If you love the color red, there are many different houseplants with bright red leaves that you can add to your indoor garden.
Here are 10 beautiful indoor plants with red leaves to add color to your home.
Some of these plants can also be planted outdoors if they’re protected from frosts.
1. Coleus (Coleus blumei)
Coleus has colorful foliage in a range of colors including some beautiful shades of red.
There are many different varieties of Coleus including upright and trailing varieties that look great in hanging baskets.
You can grow Coleus plants indoors or outdoors and they’re perfect for shaded areas.
If the leaves on your Coleus fade, it may be because the plant is getting too much sunlight.
2. Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)
Poinsettias are one of the most popular red houseplants and you’ll see lots of them around at Christmas time.
The red leaves are actually bracts, or modified leaves, and they begin to appear as the days start to shorten in winter.
Euphorbia pulcherrima, commonly called poinsettia, is a scraggly, deciduous to semi-evergreen shrub or small tree native to the Pacific slope region of Mexico and Guatemala where it is found in coastal and mid-elevation, seasonally dry tropical forests. Mature plants will reach up to 12' with an 8' spread. Inconspicuous yellow flowers are surrounded by large brilliant red floral bracts (modified leaves) in winter through spring. Poinsettias are available commercially in a range of colors including shades of red, pink, white, and even peachy-orange. Other colors including blue and purple are achieved by spraying plants with light-colored bracts (typically white or light pink) with dyes. Contrary to conventional wisdom, poinsettia plants are not highly poisonous. A Ohio State University study showed that a 50 pound child could eat 500 bracts and might have a slight stomach ache. However, the white sap can have allergic properties, especially for people who have latex allergies.
3. Croton (Codiaeum variegatum)
Crotons have beautiful foliage in a range of colors including red, pink, orange, yellow and green.
They like warmth and humidity and you can spray them with a mister during dry weather.
It is a tropical, evergreen, monoecious shrub growing to 3 m (9.8 ft) tall and has large, thick, leathery, shiny evergreen leaves, alternately arranged, 5–30 cm (2.0–11.8 in) long and 0.5–8 cm (0.20–3.15 in) broad. The leaf blades can, for example, be ruler-lanceolate, oblong, elliptic, lanceolate, ovate inverted, ovate spatulate, or violin-shaped and coloured green, yellow, or purple in various patterns, depending on the variety. The petiole has a length of 0.2 to 2.5 cm. The inflorescences are long racemes, 8–30 cm (3.1–11.8 in) long, with male and female flowers on separate inflorescences; the male flowers are white with five small petals and 20–30 stamens, pollens are oval approximately 52x32 microns in size. The female flowers are yellowish, with no petals. The flowering period is usually in early autumn. The fruit is a capsule 9 mm (0.35 in) in diameter, containing three seeds that are 6 mm (0.24 in) in diameter. When cut, stems bleed a milky sap like many of the Euphorbiaceae
4. Caladium
Caladiums are stunning indoor plants with colorful foliage including some beautiful red varieties.
They grow from tubers and will die back and re-grow each year.
You can leave the tubers in the soil while they’re dormant but don’t water them while they’re in a dormant state.
Caladiums are tropical perennials with colorful, heart-shaped leaves native to tropical forests in South and Central America that have pronounced wet and dry seasons. Caladium bicolor, a Brazilian species, is the most common of several species in this genus in the arum family (Araceae) that are used as ornamentals. There are thousands of named cultivars of this species (sometimes listed as C. x hortulanum), but other species and hybrids are sometimes available. Although they are only hardy to zone 9 or 10, they are easily grown as summer “bulbs” or as houseplants. Other common names besides “caladium” include angels wings and elephant ears (but don’t confuse them with other plants, such as Alocasia, Colocasia and Xanthosoma, that also go by the common name elephant ears).
5. Bromeliads
Bromeliads are tropical plants that are perfect for humid areas and they’re ideal for bathrooms.
They have long lasting flowers that are really modified leaves called bracts.
Bromeliads are low maintenance indoor plants. Just be careful to keep them out of direct sunlight as it can burn the leaves.
Bromeliads typically have bright red, orange, purple, or blue flowers, and can grow in a number of different ways: they can be terrestrial, growing on the ground; saxicolous, growing on rocks; or epiphytic, growing on other plants and trees. Epiphytic bromeliads have the ability to absorb nutrients and moisture from the atmosphere, so they are sometimes called “air plants.” Hundreds of these plants can grow on branches of tropical trees, sometimes causing the branches to break under their weight.
