Fuzzy, Funny, Stripey and Spotty Houseplants

A menagerie of fuzzy, funny, stripey and spotty plants are hidden in the jungles. Now is the time to bring them to your home. I always go for subtlety-so let's start with a purple, furry plant with bright orange flowers-the Purple Velvet Plant, Gynura aurantiaca. This outrageous drama queen hails from the jungles of Java and requires nothing more than a good all-purpose potting soil, bright indirect light, moderate watering and a good home.

Can you find a good home for another of our pets- Fitonia species? What a nerve! These beautiful plants, commonly known as nerve plants sport a variety of delicate thin leaves veined in red, white or pink. Because they dry up and die if you look at them wrong, I urge you to add them to a terrarium or get an old leaky aquarium that you were about to toss, add some pebbles to the bottom for drainage, some saran wrap or a piece of glass as a removable top and put them right in a window filled with bright, indirect light.

The old aquarium trick also works great with the otherwise impossible to grow flame violets, the more flamboyant cousins of the stalwart African violet. This subtle number, the Episcia, feature bright orange or red flowers and chocolate, copper or metallic green leaves. A true knockout and one easily grown with the right combination of tropical warmth and stifling humidity that you can create in a terrarium, but would never want in your own home. Grow under bright, indirect light potted in standard potting soil.

How about adding a zebra to the menagerie? Another one for the aquarium, the Zebra plant, Aphelandra Squarosa is a big, beautiful plant with wide creamy white stripes on its glossy green leaves. It features a gorgeous yellow flower, but it is a tricky devil. They keep getting purchased again and again, but are heart-breakers. Stick them in the aquarium with the other two plants or in a large, tall terrarium for extra humidity and give it a fighting chance.

How do you feel about Pink Polka Dots? No, your plants don't have measles, they're just the friendly, happy crew known as Hypoestes phyllostachya. This was originally pretty in pink, but now the plant formerly known as Pink Polka Dot has been hybridized to keep up with the times. It is now available in both white and red dotted varieties and is easily grown from seed. As with the others above, bright, indirect sunlight, standard potting soil. This one doesn't need the terrarium, but it can't hurt.

Do you have a prayer? The Maranta species, known commonly as the prayer plants feature more than one species worth growing. Maranta leucoreura erythroneura features bright red veins etched on a leaf that has a lighter central portion and darker color towards the leaf margins. The other variety of Maranta, Maranta Leucoreura kerchoviana has what dark brownish spots against a green leaf and no veins. Both types are called prayer plants because they fold up at night to conserve moisture. In the evening or early morning hours they look like a pair of praying hands.

Feel free to add these goofy critters to your menagerie and watch them roar!