Polka dot plants are a colorful, low-maintenance addition to your houseplant collection or garden. With bright splashes of pink, white, or red speckles on oval green leaves, these plants have personality! Their pretty foliage is a refreshing contrast to other plants with solid green leaves.
Native to Madagascar, South Africa, and southeastern Asia, polka dot plants (Hypoestes phyllostachya) thrive in shady areas outdoors in mixed containers, window boxes, and edging along sidewalks or at the front of borders in the landscape. They look especially smashing when grown in masses or alongside other shade-lovers such as coleus or caladium.
While polka dot plants are grown mostly as a garden annual, they are perennial in USDA Hardiness zones 10 and 11. (Find your zone here.)
Related: What's the Big Difference Between Annual vs Perennial Plants?
Indoors, polka dot plants are easy-to-care-for under the right conditions. These plants remain small as indoor plants, typically reaching about 6 to 9 inches tall with a mounded habit. Because they love humidity, polka dot plants make good choices for terrariums.
Why Trust Us?
I'm a garden writer with more than 15 years of experience growing houseplants, edibles, and landscape plantings. I also regularly trial new plant cultivars for performance and reliability, and test garden products to evaluate practicality and durability.
Polka Dot Plant Basic Info:
Common Name: Polka dot plant
Botanical Name: Hypoestes phyllostachya
Plant Family: Acanthaceae
Type of Plant: Annual, perennial in warm climates
Native Origin: Madagascar, South Africa, and southeast Asia
Sun Exposure: Part sun (3 to 6 hours per day)
Mature Size: 1 to 2 feet tall and wide
Toxic to pets: No
When to Plant Polka Dot Plant
Like all tropical plants, polka dot plants don’t like cold temperatures. Indoors, they prefer average temperatures in the 60s to 70s. Outdoors, don’t plant polka dot plant until it’s warmed up with daytime temperatures in the 50s at least.
If you're growing it outdoors, you can dig it up, pot it, and bring it indoors as a houseplant in the fall before temperatures drop into the 40s.
How to Plant Polka Dot Plants
Indoors, polka dot plant should be planted in general-purpose potting soil, making sure the container has drainage holes in the bottom of the pot. (Here's our guide to the best potting soils for every kind of plant.) Give it bright, indirect light in an east, west, or south-facing window.
Outdoors, find it a spot in dappled shade. While it can take some morning sun, this plant prefers shade most of the day, and its foliage will fry in direct sunlight. On the other hand, too much shade will make it stretch for the sun so that it becomes scraggly-looking.
When planting, dig a hole slightly larger than the root ball, place it in the hole, then backfill the soil. Tamp the soil down firmly around it, and water well.
How to Care for Polka Dot Plant
This plant isn’t super-fussy, but it does prefer the soil to be kept moist. During drought or heat waves, make sure to check polka dot plant daily. But don’t drown it; if the soil stays sopping wet, the plant will develop root rot.
It’s also fine to feed this plant with a general-purpose fertilizer, according to the package instructions. (Here's our guide to fertilizer numbers and letters.)
Polka dot plants produce tiny spikes, or racemes, of purple or pink flowers in summer. Snip them off when they appear to encourage more energy to go into producing their pretty, eye-catching foliage.
How Do You Keep a Polka Dot Bushy and Full?
This plant can get a little leggy, especially if it’s not getting sufficient light. Simply pinch it back all around to encourage it to fill out. If you do so regularly, it should keep a nice, mounded shape.
How Do You Propagate Polka Dot Plant?
It’s super-easy! Snip off a piece of the plant a few inches long, remove the lower leaves, and place it in a glass of water in bright, indirect light. Once it roots, place the cutting in a pot with potting mix, keep it slightly damp, and enjoy your new baby plant.
BubbleBlooms Tricolor Polka Dot Plants, 2-inch pots, set of 3
Proven Winners 'Hippo Rose' Polka Dot Plant, 4.25-inch pot
Proven Winners 'Hippo Red' Polka Dot Plant, 4.25-inch pot
Arricca Elin SanSone has written about health and lifestyle topics for Prevention, Country Living, Woman's Day, and more. She’s passionate about gardening, baking, reading, and spending time with the people and dogs she loves.
