Watermelon Peperomia
Watermelon Peperomia
Peperomia argyreia
❦ ❧ ❦
Difficulty — BeginnerFew plants announce themselves quite like the Watermelon Peperomia — rounded leaves striped silver and deep green, fanned out on rose-red stems, look for all the world like a miniature melon rind sliced and set on a windowsill. She is as easy-going as she is ornamental, which in my experience is a rare and welcome combination.
Notes on Cultivation
☀Light
Bright, indirect light keeps her stripes bold and her rosette compact; in dimmer corners she stretches for the window and loses some of her tidy shape. Direct sun, however, will scorch those handsome leaves in short order.
❦Water
Allow the soil to dry out most of the way between waterings. Her leaves and stems store a fair reserve of moisture, and a wet stem base is the surest way to lose her — root and stem rot arrive quickly if she is left standing in a damp pot.
☁Humidity
She grows lusher with a bit of extra humidity, but I have kept her perfectly content on an ordinary shelf with nothing more than the room's own air.
✵Temperature
Best between 65 and 80 Fahrenheit; she has no fondness for cold glass or a draughty hallway.
❧Soil
A light, fast-draining mix — I favour a blend cut with perlite or orchid bark — so no water lingers around her roots after a watering.
❀Fertilizing
A diluted balanced feed once monthly during the growing season is sufficient; she asks for nothing at all once winter sets in.
✿Propagation
Take a leaf complete with a length of its petiole — the little stem that attaches it to the plant — and settle the cut end into moist Fluval Stratum, our signature method. Roots, and eventually a new little rosette, will follow within a few weeks. A leaf taken without its petiole is slower to oblige, if it obliges at all. Read the full field method.
Field Observations
Her leaves are more delicate than they look, prone to bruising or snapping if handled roughly, so I move her pot with both hands rather than a careless tug at the foliage.
She stays small and tidy her whole life, rarely reaching more than eight inches across, which makes her a natural for a crowded shelf, a terrarium, or a bathroom windowsill that gets good light.
— faithfully recorded by Mr. Phileas Plant
✿Have one of these at home?
Mr. Phileas now travels in coat pockets — both kinds, as of August. The Plantry app identifies your plants from a photo, keeps care notes like these with you, and lets you ask him anything — free, in beta, on iPhone and Android. Step into the greenhouse →
