White Christmas Caladium Care InfographicWhite Christmas Caladium or angel wings plant is an ornamental plant popular for its heart-shaped white leaves with beautiful dark edges and veins.

The angel wings plant requires very little attention and you can grow it with ease as long as you grow it in the right conditions.

Read this article to learn how to care for and propagate your White Christmas Caladium.

What Is White Christmas Caladium?

White Christmas Caladium is a bulbous plant with exceptionally beautiful leaves. It is known as the angel wings plant because of its silvery-white leaves, it is a popular member of the Araceae family and Caladium genus. This plant grows as a perennial in various regions, meaning you can grow it with ease.

White Christmas Caladium Care 

Well, even though the White Christmas Caladium plant is super easy to grow, you need to get the temperature as well as the humidity and lighting conditions right. As long as you can get those factors right, get ready to grow the easiest plant you can grow. Here are some requirements of the angel wings plant:

– Water Requirements

White Christmas CaladiumYour angel wings plants should have a consistently moist substrate. This does not mean that you should overwater the plant, contrary, it only means that you should not wait until the substrate is dry before you water the plant again.

While you can water the plant by watering the substrate, you can also water it by misting its leaves. Do so in the morning so that the droplets can evaporate quickly at noon. Additionally, to prevent overwatering of your angel wings plants, make sure that the container or pot has multiple drainage holes.

Please do not overwater the plants. The average watering rate for your plants is two or three times weekly depending on the age of the plant as well as the time of the year.

– Soil Requirements

As long as your White Christmas Caladium plant’s substrate is well-drained, it can grow happily in it. Well, the best type of soil for your garden angel wings plant is loam because it is rich in humus and other organic materials. As for your potted angel wings plants, you can buy a potting mix for elephant ear plants.

Just make sure that the substrate is well-drained. Well, even though you can mix loam with perlite and vermiculite for your potted plants, you should consider buying a potting mix for them because loam and other types of soil can be heavy and will compact quickly in pots.

Make sure that your angel wings plant’s substrate is free from contamination.

– Light Requirements

You can grow your angel wings plants in any location as long as it has access to at least four hours of sunlight. If you are growing it close to a window where it can receive six or more hours of sunlight, you should place it near a shade so that it does not get sunburnt.

To tell if your White Christmas Caladium plants need more light, you should see that their petioles will droop or become very thin. You may also see the plants stretching towards the source of light. To help your angel wings plant leaves grow evenly, occasionally rotate and turn the plant so that sunlight can reach every part of the plant.

– Humidity Requirements

Humidity levels of 60 percent or high are best for White Christmas Caladium plants because they enjoy very humid environments. Humidity helps your angel wings plants to absorb nutrients and water from their substrate with ease. You should install a humidifier close to the plants so that they can keep their surroundings richly humid.

Even though these plants love a place with high humidity, you want to make sure that there is proper ventilation in the room.

– Temperature Requirements

The first thing that you should consider before growing some angel wings plants is their environmental preference. As a plant that prefers tropical and subtropical regions, you should grow your White Christmas Caladium in USDA hardiness zones 10 to 11. This plant prefers a place with 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Even though it is not a winter-hardy plant, you can leave your angel wings plant outside in winter. It might look dead in winter but will surely grow back from its bulb in the next growing season. Even though it looks like a very hardy plant, you want to make sure that you grow it in its preferred temperature range if you want it to grow optimally. 

– Fertilizer Requirements

One might think that the White Christmas Caladium plant does not need nutrients. Well, you can grow your angel wings without fertilizing them regularly, but make sure that their substrate is rich in readily available organic nutrients such as compost or coffee grounds.

You can buy an indoor plant fertilizer that is slightly low in nitrogen and high in phosphorus and potassium. Furthermore, you can also fertilize the plants by feeding them through their leaves.

As a tip, you can quickly correct your angel wing’s nutrient deficiency if you feed them directly through their leaves. If you are using organic fertilizer for your plants, do not feed them through their leaves. However, make sure that the fertilizer will not burn your plant’s roots.

– Pruning

Even though you want your White Christmas Caladium plants to grow as many leaves as they can, too many leaves can make your plant unattractive and plants with heavy foliage are dirtier as they are more difficult to maintain. To retain the beauty of your angel wings plants, you will need to regularly prune them.

Pruning the plants is not difficult at all. You only need to use a sterilized sharp tool such as a scissor to remove leaves that are growing beyond the set boundary of your plants.

Asides from the excess foliage, pruning also removes leaves that look weak or dead. Make sure that you know the reason why the leaves are dying before you prune them off.

