When you want to add a little freshness and life to a room, an indoor foliage plant or two usually does the trick. Houseplants with bold or unusual foliage kick it up a notch with their striking colors, patterns, and shapes. Whether you're into big plants that make an eye-catching focal point or gravitate towards adorable small plants, these 24 options offer gorgeous foliage.
Iron-Cross Begonia
Known for its striking, two-tone foliage, iron-cross begonia gets its name from the brown markings on its leaves, which resemble the Iron Cross displayed on shields during the Crusades. This foliage plant doesn't mind being a little pot-bound but try to ensure it doesn't completely dry out between waterings. If you see brown, crispy leaf edges, give the plant more humidity. However, if you notice yellowing or browning leaves, cut back on the amount of water you give it.
Warning
Keep this plant away from children and pets because the roots and stems are toxic.
Name: Begonia masoniana
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 65-75°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 12 inches tall and wide
Peacock Plant
One of the boldest, most dramatic foliage plants around, peacock plant has patterned leaves resembling its namesake bird's tail feathers. The silver and green markings on the upper leaf surfaces and the reddish-purple markings on the back of its leaves make this plant a beauty to behold from any angle. For best results, give this tropical houseplant a warm environment with high humidity.
Name: Calathea makoyana
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 70-85°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 2 feet tall and wide
Prayer Plant
Prayer plant will fold its pretty leaves together in the dark, creating the impression of praying hands. The green prayer plant (pictured here) is sometimes called rabbit tracks for its purplish brown leaf markings. Closely related red prayer plant (Maranta leuconeura var. erythroneura) has bright red leaf veins and brown markings like the green prayer plant. Prayer plant appreciates high humidity and even soil moisture except in winter when it goes semi-dormant and needs slightly drier conditions.
Name: Maranta leuconeura
Growing Conditions: Medium light; 60-75°F; keep soil evenly moist, drier in winter
Size: Up to 1 foot tall and wide
Nerve Plant
The fine network of pink, red, white, or silver veins on each leaf gives nerve plant its common name. It's a sure bet to add color to a brightly lit kitchen or bathroom because it appreciates high humidity and moist soil. It also combines well with other plants in dish gardens and terrariums.
Name: Fittonia albivenis (Verschaffeltii Group)
Growing Conditions: Medium light; 65-75°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 8 inches tall
Rex Begonia
As flamboyant foliage plants go, you can always count on a rex begonia to deliver. Hundreds of cultivars are available in a broad array of color combinations of silver, white, pink, red, purple, and green. Many have unique leaf shapes and forms as well. Although rex begonia is primarily grown for its dazzling foliage, it may produce pink or white blossoms in bright light.
Name: Begonia rex
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 65-75°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: To 2 feet tall and wide
Ti Plant
The vibrant reddish-pink foliage of ti plant makes it an eye-catching option for creating a focal point in a room. Also called good luck plant and sometimes classified as C. terminalis, its colorful, strap-like leaves emerge from a central stalk. As the plant ages, it loses its lower leaves to show off a woody trunk. It's easy to propagate; just place sections of the trunk horizontally on moist potting soil. Then be patient: New shoots may take several months to sprout.
Name: Cordyline fruticosa
Growing Conditions: Bright to intense light; 60-85°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 6 feet tall
China Doll
The finely textured, fern-like leaves of the China doll foliage plant add grace and elegance to any room. It's often sold with several plants in one container to give it a fuller appearance. Pinch or prune shoots regularly to keep plants lush and full.
Name: Radermachera sinica
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 60-75°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 6 feet tall
Aluminum Plant
Named for the metallic-silver splotches on its leaves, aluminum plant makes an attractive addition to a tabletop plant or hanging basket. Its compact size also makes it a good candidate for mixed dish gardens or terrariums. If the plant gets leggy, move it to brighter light and pinch it back to encourage fuller growth.
Name: Pilea cadierei
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 60-75°F; allow the soil surface to dry between waterings
Size: Up to 1 foot tall and wide
Inch Plant
Extra-easy-to-grow inch plant has trailing stems that can quickly reach impressive lengths. The most widely available variety of this foliage plant has leaves with olive and silver striping on top and purplish maroon underneath. Other varieties have a purplish color on both surfaces of leaves.
