Arrowhead vines start as bushy tabletop plants and turn into climbers or trailers: the pink, cream and green ‘Allusion’ series and the white-veined ‘Batik’, for bright indirect light and steady moisture.
Buy a syngonium as a compact rosette of arrowhead leaves and, a year later, it has decided whether to climb your bookcase or trail off the shelf. That flexibility is the appeal: the same small plant can be a desk plant, a hanging-basket filler or a totem specimen, and it grows fast enough in a bright Arizona room to be whichever you want by next season. It is also more tolerant of dry indoor air than its relatives the calatheas, provided you keep the soil evenly moist.
We commonly carry the ‘Allusion’ series — a mix of pink-flushed, cream-veined and soft green forms — and ‘Batik’, whose dark leaves are netted with white veins. Both want the same thing: bright indirect light to hold their color, water before they wilt, and a warm room away from the AC vent. The rest of the bench is on our Houseplants page.
These are the arrowhead vine varieties we commonly carry. Availability changes week to week and season to season, so call (480) 987-3308 or stop in to see what’s on the bench today.
An assortment of the ‘Allusion’ series — ‘Pink Allusion’, ‘Cream Allusion’, ‘Berry Allusion’ and others — each with a differently colored center and vein pattern. Compact and bushy when young; brighter light keeps the pink and cream from fading to green.
Deep green arrowhead leaves netted with contrasting white veins, like a batik print. A little more upright than the ‘Allusion’ types and just as easy.
Looking for one that isn’t listed? Ask — we can usually suggest a close match or tell you when it tends to come around.
The care tag was written somewhere else. This is the Queen Creek version.
In medium light a syngonium survives and stays green; in bright indirect light, near an east window or set back from a south one, the pinks and creams of the ‘Allusion’ series hold. Direct sun through a west window in summer scorches the thin leaves. A plant that is reverting to plain green is asking for more light.
Syngoniums tolerate our low indoor humidity better than most tropical foliage, but the leaf tips brown if the plant sits in the airflow of a vent. Keep it in a warm room, away from the register, and group it with other plants or set it on a pebble tray if edges start to crisp. It slows down below 60°F.
A balanced liquid fertilizer at half strength every three to four weeks from March through October. Repot when roots fill the nursery pot, usually within a year, into a standard indoor mix with added perlite. Yellowing lower leaves plus wet soil means the pot is too big or the mix too heavy.
Keep the mix evenly moist in the growing season: water when the top inch is dry, every four to six days in summer indoors. It wilts dramatically when it dries out and recovers within hours of a drink, but repeated wilting costs leaves. Never leave it soggy — a well-draining mix and a pot with a hole. Flush the pot occasionally to clear hard-water salts.
Pinch the growing tips every few weeks to keep it compact and full. Let it run and it trails from a shelf or basket; give it a moss pole and it climbs, and the mature leaves become larger and lobed. Cuttings with a node root in water in a couple of weeks — the easiest way to fill out a thin plant.
Syngonium is toxic to cats and dogs if chewed. Spider mites and mealybugs turn up in dry winter air; rinse the foliage and treat with insecticidal soap. Outdoors, a fully shaded patio in spring and fall is fine; summer sun, heat and any frost are not.
Yellowing, spots, no new growth — snap a photo of the plant and its window and we’ll diagnose it at the bench. Advice is free.
We stock indoor potting mix, orchid bark and perlite for the chunky blends aroids and epiphytes want, balanced houseplant fertilizers, insecticidal soap and neem for the usual mealybug and mite visits, and moss poles, hoops and saucers. The pottery yard has terracotta, glazed and lightweight pots from 4-inch up, plus hanging baskets and cache pots.
Too little light. The ‘Allusion’ colors fade to green in a dim spot; move it to bright indirect light near an east window, out of direct sun, and the new leaves will come in colored.
When the top inch of mix is dry, which is every four to six days in summer with the air conditioning running and about weekly in winter. It wilts fast when dry but recovers quickly; avoid letting it sit in water.
No — like its relatives the philodendrons, it contains calcium oxalate crystals that irritate the mouth if chewed. Keep it out of reach.
Both. Left alone it trails; given a moss pole it climbs and produces larger, lobed leaves. Pinching the tips keeps it a compact tabletop plant.
Dry air, usually from sitting near an AC or heater vent, or salts from hard tap water. Move it out of the airflow, raise humidity with a pebble tray, and flush the pot with plenty of water every couple of months.
In full shade on a covered patio during spring and fall. It has no tolerance for direct sun, dry summer heat or frost.
Arrowhead Vine live on the houseplant bench; any staff member can point you to them. Locally owned, and a short drive from San Tan Valley, Gilbert, Chandler and Mesa.