Purple Heart Care Guide

Family: Spiderwort

Genus: Tradescantia

Botanical Name: Tradescantia pallida

Difficulty: Easy to grow

Light

 Purple hearts prefer to be in full sun, but they can tolerate lower light. Keep in mind, though, that it will become more green than purple if kept in the shade.

Water

They are considered to be drought tolerant, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to water them as long as the soil doesn’t stay super dry for too long.

Climate

They love average household conditions. Ideal humidity levels fall between 30-50%. However, if the air in your house tends to be on the dry side, you may want to consider a humidifier or moving your purple heart into your bathroom because their leaves will start to get a little limp.

Soil

The soil should be lightweight, moist, and well-draining. They love a peat moss, perlite, and compost mixture for extra happy growth!

Pests and Diseases

Your purple heart really won’t attract pests unless its kept outdoors. Even then, they only attract caterpillars and snails.

Tips

• Prune your plant during the growing season after it has flowered to keep it from getting leggy.

• Younger plants will need more water than more mature plants. You should keep the soil evenly moist until they mature.  

Signs your purple heart isn’t happy

• Losing purple color and turning green: needs more sunlight

• Brown leaves: under watered

How to propagate

With a sharp and sterilized pair of snips, take a cutting from your plant. It doesn’t really matter where this cutting is taken from as long as it is healthy. Then, you should prepare a pot with damp potting mix (unless you are choosing to water propagate), and place your cutting in the soil (or water) and wait for it to root! If you choose to propagate your plant in water, wait for the roots to grow more than two inches before placing it into damp potting soil.

 Fun Facts

• They are considered an invasive species because of how quickly and widely they spread.

• They are a trailing perennial.

• They produce bright pink flowers in the summer.

Hardiness Zones

Before you move your plant outside, be sure to check the hardiness zone to save yourself some grief and the loss of a beloved plant.

The hardiness zones for Purple Heart’s are: 7-10

If you live in Tennessee, here’s a hardiness map to help you decide if your plant can survive outside!