These 25 Colorful Houseplants Secretly Double as Decor (2024)

When you're craving something different in your space, reach for colorful houseplants to mix things up. These beautiful indoor plants feature foliage that shows off a rainbow of colors all year, from red and pink to plants so dark they're almost black. Best of all, most are low-maintenance and easy to care for, so you can add a splash of color to just about any room with a sunny window.

Here are 25 colorful houseplants that double as decor.

Tip

Consider light levels when choosing colorful houseplants for your space. Some houseplants will lose their variegation or revert back to green from other colors without sufficient light.

With its long, lance-shaped leaves and charming color scheme, triostar stromanthe brings a trendy look to any space. This plant is a little picky about its growing conditions, though—give it evenly moist soil, a humid environment, and bright, indirect light to help it thrive.

• Name: Triostar stromanthe (Stromanthe sanguinea)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 10-12
• Leaf Color: Pink, red, green, white
• Light: Bright indirect
• Difficulty: Needy

This pilea variety looks like its leaves were accented with silvery paint, adding texture that pops against furnishings, walls, and solid green houseplants. Give it filtered sunlight and water then the top inch or so of the soil is dry to keep it happy.

• Name: Aluminum plant (Pilea cadierei)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 9b-11
• Leaf Color: Green, silver
• Light: Bright indirect
• Difficulty: Easy

This easy-growing rubber plant cultivar features glossy, deep green leaves with burgundy-tinted undersides that come in red before they unfurl. These colorful houseplants can grow up to 10 feet tall indoors, but keep in mind that they're toxic to pets.

• Name: Burgundy rubber plant (Ficus elastica 'Burgundy')
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 10-11
• Leaf Color: Dark green, burgundy, red
• Light: Bright indirect
• Difficulty: Easy
  

This vivid, fast-growing member of the mint family is an outdoor garden staple, but it grows well indoors with sufficient light. With tons of different color combinations, you can find the perfect plant for your color scheme. Coleus is toxic to pets, so plant it with care.

• Name: Coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 10-11
• Leaf Color: Purple, pink, red, yellow, chartreuse
• Light: Bright indirect
• Difficulty: Easy
  

Also called Chinese evergreen, this leafy tropical is known for the variegated splotches on its wide, pointed leaves. Use pink and red varieties to contrast against dark or muted tones, or use light-green-on-dark-green specimens to add texture to a larger plant display. Note that aglaonema is toxic to pets.

• Name: Aglaonema (Aglaonema commutatum)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 10-12
• Leaf Color: Green, pink, red, cream
• Light: Bright indirect
• Difficulty: Easy
  

Crotons can be tricky to grow indoors, but the wild color combinations this plant offers are worth the extra fuss. Cold temperatures can cause leaf drop, but they'll thrive with warmth, humidity, moist soil, and lots of diffuse light. Crotons are toxic to people and pets.

• Name: Croton (Codiaeum variegatum)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 11-12
• Leaf Color: Red, green, yellow, orange, white, pink, purple
• Light: Bright indirect
• Difficulty: Needy
  

Few colorful houseplants are as striking as the bromeliad. This epiphytic jungle plant can take up to three years to bloom. The flower-like, colorful structure in the center of the plant is actually a bract from which a true flower emerges before the plant completes its life cycle.

• Name: Bromeliad (Bromeliaceae genera)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 10-11
• Leaf Color: Green, red, pink, orange, yellow
• Light: Bright indirect
• Difficulty: Easy

Thanks to their compact size, polka dot plants are great for adding a little color to a small space. These moisture-loving plants do well in terrariums, too. Give the plant lots of bright, filtered light and pinch back stem tips to keep it from getting leggy.

• Name: Polka dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 10-11
• Leaf Color: Pink, red, or white on green
• Light: Bright indirect
• Difficulty: Easy

This compact, humidity-loving houseplant gets its name from the white or red lines that add an intriguing texture to its foliage. As long as you give it lots of filtered light and high humidity, this colorful houseplant is relatively easy to care for.

• Name: Nerve plant (Fittonia)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 11
• Leaf Color: Green, white, pink, red
• Light: Bright indirect
• Difficulty: Needy

Trendy echeveria is a fast-growing succulent with a charming rosette shape that's available in several different pastel shades. This colorful houseplant needs lots of bright, direct sunlight to maintain its color and keep its shape. Use a grow light or put it in a south-facing or west-facing window.

• Name: Echeveria (Echeveria spp.)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 9-12
• Leaf Color: Gray, green, blue, purple, burgundy
• Light: Direct sun
• Difficulty: Easy

Also known as the inch plant, this familiar houseplant in the spiderwort family sports vivid purple leaves streaked with silvery green. It's low-maintenance and very easy to propagate and grow in water if you want to add another splash of color. Note that some spiderworts are mildly toxic to people, cats, and dogs.

• Name: Spiderwort (Tradescantia zebrina)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 4b-12a
• Leaf Color: Purple, silver, green
• Light: Direct to bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Easy

Tradescantia Nanouk

With millennial pink leaves striped with seafoam green and a slightly more upright growth habit, this trendy spiderwort is like a more stylized inch plant. Give this plant fast-draining soil to prevent root rot and lots of indirect light to keep its colors bright. Like other spiderworts, tradescantia nanouk is mildly toxic to pets.

