leaves regularly - spider mites struggle on foliage that is clean and not baking in dry air.
Nearly invisible mites that thrive in the hot, dry air of a heated house, feeding on the undersides of leaves and leaving a fine pale stippling that spreads until the whole leaf looks dusty and bronzed. Severe infestations spin fine webbing between leaves and stems.
Good & bad neighbors
First rule: keep Sago Palm apart. Named here as a correction, not a planting rule.
Plant nearby
-
The plant philodendron is constantly mistaken for, and a genuinely good shelf partner - identical light, feeding and calcium oxalate toxicity, so no mix-up can hurt you. To tell them apart: a philodendron unfurls each new leaf from a papery sheath that dries and drops, pothos has no sheath at all; and a philodendron leaf stalk is round in section where a pothos has a groove down the top. Pothos also wants to dry out a little more between waterings.
-
Another aroid on the same light and water routine, and the source of a naming muddle worth clearing up: the plant sold as split-leaf philodendron in most garden centres is usually a Monstera deliciosa, not a philodendron at all. Same family, same crystals, so nothing about the mix-up is dangerous - but a monstera needs a pole and a lot more floor space than a heartleaf ever will.
-
Same family, same light, same oxalate crystals, and a useful neighbour on a shelf: a peace lily wilts theatrically the moment it is thirsty and stands back up within hours of a drink, so it tells you the whole group is due for water before the philodendron shows any sign at all.
Keep apart
-
Named here as a correction, not a planting rule. Philodendron teaches that houseplant toxicity means a painful mouth and a phone call. Sago palm teaches otherwise: one or two of its seeds can kill a dog through liver failure, and it is sold in the same aisle as an easy indoor palm.
-
Not a growing conflict - a cross-reference for cat owners who arrive here frightened. A chewed philodendron burns an animal's mouth and is usually over in hours; a true lily causes fatal kidney failure in cats from pollen alone, with no warning pain to stop them. Do not carry the philodendron lesson across to every plant in the house, and do not bring cut lilies into a home with a cat.
-
Not a growing conflict - a reasoning one. Dieffenbachia looks like more of the same easy arum foliage and sits on the same bench at the garden centre, but it carries a far heavier crystal load plus enzymes that make the injury worse, and a mouthful swells the tongue and throat for days. Do not let it join the shelf of manageable trailing plants in your head, or in your house at toddler height.
Varieties · 9
You pick one when you add Philodendron to your garden. Its days to maturity set your harvest window.
Heartleaf (Philodendron hederaceum)
Good first pickSoft matte deep-green heart-shaped leaves on slender trailing vines, each new leaf emerging from a papery sheath.
trailinglow-light-tolerantvigorousThe default philodendron and the one to start with: deep green, matte, softly heart-shaped leaves on a fast trailing or climbing vine. It is the most forgiving houseplant in the family alongside pothos, tolerating a dim corner, dry air and erratic watering, and it roots from a node in a glass of water in about two weeks.
Brasil
Good first pickHeart-shaped leaves with an irregular chartreuse-and-cream stripe down the centre, on trailing vines.
variegatedtrailingHeartleaf philodendron with a broad brushstroke of chartreuse and cream down the middle of each leaf, as though someone had painted it. As easy as the plain green form but needs better indirect light to hold the stripe - in gloom the new leaves come out solid green. Cut back to a well-marked node if it starts reverting.
Micans (velvet leaf)
Matte velvety heart-shaped leaves in bronze-green with copper-pink undersides and an iridescent sheen.
velvettrailingcompactA velvet-textured form of heartleaf philodendron with leaves in deep bronze-green that flush copper and iridescent purple in good light. Slightly slower and slightly more particular about drying out completely, and the leaves mark permanently if you wipe them hard - dust it with a soft dry brush rather than a wet cloth.
Lemon Lime
Uniform bright chartreuse-yellow heart-shaped leaves on trailing vines.
solid-colorbrighttrailingSolid chartreuse-yellow heartleaf philodendron with no variegation to lose, and the brightest thing you can put in a shaded room. New leaves come out almost acid-yellow and deepen with age. It scorches in direct sun and dulls toward ordinary green in genuine gloom, so bright indirect light is where it earns its name.
Birkin
Upright rosette of dark green oval leaves with fine creamy-white pinstripes radiating from the midrib.
self-headingvariegatedcompactunstableA compact self-heading plant with dark green leaves finely pinstriped in creamy white - a mutation of a red-leaved cultivar, which is why it is genetically unstable. Individual leaves may come out pure white, pure green, or flushed pink, and a plant that reverts entirely to green will not come back on its own. It grows as a tidy clump rather than a vine and wants brighter indirect light than the trailers.
Pink Princess
Near-black green leaves with irregular blocks and splashes of bright pink, on a climbing stem.
variegatedchimeralclimberneeds-brighter-lightDark chocolate-green leaves splashed with bubblegum pink, carried on a climbing stem. The pink is a chimera and it drifts: expect some all-green leaves and some all-pink ones on the same plant. Prune back to a node showing pink to steer it, and remove fully pink leaves - they have no chlorophyll, cannot feed themselves, and eventually kill the section of vine they are on. Wants a pole and the brightest indirect light you have.
Grower tips
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