SILVER INCH PLANT

TRADESCANTIA ZEBRINA

The silver inch plant is popular for its foliage, which has distinctive silver and green stripes and a purple underside—the silver shimmers in the light. This gently trailing, undemanding plant is simple to place in the home and makes a great addition to almost any interior.

HEIGHT 6in (15cm), trailing to 24in (60cm)

SPREAD 24in (60cm)

FLOWERS Small, purple

FOLIAGE Variegated

LIGHT Filtered sun

TEMPERATURE 54–75°F (12–24°C)

CARE Easy

PLACE OF ORIGIN Mexico

CARE

Tradescantias enjoy moderate humidity and filtered sun. They will survive in a room with light shade, but the lack of light will cause the leaf color to fade.

Plant in a pot or basket filled with commercial potting mix and water from spring to fall so that the mix remains just moist. Reduce watering in winter. In a centrally heated room, mist weekly. Feed throughout spring and summer once a month with a balanced liquid fertilizer.

Pinch out the growing tips of plants in spring to promote new foliage and a fuller plant. The shoots you’ve removed as cuttings will root quickly in a jar of water.

The trailing habit of the silver inch plant makes it ideal for a window ledge.

PROBLEM SOLVING Plants that are suffering because of too little light or water will produce leggy, leafless stems. This can be easily resolved by moving your plant to a brighter spot, watering more generously, and cutting back the spindly growth.

If a whole stem of leaves loses its variegation, simply cut this part of the plant away before the entire plant reverts to plain green.

DISPLAY

This plant looks its best displayed in a hanging basket so that it can tumble elegantly over the side. It won’t provide a long trail, but it will offer a neat, bushy display; prune at any time of year to keep the required shape. These aren’t reliable flowerers, but it’s a welcome treat when they do bloom. Either plant them in a hanging basket or place on a bookshelf or windowsill. If you want to fill an east- or west-facing windowsill with plants, display it alongside the African violet and Cape primrose. All like moderate humidity, so place the pots together on a tray of moist, expanded clay granules.

Houseplants A–Z | SILVER INCH PLANT

ALSO TRY

As they’re so easy to care for, why not add a few more tradescantias to your collection? Here are two attractive, easy-to-grow relatives:

• Purple spiderwort (Tradescantia pallida ‘Purpurea’), height 12in (30cm), trail 24in (60cm). This plant offers larger and longer leaves in dashing purple and small, pink blooms. It has a neat, trailing habit.
• Small-leaf spiderwort (Tradescantia fluminensis), height 8in (20cm), trail 24in (60cm). This is the most widely grown Tradescantia. It has smaller leaves than the silver inch plant.

The flowers of purple spiderwort appear sporadically through the year.