In bright light, plants may bear pink flowers with three petals. Inch plant roots easily from stem cuttings stuck in moist potting soil or water. While you can leave the cuttings growing for months in water, they'll do best if you plant them in potting mix.
Name: Tradescantia zebrina
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 55-75°F; allow soil surface to dry between waterings
Size: Up to 1 foot tall and 2 feet wide
Fatsia
The big leaves of the fatsia plant create a dramatic, tropical look in an instant. Unlike many tropical plants, fatsia (also known as Japanese aralia) likes to be kept on the cool side but adapts well to average room temperatures. Try it near a sliding glass door or in a low-light entryway as a dramatic specimen plant. Wash the leaves periodically to maintain a glossy shine and to remove any spider mites, which can sometimes trouble this plant.
Name: Fatsia japonica
Growing Conditions: Low to medium light; 50-65°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 6 feet tall and wide
Pleomele
A shrubby plant that mixes well in a variety of decorating styles, pleomele used to be classified as Pleomele reflexa and is still sometimes sold under that name. The wild form has solid green leaves, but the cream-and-green variegated cultivar 'Song of India' is more widely available. If the plant grows too tall or loses its lower leaves, prune it back to encourage more compact growth.
Name: Dracaena reflexa
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 65-75°F; allow soil surface to dry between waterings
Size: Up to 3 feet tall and wide
Parlor Palm
One of the best palms to grow indoors, parlor palm won't get overly tall, plus it tolerates low light and low humidity reasonably well. Keep it out of cold drafts and avoid exposure to direct sun to prevent brown leaf tips. Shower your parlor palm occasionally to wash off accumulated dust and keep spider mites at bay.
Name: Chamaedorea elegans
Growing Conditions: Low to medium light; 65-80°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 8 feet tall and 3 feet wide
Moon Valley Friendship Plant
With its puckered leaf surface that resembles the surface of the moon, moon valley friendship plant is in a league of its own. In bright light, this foliage plant offers small creamy-white flowers and waffle-like foliage. Its bronze-green leaves with sunken purple veins and texture make it an excellent companion plant for iron-cross begonia. If the plant becomes leggy, pinch back the stems to keep the plant compact.
Name: Pilea mollis 'Moon Valley'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 60-75°F; allow soil surface to dry between waterings
Size: Up to 1 foot tall and wide
Blushing Bromeliad
Although small purple flowers form in the center of blushing bromeliad's vase, the red color near the base of its inner leaves is the star attraction and source of this foliage plant's common name. Be sure to add water to the central vase rather than the soil.
Warning
Blushing bromeliad's green-and-white striped leaves have saw-tooth edges, so take care when handling the plant.
Name: Neoregelia carolinae 'Tricolor'
Growing Conditions: Bright light; 65-80°F; keep water in central vase of leaf cluster
Size: Up to 1 foot tall
Watermelon Begonia
The trailing stems and leaves of watermelon begonia create a charming accent no matter where you grow it. Each oval-shaped leaf sports patches of silver and dark green, resembling the pattern on its namesake fruit. The trailing stems have a tinge of pink. This foliage plant used to be classified as Pellionia pulchra, so you may find it still sold under that name.
Name: Elatostema repens
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 70-80°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Trailing to 2 feet or more
Strawberry Begonia
An easy-to-grow plant with beautiful foliage, strawberry begonia is simple to propagate and share with friends. Although it is commonly used as a landscaping groundcover in Zone 7 and warmer, this foliage plant makes a terrific houseplant most anywhere that receives a moderate amount of light. It's not closely related to either strawberry or begonia but has some characteristics that resemble those plants. Like many begonias, it has multicolored leaves, and similar to strawberries, it produces plantlets on runners sent out by the mother plant.
Name: Saxifraga stolonifera
Growing Conditions: Medium light; 50-75°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 6 inches tall
Purple Passion
The fuzzy foliage of purple passion is interesting and distinctive. Because of its color and texture, you may also know this classic foliage plant as purple velvet. Its fast-growing stems trail as they lengthen, making the plant adaptable to hanging baskets. Plus, it's easy to grow more from cuttings.