6. Anthurium (Anthurium andraeanum)
Anthurium, also known as Flamingo flower, has bright red flowers, which are actually leaf-like parts known as a spathe.
They grow best in bright, indirect light.
In low light you’ll get fewer flowers but direct sunlight will burn the leaves.
Anthuriums can be divided when they grow too big for their pot.
It is a monocotyledonous perennial, preferring warm, shady and humid climates, such as tropical rainforests. Its most characteristic feature as an ornamental is its brightly colored spathe leaf, and the protruding inflorescence called the spadix.
It is a short erected plant with whole, cardioid or heart-shaped leaves, generally reflexed, cordate base, apex acuminate or cuspid, which are borne by a cylindrical petiole 30–40 cm long.
The spathe is cartilage-waxy, brightly coloured (red, pink) and 8–15 cm long, excluding the inflorescence (the spadix), which is 7–9 cm long, similar to a candle-holder, white or yellow in colour, is erected, and bears many small hermaphroditic flowers. These include a perianth with four segments and stamens with a compressed mesh. Flowering extends throughout the year.
7. Nerve Plant (Fittonia)
Nerve plants are beautiful indoor plants with red veins in the leaves.
They like lots of moisture and humidity, so they’re perfect plants for terrariums or bathrooms.
During the summer months you can mist the leaves with water.
Normally grown as a potted houseplant, nerve plant (Fittonia spp.) is a spreading evergreen perennial with delicately veined, deep-green, ovate leaves. Although the most popular vein color is silvery-white, you can also readily find varieties with veins in red, pink, white, and green. Fittonia typically grows to a height of 3 to 6 inches with a trailing spread of 12 to 18 inches. Although the slow-growing plant rarely flowers when grown as an indoor houseplant, it does occasionally bloom with insignificant reddish or yellowish-white spikes. In the right zone, the plant is sometimes grown as a creeping ground cover in filtered sun locations.
8. Rex Begonia
Rex Begonias have beautiful foliage in a variety of patterns and colors including burgundy and different shades of red.
They grow best in a spot that isn’t too hot, and soil that is moist but not waterlogged.
Begonia rex-cultorum is a name applied to a group of cultivated begonias known as rex begonias. All rex begonias include the wild species B. rex in their parentage. This rhizomatous perennial is native to rocky, forested valleys and slopes in northeastern India, southern China, and Vietnam. The leaves have are sparsely hairy, have prominent veins, and can reach up to 12" long and 8" wide. The upper surfaces of the leaves have a dark green center and dark green margin surrounding a silvery center. The undersides of the leaves are red. Small, pink flowers are held in loose clusters atop upright flowering stalks reaching up to 12" long.
Rex begonias are widely hybridized and cultivated for their showy foliage. The leaves range widely in color, texture, and size. Most rex begonias grow from a thickened stem structure called a rhizome. They are not classed with other rhizomatous begonias, however, because of their bold leaves and more exacting growing requirements.
Genus name honors Michael Begon (1638-1710), Governor of French Canada.
9. Ti Plant (Cordyline minalis)
Hawaiian Ti plants are available in a wide variety of colors including red, pink, brown and purple.
Hawaiian ti plants are once again becoming popular houseplants. This leads many new owners to wonder about proper ti plant care. Growing a Hawaiian ti plant indoors is easy when you know a few important things about this lovely plant.
10. Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya)
Polka Dot plants, also called Freckle Face plants, have foliage in a variety of colors including red, pink and burgundy.
Polka dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya), sometimes called freckle face plant, is an herbaceous perennial with brightly variegated leaves. The most common polka dot plants feature green foliage flecked with pink, but varieties with purple, white, or red variegation are also available. Polka dot plant grows best in warm, humid conditions with bright, indirect light or partial shade.
Polka dot plants are easy to grow with the proper conditions. They have a moderate growth rate and remain relatively small once mature, especially when grown indoors as houseplants. Because they are native to warm climates, many gardeners treat them as annuals when planted outdoors. Polka dot plants are not considered invasive plants in temperate climates, but they are considered invasive in Australia and some other tropical areas, including Hawaii.