• Name: Tradescantia Nanouk (Tradescantia albiflora 'Nanouk')
• USDA Hardiness Zones:
• Leaf Color: Pink, green, purple
• Light: Bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Easy

Rex begonias can be a little finicky when it comes to warmth and humidity levels, but their striking leaves with spirals, splotches, and polka dots of color make them worth the trouble. Pinch off blooms as they appear to boost leaf growth. Note that red begonias are toxic to cats and dogs.

• Name: Rex begonia, fancy-leaf begonia (Begonia rex-cultorum)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 10-12
• Leaf Color: Green, red, silver, purple
• Light: Medium to bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Needy

Depending on the variety, this tropical plant will reward you with sprays of burgundy and magenta or green foliage. Give it a warm, humid environment and lots of light—green varieties can handle direct sun. Cordyline is highly toxic to pets, so keep this plant out of reach.

• Name: Cordyline, Hawaiian ti plant (Cordyline terminalis)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 9-11
• Leaf Color: Burgundy, magenta, dark green
• Light: Direct to bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Easy

Purple shamrock is also grown as an outdoor annual, so this plant with deep purple, three-sectioned leaves can be acclimated to direct sunlight. If your plant is looking sad and leggy, move it closer to the light source. Purple shamrock is toxic to pets and humans.

• Name: Purple shamrock, false shamrock (Oxalis triangularis)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 8-11
• Leaf Color: Purple
• Light: Direct to bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Easy

This rare, self-heading philodendron is sought after for the splashes of pink and burgundy on its leaves. Be sure to give it lots of indirect light to keep its coloration looking bright. Like all philodendrons, this cultivar is toxic to pets and humans.

• Name: Pink princess philodendron (Philodendron erubescens 'Pink Princess')
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 9-11
• Leaf Color: Pink, red, burgundy, green
• Light: Bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Easy

This rubber plant actually changes color as it grows. New leaves grow in red before fading to pink and then green and cream, but leaves maintain a pink center vein even at maturity. Like other rubber plants, this houseplant is toxic to pets.

• Name: Tricolor rubber plant (Ficus elastica 'Tricolor')
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 10-11
• Leaf Color: Pink, red, green, cream
• Light: Bright indirect
• Difficulty: Easy

This ultra-rare houseplant is prized by collectors for its new leaves, which unfurl almost white before gradually fading to green as they age. Keeping that new growth ghostly can be tricky, so give it high humidity and lots of indirect light. This plant is toxic to humans and pets.

• Name: Philodendron Florida ghost (Philodendron squamiferum x pedatum 'Florida Ghost')
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 9-11
• Leaf Color: Green, lime green, cream
• Light: Bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Needy

This easy-growing pothos variety pops against other foliage or muted decor—or balances out other bright, eye-catching colors in a space. In the right conditions, vines can reach more than ten feet long—perfect for a hanging basket. But keep them out of reach of children and pets, as this plant is toxic.

• Name: Neon pothos (Epipremnum aureum 'Neon')
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 11-12
• Leaf Color: Lime green, yellow
• Light: Bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Easy

Prayer plants can be picky about their conditions, but there's a perfect place for them in the home. A bathroom with an east-facing window or skylight provides the warm, humid environment this pet-safe plant needs. Their oval leaves marked with red or pink veining against light and dark green pop nicely against white or neutral walls and fixtures.

• Name: Prayer plant (Maranta leuconeura)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 11-12
• Leaf Color: Green, red
• Light: Bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Needy

Calathea is another plant whose striking markings and contrasting foliage are worth the fuss. Choose from a ton of different calathea varieties to find the perfect leaf shape and pattern for your space. Give this plant lots of bright indirect light, warmth, and humidity to keep it from getting crispy.

• Name: Calathea (Calathea)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 11-12
• Leaf Color: Green, white, pink, purple, burgundy
• Light: Medium to bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Needy

This fast-growing houseplant stands out thanks to the fuzzy, deep purple "velvet" on its serrated leaves. Keep it near a sunny window but out of direct sunlight to show off its unique coloring.

• Name: Purple velvet plant (Gynura aurantiaca)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 10-12
• Leaf Color: Green, purple
• Light: Bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Easy

Peperomias are some of the easiest houseplants to grow, and this one packs a punch of bright red underneath its silver-and-green-striped leaves. Pot this houseplant in a loose, well-drained potting mix and give it lots of indirect light to keep its vivid color.

• Name: Peperomia rosso (Peperomia caperata'Rosso')
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 11-12
• Leaf Color: Green, red
• Light: Bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Easy

Use this rare philodendron to create dramatic, goth vibes in a space. It's one of the darkest philodendrons available, with leaves unfurling a deep burgundy color before changing to nearly black and then a rich dark green. Give this self-heading philodendron a moss pole for support as it grows. Note that this plant is toxic to people and pets.

• Name: Philodendron royal queen (Philodendron'Royal Queen')
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 9-11
• Leaf Color: Deep burgundy, black, dark green
• Light: Bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Easy

One of the easiest houseplants to care for can also add a splash of color to your space. Snake plant varieties like 'Golden Hahnii' and 'Laurentii' feature a stripe of bright yellow all around the leaf edges. They're also drought tolerant, making them ideal for spaces you don't frequent as often. Just keep them away from pets, as they're toxic to dogs and cats.

• Name: Snake plant (Dracaena trifasciata)
• USDA Hardiness Zones: 9-11
• Leaf Color: Green, yellow
• Light: Direct to bright indirect light
• Difficulty: Easy

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