Growing Spider Plants is one of the ways many of us begin our gardening life. As a familiar houseplant, the green and white leaved plant with its babies hanging down offers an easy route.
Being asked if we’d like a spider plant for our own room and encouraged to help with removing a baby, potting it up and growing it on is not stressful. If that one dies there are plenty more to try instead! No wonder we take one with us when we leave home.
But what are Spider Plants?
Spider plants, Chlorophytum, are a genus of about 200 evergreen perennial plants and belong to the Asparagaceae family. Other common names include Saint Bernard’s lily, Ribbon plant, Hen and chickens, Airplane plant.
In temperate climates we know them best as houseplants as they are tender here, being native to many regions in Africa. However, Chlorophytum can be used in summer bedding schemes and look very effective in hanging baskets and patio pots. And you may have seen them as permanent planting when visiting Mediterranean countries.
Spider plants were first formally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg as Anthericum comosum in the late 18th century. The classification was changed to Chlorophytum comosum in 1862.
The plants have soft, green, loosely arranged leaves and proliferous stolons. The leaves are not flat, but almost folded down the middle. Most are long and narrow but some cultivars have wider or shorter leaves. The stolons, often called runners, are stems which grow at or just below ground the soil surface. Or, as with spider plants, as aerial root forming stems, capable of producing flowers and new plants. The stolons can grow up to 2 feet long. Small white flowers and plantlets grow at the end of these trailing, often branching, stems.
As an aside for those who like to know, the correct terminology would be to call stems which carry flowers stems and those which produce plantlets stolons.
When your Spider Plant has no Babies
One of the pleasure of growing spider plants is to have a cascade of baby plants from the parent. But occasionally this never happens. There might be a good reason…
The spider plant, Chlorophytum comosum, is sometimes identified as synonymous with Chlorophytum elatum and Chlorophytum capense. However, this is incorrect, as these latter two are synonyms for the same plant which is a different species to C. comosum although they are both within the same family.
Chlorophytum capense forms a rosette of leaves and rarely throws out plantlets, so looks different in growth habit to C. comosum. If you have an unnamed spider plant which never produces babies, have a close look at the way the leaves grow, just in case you have C. capense syn C. elatum.
Chlorophytum elatum, L. van Houtte, c. 1875
Growing Spider Plants – Why
There are a surprising number of spider plants, Chlorophytum comosum, that are a pleasure to grow as houseplants.
The wild species have purely green leaves and were the first spider plants to be grown in European homes. Their attractive habit when grown in a hanging basket, plus the tolerance of shadier situations made them popular from the 19th century. You may even spot them in photos of your ancestors along with an aspidistra.
Its popularity in both homes and offices was also due to spider plants being easy to look after. They thrive in the temperature range 18 – 32°C, but will tolerate it getting as low as 2 °C. What they are less happy with is being watered with mains water that has high fluoride levels. Obviously the occasional drink is fine, but generally use rainwater or distilled water.
Chlorophytum became great office plant favourites after NASA scientists in the 1980s discovered that the plants are able to filter out some of the toxins found in the air of closed rooms. Their ability to absorb chemicals such as formaldehyde and carbon monoxide has seen them take up prominent places on filing cabinets worldwide.
Growing Spider Plants – How
Caring for spider plants is so easy it seems almost daft to be discussing it! Its popularity in both homes and offices was due to the spider plants’ tolerance of various situations.
- Their fleshy roots enable then to store water and nutrients so they don’t mind if you go away for a week. Spider plants prefer to dry out between watering and if you take this to extreme, give them a good soak.
- They like well-drained soil and bright, indirect light and generally cooler temperatures than more exotic house plants. They thrive in the temperature range 18 – 32°C, but will tolerate it getting as low as 2 °C.
- What they are less happy with is being watered with mains water that has high fluoride levels. Obviously the occasional drink is fine, but generally use rainwater or distilled water.
- Do you have a pot-bound plant? If it really needs re-potting (they rather like having their roots constricted) then only transplant to a slightly larger pot.
- If the tips of their leaves go brown, check out the Plews blog link below on how to deal with this houseplant problem.
