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Aglaonema plants are among the hottest plants available today. They are easy to grow, tolerate low light and the colors of the leaves are amazing. If they have good bright light conditions you may find them sending out flowers. There is controversy among houseplant growers as to whether you should remove the flowers or leave them on the plant.
A popular deciduous plant
I was at a local garden center today and there was a whole table full of Aglaonemas as you can see above. They are such wonderful plants. Many bloomed and this is where the conversation begins. Should you remove the flowers or leave them on?
Everyone in the family
So what about the flowers? Aglaonemas belong to the aroid family, which includes anthuriums, philodendrons, monsteras, peace lilies, and dieffenbachia. They all have flowers that form a spadix and are often surrounded by a green or colored spathe. You’ll probably never see a flower on your monstera or philodendron, but you’ll often see them on peace lilies and anthuriums.
Is it a flower or a leaf?
As you can see below, it seems like only one new leaf is about to come out, but it soon becomes apparent that it doesn’t unfold like a normal leaf.
unfolded leaves
Below are the unfolding leaves. As you can see if you compare the above (flower bud) and below (leaf) images, the leaves are much thinner than the flower bud.
Aglaonema flowers
Below are some pictures of the Aglaonema flowers. They’re not that attractive, but they’re not ugly either. So should you cut them off? You might be asking why it’s important, or never thought of cutting them off. That’s good. Some argue that the flowers should be cut off. Why? Because Aglaonemas are grown for their amazing foliage and flowers, they drain energy from the plant. So many cut them off so that all the energy goes into growing more beautiful leaves. It makes sense to me. I personally cut off the flowers. I don’t find her attractive. Making flowers takes a lot of energy, because what happens after flowering? They make seeds. More energy is consumed.
Leave them on if you prefer
Besides that, if you like the flowers, leave them on. It’s really up to you. When your plant is in bloom, it will definitely like where it is. It gets good light and sends out flowers. Life is good for your Aglaonema, but it takes energy to create them. So tell me do you leave them or do you cut them off?
