Everybody is familiar with this plant. It can be made very useful in the house in winter, its richly-colored foliage making it a good substitute for flowers at the season when few plants are in bloom. Plants for winter use should be started from cuttings during the early fall. Strong, vigorous young plants are better than old ones for this purpose, as they have larger foliage. Be sure to give plenty of sunshine if you want the colors to come out strongly.

Give a soil of sandy loam. A rather higher temperature than most other plants require seems to suit this plant well.

Look out for mealy-bug.