Ivy from a different league
You’ve probably seen this plant, and odds are that you looked right past it at something a bit flashier sitting beside it.
I used satin pothos as my header photo in last week’s e-gardens, and honestly, it was so pretty, I decided to bring it back as a feature. For the next few moments, I’m going to appoint myself as its new press agent.
What you should know…
• Common name: Satin pothos, or silver pothos
• Scientific name: Scindapsus pictus
• Native home: Southeast Asia’s tropical forests – Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines
• Plant Family: Araceae, the Aroid family (along with philodendrons, dieffenbachias, peace lilies, caladiums, and many others with “Jack-in-the-pulpit” type flowers)
• Growth habit: Climbing vine. Provide pole or some other manner of support. Leaves that develop will be larger when stems ascend.
• Preferred lighting: Bright indirect light will maintain best variegation. East window or shaded south window. If you can read a newspaper without illumination, that would be perfect. Intolerant of direct sunlight during warm months. Too much light and leaves will scorch. Too little light and plants will lose variegation and become smaller and stems will become lanky.
• Preferred temperatures: 65-85F. Will not survive freezing temperatures.
• Preferred soil type: Lightweight, highly organic, well-draining (not “heavy”). Keep it slightly rootbound.
• Watering: Let soil dry slightly between waterings. It’s better to allow satin pothos to become just a bit dry before you water than it would be to keep its soil consistently wet. That is one of the main differences between this pothos and the more common green and gold devil’s ivy.
• Fertility needs: Light. Feed at half the rate you might give most other houseplants. Diluted plant food monthly should be adequate.
• How propagated: Cuttings rooted in water or potting mix amended with extra perlite.
A note for the botanic nerds among us…
The popular devil’s ivy has been given several botanical names just in my career alone:
Pothos aureus,
Scindapsus aureus, and now
Epipremnum aureum.
Those never-satisfied plant taxonomists (botanists) finally got flowering specimens and then, best of all, DNA evidence, that showed that it clearly deserves its own genus.
Hence, we have
• Devil’s ivy (Epipremnum aureum)
and today’s feature,
• Satin pothos (Scindapsus pictus).
So, now you know.