›

ZZ plant

User:WeFt / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 3.0

ZZ plant

Zamioculcas zamiifolia

The ZZ plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) is a glossy, architectural houseplant grown almost everywhere indoors: upright stems carry ranks of dark-green, waxy, pinnate leaflets rising from a thick, water-storing rhizome, and it is among the toughest, most drought-tolerant houseplants there is. POWO (Kew) gives its native range as eastern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa, where it is the only species in its genus; worldwide it is prized as a near-indestructible foliage plant that thrives on neglect and low light. RHS gives it the Award of Garden Merit as an easy, drought-tolerant tender houseplant and rates it frost-tender (H1B, under glass / indoors), so outside USDA zones 10a-12 it is a year-round indoor plant. Because it stores water in its rhizome, the main way to kill it is OVERwatering, which rots the rhizome; it is slow-growing and rarely needs repotting. Be clear-eyed about the cautions: it is toxic to cats, dogs, and people if chewed (insoluble calcium-oxalate crystals), the sap can irritate skin, so wear gloves when handling or dividing it and keep it away from pets, and its much-repeated air-purifying reputation, which traces to a 1989 NASA sealed-chamber study, is overstated and negligible at realistic room densities.

Climate fit: narrow (21/100)

Container

Structure

Light

Part shade

Water

Low water

Mature size

2-3 ft tall · 18" apart

Hardy in zones

10a-12

mild to frost-free winters

Native in Illinois

No

Toxic, not edible.

°C

°F

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Won't grow here

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Won't grow here

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✕

Out of range today and still out of range in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

What it needs

Conditions

Light

Part shade

Water

Low water

Spacing

18"

Habit

A glossy, architectural houseplant with upright stems of dark-green, waxy, pinnate leaflets rising from a thick, water-storing rhizome, among the toughest and most drought-tolerant houseplants there is. It is near-indestructible: it thrives on neglect and low light, storing water in its rhizome, so the main way to kill it is OVERwatering, which rots the rhizome; it is slow-growing and rarely needs repotting. It is toxic to cats, dogs, and people if chewed (insoluble calcium-oxalate crystals), and the sap can irritate skin, so wear gloves when handling or dividing it and keep it from pets. Its air-purifying reputation is overstated. Grown indoors, it forms no garden wildlife relationships.

Care tips

•

Underwater rather than overwater: water only when the top of the mix has dried out, far less often than most houseplants, and never leave the pot standing in water, because overwatering rots the rhizome and is the main way to kill this plant.

•

Use a free-draining houseplant mix in a pot with drainage holes so excess water escapes; a heavy, water-retentive mix keeps the rhizome too wet.

•

Give it bright, indirect light by a window for the best growth, but rely on its tolerance of low light for darker spots, where it stays handsome but grows even more slowly.

Lifecycle

Planting

Pot it in a free-draining houseplant mix in a container with drainage holes, setting the rhizome at the depth it grew. Stand it in bright, indirect light by a window, though it also copes with low light, and let it settle; it is a tough, low-water houseplant, so do not keep it wet.

Transplanting

Repot only when the rhizome is crowding the pot, which is seldom, since it is slow-growing. Move it up one pot size in spring into fresh free-draining mix, wearing gloves because the sap can irritate skin, and water lightly afterwards rather than soaking it.

Early growth

Growth is slow and undemanding. Water only when the top of the mix has dried out, far less than most houseplants, and never leave it standing in water, because overwatering rots the rhizome and is the main way to kill it. It tolerates low light and the odd missed watering.

Maturity

A mature plant settles at roughly 2 to 3 feet tall and 18 to 24 inches wide, holding a bold, evergreen, architectural form indoors. It rarely flowers as a houseplant; keep it in bright indirect to low light, water sparingly, dust the glossy leaflets, and resist the urge to overwater.

Propagation

Increase it by dividing the rhizome in spring when repotting, or by leaf cuttings, which root slowly over many months to form a small new rhizome. Wear gloves, since the sap irritates skin, and pot divisions and cuttings into free-draining mix, keeping them barely moist while they establish.

