Peace Lily

Peace Lily 'Blue Moon' (Spathiphyllum 'Blue Moon') is the large flowered form, and the one to choose when a peace lily needs to hold a room rather than sit on a desk. It builds to about 1.2m tall and a metre across, with broad ribbed leaves and tall white spathes standing clear above them. It is the rare indoor plant that flowers reliably in a shaded corner.

Why you'll love it

• It actually flowers indoors. Most foliage plants never do. This one throws white spathes through the warmer months, and 'Blue Moon' carries larger blooms than the common forms.
• Real presence at 1.2m. Big enough to fill an empty corner or flank a doorway, without the width of a palm.
• It tells you when it is thirsty. The leaves droop, then recover within hours of a water. No guesswork for a first time plant owner.
• Happy in partial shade and humidity. Bright indirect light is ideal, but it holds condition in a room with one window, and bathrooms suit it better than a dry lounge.

Where it works best

Indoors. Living rooms, bedrooms, offices, bathrooms and shaded entries anywhere in the country. Inside, your climate stops mattering, which is what a frost tender tropical plant needs.

Pots and containers. A pot 300mm to 400mm wide suits a mature plant. Use an inner nursery pot inside a decorative outer so you can water at the sink.

Balconies and courtyards. In tropical and subtropical gardens it lives outdoors in deep shade year round, under trees or grouped in pots.

Growing peace lily in Australia

Position and climate. Bright indirect light indoors, away from hot glass, which scorches the leaves and browns the spathes. Outdoors it belongs only in frost free tropical and subtropical gardens, in full shade. Cooler gardens should grow it inside.

Soil. A quality indoor potting mix with added perlite or coco coir. It wants to stay evenly damp but never sodden, so the pot must drain and the saucer be emptied.

Water and feed. Water when the top 20mm to 30mm of mix feels dry, usually weekly in summer and fortnightly in winter. Brown leaf tips mean salts in tap water or dry air, so use rainwater. Half strength liquid fertiliser monthly through spring and summer is enough.

Pruning. Cut spent flower stems down at the base, and remove any yellowing leaf at soil level rather than trimming it partway. Divide a congested clump every three or four years in spring.

What to expect when it arrives

It comes as tube stock, 200mm pots in packs of six, and 250mm pots in packs of three. Tubes are young single crowns that take a season or two to reach display size, and suit potting up a group. The 200mm and 250mm plants arrive as established clumps that can go straight into a decorative pot, often already carrying buds.

Expect the leaves to be drooping when the box is opened. That is dehydration, not damage, and a thorough water usually has it upright within hours. New growth follows in four to six weeks. Delivered Australia wide, delivery from $29.95, minimum order of $300 before delivery, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Browse the full indoor plants range
• Compare the other indoor flowering plants
• Low light indoor plants for a dark corner
• Air purifying indoor plants for Australian homes

Common questions

Is it safe around cats and dogs?

No. Peace lily contains calcium oxalate crystals that are toxic to cats and dogs if chewed, causing mouth irritation, drooling and vomiting. Keep the pot off the floor if your pet chews foliage.

Why has mine stopped flowering?

Usually too little light, or a plant sitting in the same tired mix for years. Move it somewhere brighter but out of direct sun, feed through spring and summer, and divide a pot bound clump.

The leaves are drooping. Have I killed it?

Almost certainly not. Drooping is its normal thirst signal and it recovers within hours of a deep water. If the leaves stay limp and the mix is wet, the roots need to dry out instead.