One of my all time favorites! Aren’t the colors of this plant absolutely magnificent? They are purple perfection.
In this post, we will answer the question, “What is a Persian Shield plant” and discover the amazing qualities this one possesses.
These plants are so easy to get along with and add vibrancy to your space as few others can do. They also work well indoors or out. It is worth noting however that these are only hardy in USDA zones 9-11 so indoor growing is definitely preferred for many climates. Let’s explore more of what they have to offer…
What Makes Persian Shield unique?
- The very first thing that makes this plant unique are its incredibly vibrant foliage colors. They have a metallic, iridescent quality to them with a blend of deep (almost neon) purple, green veins and silver combined. They keep this color all year.
- With less light, the colors become even more vibrant and impressive, making this a great choice for the not-so-bright spaces of your home or landscape. They have all the color you need! Do pay attention to leaf color. If they look washed out and dull, move to a shadier spot. Otherwise, some bright (indirect) light is usually good.
- They are very easy to propagate, enabling you to grow your collection quickly or give as the perfect gift.
I Need Low Maintenance, Is This For Me?
You might have found your match made in Heaven. Strobilanthes dyerianus (their scientific name), also known as Persian shield, do not require a lot of water. They like to be drier in the winter. During Spring, Summer and Fall, check to see if the top couple inches of soil are dry. If they are, your plant will thank you for a drink of water. They do however very much like humidity as they originate from Myanmar. To increase their humidity exposure, you could purchase a humidity tray such as the one found here on Amazon or you could follow these very detailed instructions from the National Gardening Association about the easiest ways to create humidity for your plants in the home.
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Is Persian Shield Kid & Pet Friendly?
I have good news! It appears that this plant is non-toxic to both kids and pets. You can rest a bit easier knowing that should there be an event where your child or your 4-legged child decides to have a taste out of curiosity, they should be okay!
What Are Some Other Tips To Know?
You can control whether they become tall and leggy or remain on the shorter, bushier side. How do you do that? In between their leaves are small shoots. They look exactly like baby leaves. If you carefully “pinch” these off with your fingers to remove them, it will cause this plant to remain shorter and expand outward. Leaving the shoots on will cause the Persian Shield to continue to grow upward, which can cause it to look unhealthy over time with all the foliage near the top and more bare near the bottom. If it becomes too “leggy,” often times it will be necessary to take cuttings for propagation and discard of the mother plant. This is why routine pinching of the shoots is recommended for optimal health and proper growth.
You Really Can’t Go Wrong…
Persian Shield is a fantastic addition to your home or office. If you are mindful of the warmth, light and humidity levels this plant is exposed to, it’s pretty easy going to care for. The tropical colors it brings to your space will brighten any mood and compliment any decor. It has been and will remain one of my personal favorites. I’m betting it will become one of yours too, if it isn’t already. Enjoy!
Buying Options
If you should choose that you’d like to purchase one online, I will provide a link through the photo below to this plant being sold on Amazon. If you’d rather support your local nursery, typically they will stock Persian Shield because of their popularity. Here’s to hoping you will find one you love that will bring you joy for years to come!
If there is anything I can help you with, please feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for coming!
<— Click on this image of Persian Shield to be redirected to Amazon listing for this plant.
I know this is a plant my mom would love as she loves the colour purple, in fact the rest of the family kind of have to suffer as most of the decorations and funitire in our house is purple.
To be fair the plant looks great and vibrant, definety suit most households, I guess you would have to find some space for it as from the picture it does look tall.
Thanks for sharing such a informative post on plants, I do enjoy learning new things such as types of plants I wouldn’t of known about before.
Cheers,
Josh
Hey Joshua!
Thank you for coming by with your comments. You’re always welcome here 🙂
For a lover of the color purple, this plant has little to no competition, that’s for sure! Believe it or not, you don’t necessarily require a whole lot of room for this plant indoors. They can grow up to 4 feet tall, but with regular pruning, you can control its size easily. If someone prefers the more “full and bushy” appearance to this plant, you can pinch that new growth growing in the center of the leaves to prevent it from growing too far upwards.
I’m glad you enjoyed. Come back any time. Have a blessed day!
My wife is the plant person in our home but I am not going to lie I love to look at them and this looks like a plant I would love to look at in our apartment. My wife loves plants that are low maintenance. Plus we live in an apartment and this sounds like a plant that will work good in every aspect that we are associated with.
Hey Dale,
Thank you for coming by and taking the time to leave your comment.
You are correct, this plant would be perfect in an apartment space. It’ll really brighten things up. Your wife has the right idea, being a plant lover and enjoying low maintenance. 🙂 I do think she would potentially be interested in this one. They are so unique that it’s hard not to love them.
Take care. I hope your day is blessed. Thanks again for coming by.
I love the colour of this plant. It’s what attracted me right away to this article. As I read and you say it is low maintenance, pet and kid friendly, you had all of my attention.
We have 2 Boxer dogs, a Bengal cat, and 2 young kids. I am a stay at home dad now after getting out of the rat race and easy is what I look for. Considering we like a few plants in the house, this one fits the bill. Now, I’ve never heard about it so it may take some looking for to find it.
Hey Stew,
Good to hear from you! Thanks for coming by and leaving your comment.
