If your dream house aesthetic is lush, green leaves filling every nook, check out these fast-growing plants you need for an indoor jungle!
Imagine cascading vines trailing down from walls or lush green leaves covering each inch of the ceiling of a room in your home. If this feels to you like a dreamy paradise, you probably want an “indoor jungle.” While it can be tough to choose plants for your indoor jungle, considering you have so many species and options, you don’t need to fret. Create your indoor jungle in a jiffy with these awesome fast-growing plants (in no particular order) that will make you wonder why you have never created one before!
Fast-Growing Plants You Need For An Indoor Jungle
1) Satin Pothos
Botanical Name: Scindapsus Pictus Exotica
First up, we have got the absolute stunner, the Satin Pothos, which not only lives up to its name with its lush, velvety, soft leaves but can also produce enormous leaves! While you might have heard people say it has a low growth rate, grow it on a moss pole or flat against a wall. This trick will make your pothos shoot right up, provided you also provide it with bright, indirect sunlight.
2) Elephant Ear
Botanical Name: Alocasia spp.
This Alocasia can be an excellent focal point in your indoor jungle thanks to its beautiful velvety leaves that showcase a lime green venation. It is an especially rewarding plant to grow because of its rapid growth rate under optimal conditions. Try growing it in a semi-hydroponics system and watch how easily it catches the eye in your indoor jungle with a height and spread of 4 to 6 feet.
3) Philodendron ‘Dean Mcdowell’
Botanical Name: Philodendron ‘Dean McDowell’ (gloriosum x pastazanum)
Aesthetically pleasing in large pots and containers, this Philodendron variety can quickly reach a height of 5 feet indoors, even without much care. It will be within months of growing it that you will notice it producing new growth and huge pillowy leaves.
4) Alocasia Frydeck
Botanical Name: Alocasia Micholitziana
Looking for some wild growth for your indoor jungle? This Alocasia cultivar satisfies that condition to the T. The care requirements for this plant are pretty straightforward. It prefers medium sunlight rather than direct, so if you place it a couple of meters back from your south-facing window, it will grow quite a lot within 6 months!
5) Boston Fern
Botanical Name: Nephrolepis exaltata
The sword-shaped blue-green foliage of the Boston fern is not the only thing that makes the Boston fern a prime candidate for your indoor jungle. When you grow the Boston fern from a young age, you can rest assured about its incredible growth rate, which slightly mellows down as it matures and establishes itself. Bushy and growing in an arch shape with a height and spread of 2 or 3 feet, also makes them excellent for hanging containers.
6) Canary Island Spurge
Botanical Name: Euphorbia canariensis
While this plant might look like a cactus, it grows like a Philodendron! An awesome plant to cover a large area of your indoor jungle, it generally grows to a height of 4 feet. But with the right conditions, it can even reach a height of 8 feet with a speed of 4 to 6 feet! A really sun-loving plant, this Euphorbia cultivar can add some variety to the aesthetics of your plant room.
7) Weeping Fig
Botanical Name: Ficus benjamina
In a list talking about the fastest-growing indoor plants, we really cannot ignore a Ficus! They show an outstanding growth rate of 30 to 60 cm in a month! Add some drama to your indoor jungle with its soft-flowing appearance of daintily hanging leaves from the branches,w which actually adds to the “weeping” part of its name.
Pro Tip: Grow more than one sapling in a pot and braid their pliable stems together, creating one fantastic, unique-looking trunk!
8) Broadleaf Lady Palm
Botanical Name: Rhapis excelsa
For instant tropical glamour for your indoor jungle, you must pick the Lady Palm, also known as the Fan Palm or the Bamboo Palm. When grown indoors, this palm tree grows to an impressive 30 to 60 cm annually. But that’s not all! It also puts out many smaller leaves over shorter periods of time throughout the year, keeping it looking full and bushy.
9) Begonia
Botanical Name: Begonia spp.
This one is arguably the fastest-growing houseplant on this list for a good reason. They can put on up to twice their size in just a matter of weeks! Originating from tropical and subtropical understories of forests, begonia species are mostly known for incredible variegations, namely colorful patterns, swirls, and dots on their foliage. Besides, Begonias are great for adding flowers to your indoor jungle, too.
10) Heart Leaf Philodendron
Botanical Name: Philodendron hederaceum
If you are looking for a fast-growing, low-maintenance vine to hang down walls or cover the ceiling, you really do not have to look further than the Heartleaf Philodendron! It can grow up to 4 inches per week during the growing seasons. In fact, the full size of a philodendron indoors can reach up to 13 feet when it matures!