Spider Plant varieties
Growing spider plants can turn into collecting different spider plant varieties. Speaking personally, I only have six different types. They weren’t all labelled or labelled correctly, so it’s also been fun working out which one they might be.
You may be pleased to discover some new friends as well as old favourites among the ones we look at below. And even have ago at comparing to see which one you have sitting on your shelf.
Of course, you may find you’re like me with mystery Chlorophytum comosum. This spider plant has green leaves with cream margins and pale green centre stripe – any ideas about which it might be are appreciated!
Chlorophytum comosum
Not a variety, of course, but the species plant. Dark green sword like leaves make this a foil for floriferous houseplants. But it is also a good choice for a shadier corner – although remember it still needs some light.
As the following are all Chlorophytum comosum varieties, I’ll just give the cultivar names, in alphabetical order, to avoid mass repetition.
‘Atlantic’
has attractive cascading foliage, white centre with green margins
‘Bonnie’
has two forms, a green leafed version and a variegated one. The foliage in both is curly which makes it a highly covetable plant. And this is why it’s also known as the curly spider plant (even the babies have curly leaves). The number of curls depends on the growing conditions. Somewhat neglected, stressed Chlorophytums produce more curls.
‘Lemon’
is a relatively new spider plant with zingy lemony green foliage.
‘Mandaianum’
has short, dark green leaves with a yellow middle stripe
‘Milky Way’
has a broad white to cream centre and green margins
‘Ocean’
has relatively chunky, bright green leaves with a cream margin. The shorter-than-traditional leaves give it a slightly spiky appearance.
‘Picturatum’
has long, narrow green leaves that are striped with cream in the centre.
‘Variegatum’
Is sometimes referred to as ‘reverse spider plant’ as the colourway is the mirror image of ‘Vittatum’. It has dark green leaves with white margins; the long arching stems are green.
‘Vittatum’
was the first variegated cultivar of the Spider Plant and the most commonly found until the late 1990s. It has mid-green leaves with a broad central white stripe.
‘White Stripe’
has a narrow creamy white central stripe that is lost as the leaf ages. The stems are creamy yellow.
the hereditary principle
Growing spider plants could become addictive, particularly if you start collecting different cultivars. And because they’re easy to grow and to propagate, it’s a fun way to start children gardening even when you only have a balcony.
There’s also the hereditary principle. Which is that you pass on spider plants to your children, nieces and nephews via the plantlets. The mother plant hangs munificently from the ceiling in the bay window and oversees her babies / pups / spiderettes as they make their own way into the world beyond, to strange windowsills and crossing seas to new continents.
And yes one of my spider plants is baby of a baby, of a baby, of a baby, of a mother plant that belonged to one of my great aunts. I can still remember this vast Chlorophytum comosum with many arching stems that brushed the heads of those tall grown-up relatives if they ventured too near. And I do sometimes wonder where some of those spider plant descendants have ended up. There are ones I know of in London, Kent, Lancashire, Cheshire, Anglesey, Northumbria, Aberdeenshire, plus various places in Canada, including Montreal, plus Australia. Perhaps one of the descendants is sitting in a hanging basket near you…
And finally…
Whatever you do, enjoy your indoor garden growing spider plants and other houseplants – and your balcony, patio garden or many acres, and if Plews can help you with anything, please do get in touch. For example –
Our Garden Consultancy & Advice Visits may help with some of your issues – we can organize a video consult or in person visit. Or you have a birthday coming up? Plews bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden make a wonderful and practical gift. You could learn how to grow an orchard of citrus fruits in your conservatory! We help you with both gardening basics and more ‘expert tasks’, depending on what you need. Have a read through this pdf download for info.
For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below. You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.
Feeling nosey? You can have a peek at the progress of my garden renovation, Spitfires and Slow Worms, on Instagram and Facebook
You’ll get to see it in person if you come to the Plews Gardening Workshops Current ones on Eventbrite for you to book into. Follow for updates on topics and dates on Plews website, Instagram, Eventbrite, Facebook
Plus get your local garden club, allotment, WI, U3A or other group to ask me along to give a talk (and bring plants 😉)
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