While pruning your White Christmas Caladium plants, also clear off debris from the substrate. You want to maintain the plant’s beauty as well as you can.

 

Propagation of White Christmas Caladium

Angel wings plants are beautiful and when you get your first plant, you’d surely want to get more. How do you propagate your White Christmas Caladium so that you can have more plants? Here are the major ways to do so:

– Using Bulbs

This is the most convenient method to propagate your White Christmas Caladium plants. All you need to do is to carefully remove the plant from its substrate to reveal its roots. You should see the bulb just before the roots. You will be dividing the bulb.

Make sure that you are propagating your White Christmas Caladium in spring. To propagate it using the bulb, use a sterilized knife to cut parts of the bulb that have eyes. Each eye in the bulb can potentially grow a new angel wing plant.

Plant the White Christmas Caladium bulbs and water them regularly and you should see young angel wing plants growing from each bulb.

– Using Shoots

Propagation of White Christmas Caladium plants with their bulbs can be dirty or difficult. An easier method is to wait until an angel wing plant is matured enough to produce shoots. The angel wing shoots are growing from an eye in the mother plant bulb, so you need to brush off the soil or substrate to reveal the eye.

While you can twist the shoot to collect it, a safer method is to use a knife to cut off the part of the bulb with the shoot. Wait until the wounds in the shoot as well as the bulb are dry and then cover them with soil. With regular watering, your White Christmas Caladium shoots should grow as healthy plants.

– Planting the Seeds

A rarer method of propagating your White Christmas Caladium plants is by waiting until they produce flowers, hoping that the flowers pollinate and then the plants produce seeds. Note that the chances of your angel wings plants producing seeds are low especially if you are not growing them in their natural habitats.

When you collect the seeds, you can store them and then plant them in spring. You can plant them in the same potting mix, just make sure that it is new and nutrient-rich.

Congratulations as you now know how to grow and propagate your White Christmas Caladium plants.

Problems Relating to White Christmas Caladium to Watch Out For

Watch out for the following:

– Toxic Plant

The leaves and petioles of your angel wings plants are toxic, so neither you, your children or your pets should eat them. The plants are strictly ornamental and not for oral consumption. Most of your herbivorous pets such as rabbits and chinchillas will avoid this plant, but if they do not, you should try to prevent them from reaching it.

– Watering Problems

Plants with bulbs can quickly get damaged when they grow in a water-logged substrate. Do not allow water to stay in your White Christmas Caladium plants’ substrate for hours. Ensure that the substrate and pot are well-drained. Also, do not overwater the angel wings plants.

If you find your angel wings’ leaves are weak, check the substrate to make sure that it is not too dry. If it is dry, water the plant so that it does not die.

– Sunburn

The leaves of White Christmas Caladium plants cannot withstand too much sun. Unlike green leaves that have a lot of chlorophyll, angel wings plants’ leaves mostly lack a lot of chlorophyll, so instead of photosynthesizing with the sun, it can burn them. To help prevent your White Christmas Caladium leaves from getting burnt by the sun, grow them in partial shade.

– Over-Fertilizing Your White Christmas Caladium

This is a special plant that needs nutrients in its substrate but very little fertilizing. When making its substrate, you can add compost, rotted manure, slow-release fertilizer, etc. Do not overfeed it with regular fertilizing. 

If you must fertilize the plant, do so only in the active seasons of summer and spring every month or two. As long as you avoid these problems, you should grow your White Christmas Caladium plants with ease.

FAQ

– How To Identify White Christmas Caladium?

Truly, you can easily identify a White Christmas Caladium plant when you see one because it simply cannot hide its beauty. When you grow it correctly, it can grow to be 45 to 60 inches wide and 18 to 24 inches tall. You will surely notice its silvery-white, lush, heart-shaped leaves that have contrasting dark-green edges and veins.

A way to confirm that what you are seeing is truly a White Christmas Caladium plant is when you see its bulb. The tuber-like organ is where the angel wings plant stores its nutrients from photosynthesis. You can see the bulb when you gently brush off the substrate to reveal its root area.

– How To Plant Your Angel Wing Plant?

Have you prepared the right substrate for your plant as well as brought your first angel wings plant home?

It is time to start your White Christmas Caladium planting journey. Planting the angel wings plant is simple. You just need to transfer it to its new pot and substrate and then water it. Please be careful with the roots.

You may notice that the plant will look weak after transplanting. This is normal as transplanting stresses a lot of plants. Just keep the angel wings plant away from the direct sun for a few hours and it should be back to normal.

