Those who are starting to get to know me can attest to one undeniable truth: I change my favorite plant every week! But this time, it’s for real—I swear! The lipstick plant is a true discovery, and it truly deserves my praise!
Victim… of My Job
As some of you already know, I teach horticulture at the Laval Horticultural Centre. At this school, five times a year and purely for educational purposes, we organize plant sales. These events give our students hands-on experience with all the tasks involved in running a garden centre—from taking inventory and processing orders to ultimately selling plants and various horticultural products. In short, five times a year, I find myself surrounded by greenhouses overflowing with magnificent plants!
As a self-respecting gardener, it’s hard to resist. There’s always room for one more plant! And it’s even worse when you’re a curious gardener. The moment a plant I don’t recognize appears, it somehow ends up in my shopping cart without warning. What can I say?
The Unassuming Little Plant
This is how Aeschynanthus radicans (or A. pulcher—I can never quite tell them apart), better known as the lipstick plant, found its way into my home. It was part of a shipment we unfortunately received without flowers… And a lipstick plant without its lipstick looks just like any other plant, with slightly drooping green stems. In the greenhouse, it was completely lost amid the sea of green foliage—philodendrons, English ivy, peperomias, and spider plants. It blended in so well that, by the end of the day, the students had only managed to sell a few of these poor, overlooked plants, which would have flown off the shelves had they been in bloom.
That’s when I spotted the forgotten one and realized that… wait a minute… I’ve never tried growing this plant! And just as that thought crossed my mind, the lipstick plant ever so wisely made its way into my shopping cart—and later, onto the passenger seat of my car.
And Then, Magic Happened!
So, I placed this new plant in a hanging basket in front of my south-facing window—plenty of light and a touch of direct sun. For the first month, I watched it struggle. The leaves, which weren’t looking great to begin with, started to shrivel. Hardly any new ones appeared. Honestly, I wouldn’t have bet a chocolate two-dollar coin on the future of this so-called lipstick plant.
I think we were getting to know each other. Because its flowers are so spectacular, I assumed it must be a thirsty plant that loved plenty of fertilizer. But its rather thick, leathery leaves suggested a certain drought tolerance. What a contradiction!
And the answer, it turns out, was on the dry side of the Force. Aeschynanthus actually prefers its soil to dry out completely between waterings—and even a little beyond that. In my case, it was the moment I applied this magic formula that my red beauty began to bloom… and not just a little!
Continuous Flowering
Five or six clusters of flowers appeared all at once—beautiful, scarlet, trumpet-shaped blooms, each nestled within a fused mass of sepals covered in fine bristly hairs. What a joy it was to see those lovely flowers appear!
But deep down, I told myself it was just a stroke of luck. After this glorious wave of blooms—no doubt meant to charm me into keeping it out of the guest room’s back corner—I was sure it would never flower again. How wrong I was.
No sooner had the first blossoms faded than new ones began to appear. It’s now been a full year, and I can confidently say the flowering has been continuous. Sure, there have been brief pauses, but it has bloomed every month, in every season—and that’s quite a rarity among indoor flowering plants. Usually, a plant has its moment once a year, then takes a long rest before the next show. But not this one!
So yes, I’m giving my lipstick plant a big kiss and singing its praises, because finally I’ve found a super easy-to-grow houseplant that blooms all year long. It’s such a refreshing change from the usual spider plants and snake plants.
If you’re curious to learn more about lipstick plants—because yes, there’s more than one species—check out this article, which offers a wealth of information about their origins, the best varieties to grow, and detailed care instructions.
You’ve convinced me and I would love to give this plant a try. I am having a problem, however, locating a plant in the Niagara region despite the fact that we have many nurseries here. Do you have any suggestions about where to shop for these plants. It would be most helpful.
I grew one years ago! I hope they aren’t hard to find, as I would love to bring one home!
Great post. I’ll have to look for one of these plants.