Maranta. Its Leaves Will Amaze Anyone as Long as You Take Good Care of the Plant

Fans of potted plants will definitely appreciate the aesthetic properties of maranta. Its leaves are marvelous but its cultivation calls for a little bit of effort.

Maranta is an exotic plant. There are about 550 varieties of the species. Their natural habitat is the tropical forests of South and Central America. Only two varieties are gown in pots:

• maranta bivolor

• maranta leuconeura

The first one has got oval and wide leaves, decorated with brown or dark green dots (that look like some clumsy paintbrush smears) to be found in between the nerves.

Maranta leuconeura has got much bigger and slightly hairy leaves. Its distinctive feature are the colorful nerves contrasting with the green color of the plant. Gardeners, enchanted with the beauty of this variety, have developed the following sub-varieties:

• Massangeana – its leaves are intensive green with silver veins

• Facinator Tricolor and Erythroneura – with light green leaves constrasting the pink nerves and dark green spots

• Kerchoveana – green leaves and brown spots in between the nerves

Maranta is also called a praying plant. It's all because the plant puts its leaves together (like praying hands) before it rests at night, This phenomenon is called nystinasty (sleep moves). This is also why some people call it The Plant of 10 Commandments as there are 10 dots between the nerves

The plants prefer a lot of dispersed light. That is why they prefer semi-shaded spots without any direct sun exposure. Given too much light their leaves begin to fade. That is why you should avoid window sills with western or southern exposure.

Marantas are tropical plants so they need rather high temperatures throughout the whole year (21 – 26 degrees C in the summer and 16 – 20 C in the winter). At night 18 C is just fine. However, at no times should the temperature drop below 16 C.

Marantas require appropriate ambient humidity. That is why there has got to be an air-humidifier around or you can just sprinkle some water all over their leaves.

In the summer maranta Has to be watered 2 – 3 times a week. The soil medium has to be humid at all times – there is no way the soil can get completely dry. In the winter you need to water them just once a week.