Goosefoot Plant

Goosefoot Plant (Syngonium podophyllum 'Maria') is an indoor plant that earns its place with foliage rather than flowers. Arrowhead leaves open bronze pink and deepen to olive green, on a plant that stays around 60cm in each direction as a mounded pot plant, or climbs higher if you give it something to hold. It grows fast, forgives irregular watering and does not need a bright window.

Why you'll love it

• Colour without a flower. New leaves emerge bronze pink and settle to olive, so there is always fresh colour at the growing tips.
• It grows quickly. A tube fills a 200mm pot in a season, which is unusual among indoor plants and makes it good value.
• Trailing or climbing, your choice. Let it spill from a shelf, or give it a moss pole and the leaves get larger.
• Easy to keep compact. Pinch the runners back and it stays a tidy 60cm mound, and the cuttings strike in water without any fuss.

Where it works best

Indoors. This is where most of them live, and your climate stops mattering the moment it comes inside. A shelf, a desk, a bathroom or a hanging pot in filtered light all suit it.

Pots and containers. A 200mm pot holds it for a couple of years. Repot in spring when roots show at the drainage holes, potting on one size at a time.

Balconies and courtyards. In tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens it can live outdoors year round in a sheltered, shaded spot. Anywhere colder it stays a pot that comes inside for winter.

Growing goosefoot plant in Australia

Position and climate. Bright indirect light indoors, or deep shade outdoors in a warm garden. Direct sun through glass scorches the leaves and washes the pink out of them. It is frost tender and likes humidity, so it belongs indoors in cool temperate and Mediterranean climates.

Soil. A premium indoor potting mix opened up with perlite or coarse bark. The pot must drain and the saucer must be emptied, because standing water rots the stems faster than anything else.

Water and feed. Water when the top 3 to 4cm of mix feels dry: roughly weekly in summer, every ten to fourteen days in winter. Half strength liquid fertiliser monthly through spring and summer is plenty.

Pruning. Pinch the tips regularly to keep it bushy and stop it running. Cut bare stems back to a node and it reshoots. Wear gloves, because the sap irritates skin.

What to expect when it arrives

It is grown as tube stock. A tube is a young plant, usually a small cluster of leaves and a compact root ball, ready to pot straight into a 130mm to 200mm container with fresh mix. Given warmth and light, expect a full looking pot within four to six months.

Soft leaved plants show transit more than tough ones, so a bent or marked leaf is normal rather than a fault. Set it somewhere warm with filtered light, water it in and leave it alone for a fortnight. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• How to keep your indoor plants alive
• Browse the full indoor plant range
• Plants for rooms with low light
• Find an indoor pot that drains properly

Common questions

Is it safe for cats and dogs?

No. Like all plants in the arum family, the sap contains calcium oxalate crystals that cause drooling, mouth pain and vomiting if chewed. Keep it out of reach if your pet chews plants, and wear gloves when you prune.

Why is the new growth green instead of pink?

Not enough light. 'Maria' needs bright indirect light to hold the bronze pink tones in the new leaves. Move it closer to a window without putting it in direct sun.

Should I let it climb or trail?

Either works. On a moss pole the leaves become larger and more strongly arrowhead. Left to trail it stays juvenile, with smaller, rounder leaves and a fuller look.