Polka Dot Plant is a colorful plant that could add a vibrant touch to your home garden, both indoor and outdoor. Polka Dot, botanically known as Hypoestes Phyllostachys, has a wide variety of different shades and colors. You could select a Polka Dot variety depending on the kind of tone that you want to add to your lush garden.
Are Polka Dot Plant Perennials?
Polka Dot Plant is perennial. In fact, Polka Dot is both perennial and annual, depending on whether you plant it indoors or outdoors. It can grow as high as 1.5 feet if properly taken care of.
As mentioned earlier, Polka Dot is both perennial as well as annual. It all boils down to how you plan to grow Polka Dot. It also greatly depends on the growing climate of polka dots.
For example, if you plan to grow Polka Dot indoors, it will be perennial, or if you plan to grow the same outdoors, it will be annual. If grown outdoors, it can grow as tall as 1 to 1.5 feet in terms of height.
Polka Dot plants are types of plants whose stem gets woody as it ages.
You have the opportunity to prune the Polka Dot plant to keep the height of the plant in check. Moreover, Polka Dot is a plant that loves your attention and care. Grooming polka dot plants once in a while helps them to maintain and stay in shape and healthy at the same time.
You can also add companion plants that would go really well along with the Polka Dot plant.
Now that you know the basics about polka dot plant and their growing conditions, let’s see how to grow polka dot plants indoors and outdoors.
How To Grow Polka Dot Plant Indoors?
With dashing colors, the polka dot plant is a good choice if you are looking for an indoor plant for your living room or indoor garden.
As the polka dot plant hates hitting with direct sunlight, it makes a perfect candidate for your indoor garden. The light sun shade in your room will be more than enough for the polka dot plant to grow healthier.
You must water the plant once in a while after checking the moisture level of the soil. You can use both ceramic or terracotta pots to grow polka dot plants indoors. You should also mist the leaves of the plant as the humidity indoors will too less than compared outdoors.
How To Grow Polka Dot Plant Outdoors?
Growing polka dot plants outdoors is not challenging. It needs well-drained and slightly moist soil to grow healthier.
As mentioned earlier, polka dot plants hate direct sunlight. For the same reason, you should take proper measures so that direct sunlight won’t reach the leaves of the plant.
Exposing your polka dot plant for a prolonged period will make the leaves of the plant fade and less exciting.
You can use any type of pot to grow a polka dot plant outdoors. But you must ensure the water level in the soil regularly so that the plant doesn’t starve for water nor does the soil will become soggy with excess water.
If the temperature is too high for the plant to sustain, especially in summer, it is advised that you mist the leaves of the plant.
Adding a thick layer of mulch to the top will help to retain the moisture content in the soil.
How Long Will Polka Dot Plant Live?
The Polka Dot plant lives for about a year. Usually, the polka dot plant dies about one year after flowering. But you have the opportunity to grow them a little longer by pinching off the flowers.
The polka dot plant has a minimal life cycle. Most polka dot plant completes their life cycle in a year or so. But you can follow some nifty things like pruning the flowers, grooming, etc., to extend the life of Poka Dot by a small margin.
You need to take proper care in watering the polka dot plant otherwise it will die faster than usual.
If your Polka Dot plant is flowering too early, here are some tips to prevent it.
Polka Dot Plant Caring Tips
Below are some caring tips for Polka Dot plants in your home garden.
- 16 degrees celsius or 60 F is the perfect temperature for Polka Dot plants to grow healthy
- Make sure to prune Polka Dot plants once in a while. It will help the plant grow more robust and healthier and prevent flowering.
- Don’t forget to fertilize your Polka Dot plants regularly. Ideally, you should fertilize them once in two weeks if kept indoors or once a month if kept outdoors. Polka Dot needs nutrition too.
- Do not overwater Polka Dots. Only water them in the correct quantity. Also, make sure to leave a small drain hole in the pot so the excess water can escape, making the soil perfect for the Polka Dot plant’s growth.
Frequently Asked Question
Polka Dots are perennial plants if grown indoors and show annual behavior if grown in outdoor gardens.
If grown outdoors, Polka Dots can grow as tall as 3ft (1 meter). Generally, polka dots planted in pots will be much smaller.
Typically, Polka Dot plants live for about a year, after which they will slowly die. But you can extend the life of your polka dot plant by pinching off the flowers.
Wrap up
In short, is Polka Dot plant perennial mainly depends on how you plan to grow it. Mostly, Polka Dot plants are perennial when grown inside your home garden. But if allowed to grow outside, it can grow as high as 1.5ft in terms of height and shows annual behavior.
If you are planning to get a Polka Dot for your home garden, plan where to plant it as it can be both perennial and annual. Also, it depends on the Polka Dot variety as well.
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