My goodness, sounds like you’ve got your hands full there! I’m a big time animal lover, so hearing that you have Boxers and a Bengal makes me smile. Not to mention, your 2 other precious kids. Being as busy as you obviously are, low maintenance does sound like a great fit for you.
I don’t think you’ll find too many other plants that match this one in the “show-off” category! 🙂 Persian Shield is just one of a kind. You made me think of something when you mentioned looking to find one. Because of your helpful comment, I have added a little more information to this article. (Thank you for that!) Typically, because of their popularity, a lot of local plant nurseries will have them. I have also added a link to Amazon where you can actually purchase these online. Hopefully that will help you, should you choose to add one to your home 🙂
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I hope you will stop by again. Have a blessed day and I hope all of your kiddos, and yourself, stay well!
Oh my,amazing colour. I like purple and when it comes to a plant i become crazy of it. It is my first time to see this plant but i appreciated its uniqueness.
Many plants can cause allergie when they are inside the house. Can’t Persian Shield cause allergy to people who are allergic to some plants?
Hi Julienne,
How are you? Thank you for stopping by! It’s good to hear from you.
The Persian Shield plant is definitely in a class all its own in terms of being a “show off” with color. To keep that color all year is the most unique part about it. It’s not hard to get obsessed with these, I agree 🙂
You are definitely correct, allergies are absolutely miserable and many plants can cause people to suffer worse with them. Luckily however, to answer your question, I don’t think that most people would react to this plant at all. If anything, it might clean the impurities out of the air and help reduce allergy symptoms. I know for a lot of people who suffer from allergies, smells are a big problem. The Persian Shield plant does not emit any strong smells that would trigger allergic troubles. I think this would be a very safe choice for you, if you do indeed suffer from sinus irritation. I hope that I have answered your question?
Please come back any time. It was great to have you visit. Be blessed!
Hi there! I was looking for plant that I can grow in my office place. This article here has given me a lot of stuff to think about. The Persian Shield plant seems really easy to be taken care of. Does it mean if I water it once a day it will be fine? If that is the ,this is an awesome plant to choose. Really happy I read this article because it gave me lots of information about a plant that I didn’t know about, Thank you for this article and I’m sure it will be helpful to all the people reading this article.
Hi Sujandar,
Welcome to Potted Opulence. I appreciate you stopping by and posting your comment!
Thank you very much for your kind comments. It is my goal to provide helpful information, quick tips and the like that will help people decide on plants that will work for them in their spaces. I’m grateful that I could be of help to you!
I think this is a perfect choice for a home or outside of home office because of the vibrant colors. It will cheer you up every time you see it. Plus, because it can adapt so well to varying light conditions, you can have a healthy plant almost anywhere.
To answer your question friend, you only want to water this plant when it has completely dried out. In the winter season, it will need even less water than Summer, Spring or Fall. A good rule is to place your finger down into the soil. If the top couple of inches feel dry to you, go ahead and water. If they don’t, watering is not needed at this time. I would recommend waiting at least one week to water, but you might even wait to water 2 weeks or more, depending on where the plant is located and how much sunlight it is receiving. Because there are so many factors involved, I would do the soil check each time before I watered. That way you eliminate the potential of over-watering which is deadly to this plant.
I hope this answered your question? Thank you for asking!
Have a very blessed day and I hope you will come again soon
I like this plant. What you’ve said makes me want to consider adding one to my home environment. I’m more of an indoor person, nowadays; plants are on my radar more than they used to be. I think that they have something of a humanizing aspect to them. Forgive me for possibly getting a little off topic here, but I recently saw a film about a mob hit-man that wanted to include something of the humanity of the character; the way the film did that was to show that he was a Gene Kelly fan and that he loved and cared for his houseplant, cleaning and feeding it every day and putting it on his urban window sill every day. You may have helped me to think that I could use some humanizing of this sort. Thanks for all of the good news that you shared on the Persian Shield.
Hey Kevin,
I’m so glad you came by and took the time to leave your comment. It means so much!
It does my heart good to hear that I have offered some information you found helpful.
I enjoyed your comment very much. The tie in that you made to this movie reference and how plants truly do add a touch of humanization to our lives is actually beautiful. I’d never really thought of it in those terms, but you are 100% correct. Working with plants does indeed produce in us more empathy and connectedness to the beauty of nature around us.
I hope that you will return in the future and join in on more of the discussion. Thanks again for taking your time to connect. Have a blessed day!
Hi Holly, what an absolutely beautiful plant! Purple happens to be my favorite colour too so this would be perfect for me, in fact I have a purple bedroom and I can just imagine this plant beside my bed.
I always find that when I have plants in my bedroom I sleep better. I guess this is because they help to clear the air of positive ions from all the electrical frequencies floating around. I do believe that some plants are much better for purifying the air than others. Do you know anything about this?
Hi Stefanie, thank you for coming by and commenting! In a purple or even silver color scheme, I can’t imagine a more perfect fit than this plant!
You are 100% correct about sleeping better with plants in your bedroom, as well as being more calm overall in your home with the right selection. NASA did a study awhile ago about the top plants to purify the air in your home. You can find that information here. There is absolutely truth to some plants being more efficient at removing the most egregious of toxins from the air you breathe.
Thank you again for coming in and taking the time to respond. I hope that you will return 🙂 Have a blessed day