Houseplants 101: Pothos

A mistake I often hear from first-time plant owners (and I'm not kidding, I think I have heard this from every house plant beginner) is "Oh I prefer cacti, succulents, and air plants because they don't need much care." I understand these feelings, I was once this naive as well. The truth is, I rarely meet someone who has enough light and dry heat to truly allow a cactus or a succulent to flourish. Most of mine rotted because of sitting in water (never being repotted from their store pots that had no drainage), became frostbitten because of New England winters, or withered because of lack of sunlight. No wonder I always thought I had a brown thumb! The reality is that you're going to get a lot more satisfaction as a first-time plant owner by starting with an easy-to-grow leafy plant like a philodendron or a pothos. 

The usual reaction to the pothos is that it's boring. Everyone's mom has a number of these plants, and it's true that their leaves aren't plump or spikey with cacti character. The best reason to start with this "boring" plant is that it will give you a great satisfaction from watching it thrive. They're also usually cheap, and you can start out with a hefty pot without breaking the bank.

The pothos is a hardy plant, and is adaptable to low and high light conditions (with some variation depending on cultivar). It needs to be watered about once a week, but it's easy to kill this plant by overwatering it, so the underwaterer is actually a better parent for this guy. When it is thirsty, all the leaves will wilt and sag, and your plant will look generally really unhappy in an obvious way, so you can always tell when it needs water. I've had pothos I swore were dying, but after a little care and some water they've sprung back to life! They're also fast growers, so the amateur plant parent will get to feel the pride of a new glossy baby leaf unfurling rather quickly (in my opinion, nothing is more motivating when it comes to plant collecting than brand new leaves). The other great thing about pothos is that there are a number of different cultivars in all kinds of adorable patterns. It becomes kind of like Pokémon; you'll want to catch them all!

When you first get your pothos, find a spot for it where it can see the sky, and the sunlight won't directly touch it with hot rays for more than two hours of the day. When you see your pothos wilting, water it substantially, but don't let it sit in a pool of water; make sure it drains fully and gets to dry out between waterings. If you're worried about this, putting your pothos on a little tray of pebbles can help keep the plant from touching any water standing in its dish. If your plant starts growing all stem and no leaves, it's not getting enough sun! Plants travel like this to find the sunlight (called "getting leggy"), so it's best to move your plant so a brighter spot, and then cut off the long trailing stems. This will encourage the plant to stop creating length, and instead put its energy into generating more fullness with more leaves. We love when pothos vine all the way to the floor, but a healthy vine will have plenty of leaves all along its length. If you reach a point with your plant where it seems wilty and sad no matter what you do to try to help, it needs repotting! It's best to size up your pothos' pot once a year since they are such quick growers and will soon get cramped. After re-potting and a little water, your plant will look fluffy and new.

The most basic kind of Pothos is the Jade Pothos with its deep but bright green leaves. The most common pothos you'll find for sale is the Golden Pothos. This cultivar also has the bright but deep green leaves, lightly variegated with golden yellow splashes.  The Marble Queen pothos is heavily variegated with white stripes and spots, some of the leaves even presenting as entirely white! The more sunlight your plant receives, the more variegation you'll see. In low light conditions the Golden or Marble Queen pothos can look a lot like the Jade. There is a Neon pothos with bright green, almost yellow leaves. Similarly, this one will turn darker green if given less sun. After that are a variety of pothos with chunky white variegation of different varieties; the Manjula, Pearls and Jade, and N'Joy. Finally, we have the Cebu Blue pothos, which is the most unusual looking of all. It has blue-ish dagger shaped leaves instead of the usual heart shape! You'll sometimes see a plant named "Satin Pothos" in stores, with dark green leaves flecked with iridescent silver. This is actually the Scindapsus Pictus, which is a different type of plant entirely, but its care and appearance are very similar, so we might as well consider it part of the family.

All in all, it's best to start your plant husbandry journey with a "boring" plant that will love you back than a super cute trendy plant that will die because your home happens not to have the right conditions. As you gain confidence and establish a watering schedule, it gets easier to add more and more advanced plants to the mix!