If you bought the bulb instead, examine it to check for its eyes. When planting the bulb, you should place the bulb so that the largest eye will face up. Bury the angel wings bulb in a potting mix (no deeper than three inches) and you should see a new plant growing in less than 10 days as long as you water it regularly.

– What Are The Uses of White Christmas Caladium?

The beauty of this plant may be enough use for it, but there is more. Here are the common uses of White Christmas Caladium plants:

  • Aesthetics: The first use of the angel wings plant that everyone will think of is aesthetics. This is a very beautiful plant that can change the appearance of your home, garden or office into the most beautiful sight you can see.
  • Air purifying: White Christmas Caladium is a plant that can collect a lot of carbon dioxide from the air. This means that your indoor angel wings plant can help you with a lot of fresh oxygen.
  • Pest-resistance: The leaves of the angel wings plant are toxic, so animals such as deer will not eat them. If you have a garden, you can plant the White Christmas Caladium as an edging plant to repel deer.

This beautiful plant is truly worth having, right? Continue reading so that you can know how to grow your White Christmas Caladium plants as well as tell the suitable ranges of different factors to grow them.

– How Can I Repot My White Christmas Caladium?

One occasional task that you must perform for your White Christmas Caladium plants is repotting them. Remember that these plants are bulbous.

Unlike other plants, bulbous plants need occasional repotting so that their bulbs can grow bigger. Little pots cannot accommodate the growing bulbs, therefore repotting every year or two is highly recommended.

 You may also examine or change your angel wings substrate while repotting the plant. Note that repotting your plant also gives you the opportunity to check the plant’s roots as well as propagate it if you want.

The White Christmas Caladium plants’ new pot should not be more than 6 inches wider than the previous one because larger pots accommodate more water that your angel wings plants cannot absorb in a little period.

– Is Mulch Important for White Christmas Caladium

Yes, your White Christmas Caladium plants will become even more beautiful than what they are at present, by using mulch as their substrate. Using white pebbles or rocks can boost the appearance of your angel wings plants. You can also use black pebbles, mulch helps angel wings plants in different ways.

Asides from adding to your White Christmas Caladium plant’s aesthetics, mulch helps to retain some amounts of moisture in your angel wings root zone so that you do not need to water the plant regularly. If you use organic mulch for your outdoor angel wings plants, your plants get to enjoy extra nutrients from the mulch.

You should not use organic mulch indoors as it attracts a lot of pests and it does not really boost the appearance of the plant’s surroundings. Only use organic mulch for your angel wings plants outside. You can use inorganic mulch for your outdoor and indoor White Christmas Caladium plants.

– How Do White Christmas Caladium Leaf Thrive?

You do not want to mess with your angel wings and plant leaves. Asides from being the beauty of the plant, the leaves are also working extra time for the plant’s photosynthesis when compared with other plants. You want to make sure that your angel wings plants continue to have healthy leaves.

For sure, growing your plant with all the tips mentioned above can keep it and its leaves healthy and beautiful. An extra care tip for the leaves is to mist them with water droplets in the morning.

This can keep them fresh and clean. Do not mist your White Christmas Caladium leaves until they drip water and make sure that the droplets evaporate in a few hours.

– Is a Cage Necessary for Your White Christmas Caladium?

Angel wings plant is not a climber, so it does not need any growth support such as a trellis, cage, or stake. However, If you have ever seen an angel wing plant in a cage before, do not feel pressured to cage yours as well because the cage is simply for aesthetic purposes. The cage also helps to set the boundaries of your White Christmas Caladium plant’s leaves.

– How Do I Select a White Christmas Caladium?

The first thing that you need to grow some angel wing plants is to get them. You can easily get them from an ornamental garden shop as well as online stores for plants. If you want to buy your first White Christmas Caladium plant, you should go for the seedlings even though you can get the bulbs if you like.

Note that if the store where you are getting your angel wings plant is very far away, buying the plant’s bulbs is better because the bulbs can withstand slightly more damage than the plant seedling.

Make sure that you ask the seller about the conditions in which they planted and grew their angel wings plant. If you can mimic those conditions, you can grow your White Christmas Caladium without many problems.

Conclusion

A wonderful plant to grow, right? Here are some reminders for you:

  • Ensure that the plant’s substrate is consistently moist.
  • Grow your angel wings plants in a room rich in humidity.
  • White Christmas Caladium plants require occasional repotting. Do so every year or two.
  • You can propagate your angel wings plants using their shoots, seeds, and bulbs.
  • Make sure that the substrate is rich with humus and organic nutrients.

When would you like to start your angel wings plant growing journey? Do not forget the tips in this article as they can help you to grow your plants with ease.

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