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Bergenia cordifolia

Elephant's ears

Bergenia cordifolia (often treated by botanists as a synonym within B. crassifolia) is a tough, evergreen perennial native to the Altai Mountains, southern Siberia and Mongolia, grown for its bold, heart-shaped leathery leaves that flush red-bronze through winter and its deep pink flower spikes in early-to-mid spring. It is one of the most tolerant groundcovers in cultivation - enduring deep shade, poor soil, drought, and hard continental cold (commonly rated to USDA Zone 3 in US horticulture; RHS rates it H7, hardy below -4°F). The honest catch is its shallowly creeping rhizomes: in mild, moist climates they can colonise well beyond the intended planting, and the large, persistent leaves trap fallen debris and are notoriously attractive to slugs and vine weevils.

Perennial

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Liriope muscari

Lilyturf

Liriope muscari is an evergreen, grass-like perennial native to the shady forest understories of China, Japan, and Korea, where it grows at elevations of 330 to 4,600 feet. In gardens it forms dense, weed-suppressing clumps of arching dark-green foliage topped by spikes of lilac-purple flowers in late summer, followed by ornamental black berries - earning it the RHS Award of Garden Merit. It is drought-tolerant and remarkably adaptable, but the honest catch is its behaviour outside its native range: in parts of the eastern United States it is a documented invasive species, spreading by rhizomes and self-seeding into natural areas, and it provides minimal wildlife value compared with native groundcover alternatives.

Perennial

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Ophiopogon japonicus

Mondo Grass

Mondo grass is a stoloniferous, evergreen perennial in the Asparagaceae (not a true grass despite its grass-like leaves), native to China, Japan, India, Nepal, and Vietnam, grown as a fine-textured, low groundcover that forms a dense, weed-suppressing turf of dark green foliage. It tolerates deep shade and dry spells once established, making it popular for difficult spots under trees and along pathways. The honest catch is its aggressive spread by underground stolons - in warm zones (8-10) it readily colonises beyond its intended boundary and needs hard edging - and its attractive metallic-blue berries contain steroidal saponins that are mildly toxic if eaten.

Perennial

Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Buxus microphylla

Japanese Box

Japanese box is a compact, dense evergreen shrub long cultivated in Japan (where it was first described from cultivated plants of uncertain wild origin) with truly wild populations known from Taiwan, used for centuries for topiary, low hedging, and bonsai. Its fine-textured small leaves and naturally tidy habit make it one of the most widely planted formal garden shrubs in temperate regions, and the 'Faulkner' cultivar holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit. The honest catch is a double threat: all parts contain steroidal alkaloids (cyclobuxine) and are toxic to humans and livestock, and the species is under sustained pressure from box blight (Calonectria pseudonaviculata) and the box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis), with B. microphylla documented as more susceptible than the common European B. sempervirens, so an established hedge can be defoliated within weeks.

Shrub

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Strelitzia reginae

Bird of paradise

A clumping, multi-stemmed evergreen perennial from South Africa, grown for its unmistakable crane-head flowers - a horizontal green-and-pink spathe from which bright orange sepals and vivid blue petals emerge like the crest of an exotic bird. Bold, paddle-shaped blue-green leaves on long stalks form a 3-4 foot fountain of foliage. Winter hardy only in USDA zones 10-12 (frost-free subtropics); everywhere colder it is grown as a houseplant or summered-out container plant. It blooms reliably only from a well-established, somewhat crowded clump, so patience is the key to flowers.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Sansevieria trifasciata

Snake plant

A near-indestructible architectural houseplant grown for stiff, upright, sword-shaped, succulent leaves banded in grey-green - yellow-margined in the popular "Laurentii" - and long known as the snake plant or "mother-in-law's tongue". POWO records it as native to tropical West Africa, and its currently accepted botanical name is Dracaena trifasciata (it was reclassified out of Sansevieria), though the nursery trade and most gardeners still know it as Sansevieria. It is famously tough: it tolerates low light, deep shade to bright indirect light, neglect, and irregular watering, which makes it one of the most forgiving plants you can grow indoors. HONESTY: the commonest way to kill it is OVERwatering - soggy soil rots the rhizome - so the real skill is letting the mix dry out between waterings, not watering more. It is toxic to cats and dogs (saponins cause vomiting and diarrhoea if eaten), and the popular "releases oxygen at night and purifies the air" reputation is overstated at realistic room densities. RHS treats it as a tender houseplant (H1B), frost-tender and grown under glass or indoors except in frost-free climates.

