Golden Acre Home & Garden Centre's Plant Library

Other Names:  Guppy Plant

Group/Class:  Shady Lady Series

Description:

This hybrid variety features darker than usual green foliage that turns deep purple as it matures, highly contrasting the bright orange, goldfish-shaped blooms; let surface dry out before re-watering; an outstanding, easy care indoor accent plant

Features & Attributes

Shady Lady Heidi Goldfish Plant features unusual orange tubular flowers along the stems from early winter to late fall. Its attractive glossy oval leaves emerge ruby-red, turning dark green in colour with hints of deep purple throughout the year. The brick red stems are very effective and add to the plant's interest.

This is a dense herbaceous evergreen houseplant with a trailing habit of growth, eventually spilling over the edges of hanging baskets and containers. This plant can be pruned at any time to keep it looking its best.

Planting & Growing

When grown indoors, Shady Lady Heidi Goldfish Plant can be expected to grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. This houseplant should be situated in a location that that gets indirect sunlight at most, although it will usually require a more brightly-lit environment than what artificial indoor lighting alone can provide. It does best in average to evenly moist soil, but will not tolerate standing water. The surface of the soil shouldn't be allowed to dry out completely, and so you should expect to water this plant once and possibly even twice each week. Be aware that your particular watering schedule may vary depending on its location in the room, the pot size, plant size and other conditions; if in doubt, ask one of our experts in the store for advice. It will benefit from a regular feeding with a general-purpose fertilizer with every second or third watering. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soil. Contact the store for specific recommendations on pre-mixed potting soil for this plant.

There are many factors that will affect the ultimate height, spread and overall performance of a plant when grown indoors; among them, the size of the pot it's growing in, the amount of light it receives, watering frequency, the pruning regimen and repotting schedule. Use the information described here as a guideline only; individual performance can and will vary. Please contact the store to speak with one of our experts if you are interested in further details concerning recommendations on pot size, watering, pruning, repotting, etc.

-- THIS IS A HOUSEPLANT AND IS NOT MEANT TO SURVIVE THE WINTER OUTDOORS IN OUR CLIMATE --