Variegated Swiss Cheese Plant

Variegated Swiss Cheese Plant Overview

Monstera deliciosa 'Thai Constellation' is an impressive, spreading, easy-to-grow and generally low maintenance plant. This cultivar produces attractive variegated leaves marbled with splashes of creamy-yellow colouring. It has a bushy habit and is frost-tender, keep above freezing temperatures, plant in a position of partial shade and well-draining soil for optimal growth. Water when the soil has thoroughly dried out for best results. This cultivar has been developed from the species M. deliciosa and it is termed variegated as the leaves are not entirely green. The pattern is in small sections scattered across the leaves, reminiscent of stars in a galaxy, hence the cosmic name. The cultivar Thai Constellation can be kept indoors as a distinctive foliage houseplant, although it will require support for optimal growth. Produces non-showy, cream-white flowers. Providing the conditions are optimal, they later produce fruits, which become edible once their scales lift up. They resemble a green ear of maize and can cause stomach upset if consumed unripe. The dramatic and showy foliage is the main reason for growing this as a houseplant. Its leaves are large, glossy and heart-shaped, and they change structure with age. Developing characteristic splits over time, which is where the common name "Swiss Cheese Plant" comes from. Native to tropical rainforests, the species Monstera deliciosa climbs using aerial roots and is classified as an epiphyte. Monstera deliciosa doesn't require a water or soil substrate to grow, surviving instead by clinging onto other structures and gleaning nutrition and moisture from the air and its immediate surroundings. They also do fine potted in an airy, well-draining soil mix, its advisable to add moss and perlite to achieve this.