Prayer Plant

Looking after your Prayer plant This stunning Prayer plant (Calathea ‘Angela’) is a very easy-going house plant. Also known as the zebra or ‘rhythm’ plant you will notice that the leaves open and flatten over the course of the day and return to an upright ‘closed’ position over night.

All plants need light, but this prayer plant will thrive even in quite low light – most rooms in the house will be suitable as long it’s not in too sunny a spot. It is happy at a normal room temperature, and if gets really hot in the summer you can mist it with ordinary tap water to cool it down.

In the spring and summer when the plant is growing it will need to be watered often, but in the winter when the plant is resting watering is not so important. You might like to feed it every month with ordinary houseplant food to help it grow and to keep the leaves nice and fresh.

As the plant grows it can be re-potted in a larger pot. Choose rich compost that will hold water well. In the right spot your prayer plant could get to three foot in a couple of years. To restrict growth however, keep slightly cooler and darker and restrict pot size.

Problem solving: Calathea plants originate in rainforests so don’t like to dry out, aim to keep the soil damp at all times during the growing season. Brown tips to the leaves are the result of a dry atmosphere, try giving you plant a good misting and water more regularly.