Name: Gynura aurantiaca 'Purple Passion'
Growing Conditions: Bright light; 60-75°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 2 feet tall
Aralia
The glossy green, scalloped aralia leaves add beautiful texture to indoor spaces. Balfour aralia (pictured here) is one of several aralias commonly available as houseplants. Ming aralia (Polyscias fruticosa) has deeply lobed, lacy leaves. Parsley aralia (Polyscias fruticosa 'Elegans') is smaller, with dense, curled leaves. All develop corky, gnarled trunks as they age. Aralias need warm temperatures and high humidity. Keep them away from cold drafts.
Name: Polyscias scutellaria 'Balfourii'
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 65-85°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide
Asparagus Fern
The feathery foliage of asparagus fern looks good in various settings and decorating styles. Several plants go by the common name of asparagus fern. Foxtail fern has bottlebrush plumes of medium green needles. 'Sprengeri' has arching stems covered with flat needles, giving the plant a frothy appearance. Plumose fern (Asparagus setaceus, shown here) looks more like a true fern but, like the others, is an ornamental asparagus relative.
Warning
Be sure to keep this plant in a safe location because the berries and sap of asparagus plants are toxic to children and pets.
Name: Asparagus setaceaus
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 60-75°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 2 feet tall and wide
Baby's Tears
Perfect for terrariums, baby's tears stays small and forms a mat of delicate rounded leaves. This fine-textured foliage plant also grows well in a hanging basket, or it can be allowed to spread around larger, upright houseplants.
Name: Soleirolia soleirolii
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 55-75°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 3 inches tall
Fiber-Optic Grass
If you tend to overwater plants, fiber-optic grass might be for you. This fun foliage plant gets its common name from its arching, threadlike, grassy leaves resembling fiber optic wire. It can even grow in standing water, adding fine texture to a shallow water garden.
Name: Isolepis cernua
Growing Conditions: Medium light; 55-75°F; keep soil evenly moist or wet
Size: Up to 12 inches tall
Piggyback Plant
Soft, fuzzy green leaves are only part of the appeal of piggyback plant. It earned its common name because baby plantlets develop on the main leaf vein of older leaves, appearing to ride piggyback. To easily propagate this plant, simply pin a leaf bearing a plantlet to the soil to encourage rooting. The weight of developing plantlets causes outer leaves to drape over the container's edge, which makes piggyback plant a good choice for a hanging basket or display on a pedestal.
Warning
Handle this plant with care because all parts can cause skin irritation.
Name: Tolmiea menziesii
Growing Conditions: Medium to bright light; 60-75°F, 50-65°F. in winter; allow the soil surface to dry between waterings
Size: Up to 12 inches tall and 18 inches wide
Swedish Ivy
An easy-to-grow, cascading plant, Swedish ivy looks especially beautiful in hanging baskets where its glossy green, scalloped-edge leaves can drape over the side. Native to South Africa and Australia rather than Sweden, where it was first popularized, Swedish ivy is more closely related to mint than ivy. It often blooms in spring and summer with short spikes of white or lavender flowers, but the foliage is the main attraction.
Name: Plectranthus verticillatus
Growing Conditions: Medium light; 60-75°F, 50-65°F. in winter; allow the soil surface to dry between waterings
Size: Up to 36 inches tall
Waffle Plant
Low-growing waffle plant is perfect for adding texture to tabletops, mantels, or other horizontal surfaces where its creeping stems can create a richly colored carpet. This mounding plant has trailing wine-red stems and glossy, oval, purplish leaves with scalloped edges. In summer, waffle plant bears small white flowers at the stem tips. It also works as an annual groundcover outdoors in shade gardens.
Name: Hemigraphis alternata 'Exotica'
Growing Conditions: Medium light; 60-80°F; keep soil evenly moist
Size: Up to 9 inches tall and 18 inches wide
If you're looking for larger plants for your interior space, a banana plant is an excellent choice to add to your collection. You may not get fruit, but you will get big, glossy leaves that add shine and drama to your room. For something beachy and tropical, a palm plant is the next best thing to being oceanfront. These plants may need more humidity than your home provides, so put them in the bathroom while you shower every so often to add the moist air they love. Tiny-leaved jade plants can grow to be 3-10 feet tall and are low-maintenance, so they'll be around for a long time. Grow Monstera deliciosa for its huge, interestingly shaped leaves or a statuesque bird of paradise plant to bring sculptural beauty into your rooms.
