Purple Waffle Plant

Purple Waffle Plant (Hemigraphis alternata) is grown for foliage rather than flowers: puckered metallic leaves, bronze green on top and deep purple underneath. It stays low, about 20cm tall and spreading to 60cm, and it fills a pot or a warm shaded bed in a single season. Indoors it is one of the easier colour plants, provided the mix never dries right out.

Why you'll love it

• Colour without flowers. The crinkled purple foliage holds its tone all year, so there is no waiting for a flowering season.
• Fast to fill space. Trailing stems root as they run, covering a 60cm patch or spilling over a pot rim within months.
• Happy in shade. Bright indirect light indoors, or dappled shade outdoors. Hot direct sun scorches the leaves.
• It likes humidity. Bathrooms, kitchens and humid subtropical gardens are easy wins where drier plants struggle.

Where it works best

Indoors. This is where most of them end up, and where your climate stops mattering, which counts with a plant this frost tender. A bright bathroom shelf, or a spot a metre or two back from a window.

Pots, balconies and courtyards. Use it as the trailing edge of a mixed container, or on its own in a 200mm pot, where light catches the underside of the leaves.

Groundcover in warm gardens. In tropical and subtropical beds, plant 30cm apart in shaded, well watered ground for cover within a season. It will not survive frost, so this use is limited to warm climates.

Growing Purple Waffle Plant in Australia

Position and climate. Warmth and shelter. Outdoors it belongs in tropical and subtropical gardens: Cairns, Darwin, Brisbane and the northern rivers. Anywhere with real winter cold, which is most of the country, treat it as an indoor plant. Bright indirect light gives the strongest colour; deep shade turns the leaves green and leggy.

Soil. A good quality potting mix with added compost, or friable garden soil that holds moisture without going boggy. Permanently sodden roots still rot.

Water and feed. This is a thirsty plant. Keep the mix consistently moist and never let it dry through. Feed with a half strength liquid fertiliser monthly through the warm months, then stop over winter.

Pruning. Pinch the growing tips regularly to keep it dense rather than stringy. Stems that have run bare can be cut back to a node, and the trimmings strike easily in damp mix.

What to expect when it arrives

Purple Waffle Plant is grown in tube stock, and it is currently listed on backorder, so check the product page for the next availability date. Tubes arrive as small rooted plants with a handful of leaves, and they fill a 200mm pot within a couple of months in warm weather.

Soft foliage does not love a long trip, so expect a few limp or marked leaves on arrival. Water it in, keep it warm and out of direct sun for a week, and it recovers quickly. New growth usually shows within two to three weeks. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• How to keep your indoor plants alive.
• Browse the indoor plant range.
• Tropical plants if you are planting outdoors in a warm climate.
• Indoor plant tips for beginners.

Common questions

Why are the leaves turning green instead of purple?

Not enough light. Move it somewhere brighter but still out of direct sun, and the purple underside deepens again over a few weeks.

Can I grow it outdoors?

Only in tropical and subtropical gardens. It is frost tender, so elsewhere it needs to be an indoor plant, or a pot that comes inside before winter.

How often should I water it?

Often. It wants the mix consistently moist rather than drying out, which usually means every two to three days indoors in summer. Wilting is the first sign you have left it too long.

How do I stop it going leggy?

Pinch the tips every few weeks through the growing season, which forces branching low down.