11) Snake Plants
Botanical Name: Sansevieria
Found in the subtropical regions of Africa, having snake plants indoors is like the rite of passage that everyone needs to get into their hobby of core gardening. While being low-maintenance, these drought-tolerant plants grow exceptionally quickly, growing to about 3 to 6 feet per year in the right conditions.
12) Anthurium
Botanical Name: Anthurium spp.
In real jungles and rainforests, you will find an incredible range of biodiversity with fancy specimens calling it their home. One of them is Anthurium, with its big, strappy, leathery leaves and colorful spathes, which can put on 4 inches of height each year. This might not seem like a lot, but that is because their overall height usually remains under 30 inches.
13) Calathea
Botanical Name: Calathea spp.
The best part about Calatheas is that they can reach maturity in just a year and can easily grow to two feet without stopping their growth rate. Plus, if you want to add more colors, patterns, and textures to your indoor jungle, Calathea can be your best bet. They do need some warmth and high humidity, so ensure these conditions, along with dappled sunlight, for the best growth rate.
14) Hoya
Botanical Name: Hoya carnosa
Rightly considered the succulents of tropical indoor plants because they store water in their leaves, this trailing Hoya variety grows quite quickly during the growing season. In fact, you may seem to just wake up one day and find yourself a fully grown plant with clusters of beautiful, fragrant flowers!
15) Swiss Cheese Plant
Botanical Name: Monstera deliciosa
While the Monstera can totally steal the show with its huge, fenestrated leaves, its growth rate is also quite commendable. You will especially notice this if you grow this vine against a moss pole or any stable structure that it can climb on. If you provide enough space, the Swiss cheese plant can easily grow up to 3 m tall, with each leaf reaching 30 cm long!
16) Peace Lily
Botanical Name: Spathiphyllum spp.
Native to the forest floors of Central America and Southeast Asia, the Peace Lily is most sought after for its dark green glossy leaves with elegant leaf-shaped white and off-white flowers. Though it does not relatively grow as fast as the other plants on this list, it can reach an impressive height of 6 feet and spread of 5 feet when given the right care.
17) Natal Ivy
Botanical Name: Senecio macroglossus
If you want a fast-growing vine that needs little encouragement to grow, you need the Natal Ivy! Provide it with some support, and you will see it quickly spreading upwards along your walls or the ceiling. If you are lucky, you may even see blooms from spring to fall!
18) Air plant
Botanical Name: Tillandsia
When creating an indoor jungle, you can fill the space high above, which any plants won’t really take up unless they are vines. For those empty spots, get some air plants that can make a quintessential part of an indoor jungle. While they won’t grow very big, they will nicely fill out the spaces between plants and on shelves, giving your indoor jungle a more natural feel.
19) Dainty Crassula
Botanical Name: Crassula spathulata
Also known as the Spatula Crassula, this fast-growing groundcover is reputed for filling large areas in almost no time! In addition to being adaptable to different growing conditions, it is versatile in style and can be rewarded with white star-shaped flowers.
20) String of Hearts
Botanical Name: Ceropegia woodii
What an indoor jungle needs is a bit of variety, and this beautiful plant with grey-green heart-shaped leaves can provide exactly that! During the warmer growing season, the String of Hearts can easily grow a few centimeters in just a week, and they will be quite unrecognizable in a month or so.
21) Nerve Plants
Botanical Name: Fittonia albivenis
Also known as the mosaic plant, this plant gets its name from the fact that its leaves, with colorful variegations, look like clusters of nerves on the surfaces. It is a wonderful addition to terrariums that you may want to keep in your indoor jungle. Be sure to provide it with a humidifier to encourage fast growth.
22) Kangaroo Fern
Botanical Name: Microsorum pustulatum
Ironically, the Kangaroo fern is native to sunny Australia thanks to its paw-shaped leaves, which resemble those of the marsupial kangaroo. Being adaptable indoor plants, they can grow quite quickly in different environments, and the key to maintaining this high growth rate is high humidity levels.
23) Arrowhead Plant
Botanical Name: Syngonium podophyllum
If you are still a beginner when you start your indoor jungle, the Arrowhead Plant can be perfect for you both in terms of its ease of growing and its growth rate. If you let it stay bushy and full, it will soon begin to trail rapidly. At this time, it would be great if you could provide it with a stake to climb on or a trellis, making for a lovely aesthetic.
24) Spider Plant
Botanical Name: Chlorophytum comosum
Last but not least, these incredibly pretty plants are highly versatile and grow super quickly. Let the foliage cascade down delicately over the sides of a hanging planter or shelf, creating an incredible nook inside your indoor jungle. Plus, they can also grow quite well in a variety of indoor lighting conditions, from bright filtered light to even low-lit conditions.