Perennial

Part shade / Full sun

A tropical rhizomatous herbaceous perennial in the ginger family, grown the world over for the thick branched rhizomes that - boiled, dried, and ground - become the bright yellow-orange spice. The foliage clump rises 3 to 4 feet in canna-like, pleated, lanceolate-to-elliptic green leaves up to 3.3 feet long, topped in summer by short dense spikes of pale yellow flowers among pinkish bracts. The flowers are sterile, so the plant is propagated entirely from rhizome division.

Perennial

Full sun / Part shade

Bergenia cordifolia (often treated by botanists as a synonym within B. crassifolia) is a tough, evergreen perennial native to the Altai Mountains, southern Siberia and Mongolia, grown for its bold, heart-shaped leathery leaves that flush red-bronze through winter and its deep pink flower spikes in early-to-mid spring. It is one of the most tolerant groundcovers in cultivation - enduring deep shade, poor soil, drought, and hard continental cold (commonly rated to USDA Zone 3 in US horticulture; RHS rates it H7, hardy below -4°F). The honest catch is its shallowly creeping rhizomes: in mild, moist climates they can colonise well beyond the intended planting, and the large, persistent leaves trap fallen debris and are notoriously attractive to slugs and vine weevils.

Perennial

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

A vigorous tropical climbing and trailing vine grown almost everywhere as an easy-care houseplant, prized for glossy, heart-shaped leaves marbled and streaked with golden-yellow variegation. In the tropics it scrambles up tree trunks by aerial roots and can climb 13 to 40 feet, with juvenile leaves enlarging dramatically as it ascends; indoors, kept in a pot or trailing from a shelf, it stays only inches tall and a few feet long. It tolerates low light and infrequent watering better than almost any other foliage plant, which is why it is a beginner favorite. Native to the Society Islands of French Polynesia and now naturalized across the tropics, it is hardy outdoors only in frost-free climates (roughly USDA 10b-12b) and is an aggressive invasive weed where it escapes. All parts are toxic if chewed or eaten.

Liriope muscari is an evergreen, grass-like perennial native to the shady forest understories of China, Japan, and Korea, where it grows at elevations of 330 to 4,600 feet. In gardens it forms dense, weed-suppressing clumps of arching dark-green foliage topped by spikes of lilac-purple flowers in late summer, followed by ornamental black berries - earning it the RHS Award of Garden Merit. It is drought-tolerant and remarkably adaptable, but the honest catch is its behaviour outside its native range: in parts of the eastern United States it is a documented invasive species, spreading by rhizomes and self-seeding into natural areas, and it provides minimal wildlife value compared with native groundcover alternatives.

Perennial

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Educator packet

Plant packet

ZZ plant educator packet

The ZZ plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) is a glossy, architectural houseplant grown almost everywhere indoors: upright stems carry ranks of dark-green, waxy, pinnate leaflets rising from a thick, water-storing rhizome, and it is among the toughest, most drought-tolerant houseplants there is. POWO (Kew) gives its native range as eastern Africa, from Kenya south to South Africa, where it is the only species in its genus; worldwide it is prized as a near-indestructible foliage plant that thrives on neglect and low light. RHS gives it the Award of Garden Merit as an easy, drought-tolerant tender houseplant and rates it frost-tender (H1B, under glass / indoors), so outside USDA zones 10a-12 it is a year-round indoor plant. Because it stores water in its rhizome, the main way to kill it is OVERwatering, which rots the rhizome; it is slow-growing and rarely needs repotting. Be clear-eyed about the cautions: it is toxic to cats, dogs, and people if chewed (insoluble calcium-oxalate crystals), the sap can irritate skin, so wear gloves when handling or dividing it and keep it away from pets, and its much-repeated air-purifying reputation, which traces to a 1989 NASA sealed-chamber study, is overstated and negligible at realistic room densities.

Scientific name

Zamioculcas zamiifolia

Plant type

perennial

Hardiness

10a-12

Light

part-shade

Moisture

low

Spacing

18 inches