If you’ve fallen in love with the jaunty blooms and striking foliage of your indoor Anthurium, you might be thinking that it would look great in your outdoor garden as well. But you’re not sure if this tropical plant can survive your local climate. Is it possible to grow Anthuriums outdoors?
If your area usually experiences freezing temperatures in the winter, don’t try to grow Anthuriums outdoors year-round. They thrive best in temperatures between 60 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and even a light frost will damage them. However, you can move your Anthurium’s pot out to your garden, patio, or balcony during the summer.
When keeping an Anthurium outside, make sure to shield it from direct sunlight, which can quickly burn its leaves. Place it in the shade of trees, shrubs, or other plants, or keep it beneath an overhanging roof. If you really want to keep your Anthurium happy, be prepared to move it back inside if temperatures threaten to fall below 50 degrees.
What Growing Conditions Do Anthuriums Like?
If you’re accessing this article from the continental United States, your backyard probably doesn’t look much like an Anthurium’s natural habitat. Flamingo Flowers evolved in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America. In the wild, they climb along cliffs and tree trunks to reach high into the air while still remaining shielded by the leafy canopy.
As a result of this very specific environmental niche, Anthuriums have some very specific care requirements:
- Temperatures from 60-90 degrees Fahrenheit. Anthuriums don’t like sweater weather, but they’ll also suffer in the scorching heat of summer in south Texas.
- At least 70% humidity. The jungles of the tropics are extremely humid compared to the homes of most houseplant owners. And despite swampy summer days, most regions of the U.S are drier than this for large portions of the year.
- Bright but filtered light. The sunlight that reaches Anthuriums through the rainforest canopy is dappled and reflected, but there’s still quite a lot of it.
- Soil that’s damp but not soggy. Anthuriums need a well-draining potting mix that mimics the loose leaf litter and mossy tree trunks where they take root in nature. They prefer to be watered infrequently but thoroughly.
Many of these conditions are tricky to recreate in the home – but they’re not much easier to find outdoors unless you live in exactly the right location.
Regions Where Anthuriums Can Live Outside
To raise Anthuriums as full-time garden plants, you’ll need to live in an area that falls within USDA Zone 10 or higher – meaning that ambient temperatures don’t usually dip below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. A quick look at this handy map from the USDA will show you that this requirement rules out all but the southernmost parts of the lower 48 states.
And that’s only considering the temperature requirements – humidity concerns make outdoor Anthurium care a tricky prospect in hot but dry places like southern Arizona. Aside from select locations in California, Louisiana, and Florida, outdoor real estate will be a tough sell for your Anthuriums.
On the other hand, getting outside in the summer can be as refreshing for your Anthurium as it is for you. It’s fairly simple to move your Flamingo Flower’s pot into your garden or onto your porch during the warm season – and it can benefit the plant as well as your outdoor decor.
Moving Anthuriums Outdoors in the Summer
Bringing indoor plants outdoors isn’t always easy – you’re moving them from a carefully controlled environment to a much more unpredictable one. But if you’re careful, you can really boost your Anthurium’s vigor by giving it a little summer vacation to the patio.
Care instructions for Anthuriums always recommend keeping them out of direct sun, so many people come to think of them as “low-light” plants. The truth is that these plants love sunlight. They just can’t tolerate it beating down on them directly. A Flamingo Flower’s ideal environment includes lots of light bouncing onto it from other surfaces or diffusing through a screen of leaves on its way to the plant.
This is one reason why some people have trouble getting their Anthuriums to flower: there’s not enough light reaching them inside the house. Our modern world is bathed in electric light, so it’s easy for us to forget how much brighter it is outdoors (during some parts of the year, anyway).
In the summer months, even a reasonably shady spot on your balcony will give your Anthurium a lot more energy than it can get indoors. As a result, the plant will be healthier, stronger, and more inclined to bloom.
The Best Outdoor Locations For Anthuriums
When moving your Anthurium outdoors in the summer, it’s best to place it in the shade of trees or other leafy plants. This is as close as you can get to the lighting conditions it would experience in the rainforest canopy. As a bonus, falling leaves and other debris from the plants will give your Flamingo Flower a helpful trickle of nutrition as they decay in its pot.
If you don’t have plants with large enough leaves to shelter your Anthurium, a spot under the roof of a covered patio or deck will also work. A large enough lawn umbrella might also do the trick.
Whatever you use to shade your Anthurium, keep an eye on it over the first few days, making sure that the plant doesn’t wind up in a sunbeam as the direction of the light shifts throughout the day.
Watering Your Outdoor Anthurium
Anthuriums generally need more water during the growing season, and this is doubly true when you’re keeping them outdoors. More growth means that the plant is thirstier, and more heat and light mean faster evaporation from the leaves. Check the potting mix at least once a week – more frequently if the pot is made of porous material like terra cotta – and water thoroughly when the top 1-2 inches of the growing medium has dried out.
But don’t go overboard! Watering too often can cause your Anthurium’s roots to suffocate or even rot. You can reduce this risk by making sure that the container has drainage holes and that the potting mix is coarse and airy. Poor drainage is bad enough indoors, but it’s especially risky with an outdoor plant since you can’t control how much rain it receives.
For more information about Anthurium containers and soil, you can read our article on the subject.
Humidity is less likely to be a problem outdoors, but you can mist your Anthurium periodically using a spray bottle if you live in an especially dry area.
Transitioning Anthuriums to Outdoor Spaces
Like most plants, Anthuriums get stressed out by sudden shifts in their growing conditions. Your Flamingo Flower won’t be happy if you simply plunk it down on your patio in the middle of June and leave it there until September.
Instead, ease it through the transition by putting it outside for a few hours at a time once temperatures are high enough. We recommend doing this in the morning before the heat reaches its peak later in the day. Then, gradually increase your Anthurium’s outdoor time until you’re sure it can last around the clock.
Watch out for cold snaps, particularly at the beginning and end of the season. If the forecast predicts temperatures below 50 degrees, bring the plant back inside until the air warms up again. The same goes for heat waves – above 90 degrees, and you’re likely to see your Anthurium’s foliage burn and its blooms fade.
Final Thoughts
Anthuriums might not make the best garden plants outside the tropics, but they’ll often respond well to outdoor living during the warmer months. Just remember to give your sheltered plant some extra attention as it’s adjusting to the world outside your walls. Before long, your Anthurium will be blooming beautifully, and your balcony will be sporting some bold new tropical flair.