Philodendron Xanadu

Xanadu is a self heading philodendron. It does not climb; it spreads sideways into a low dense clump of glossy leaves, each cut into a dozen or more fingers and held on stiff stalks that arch outward. That habit is the whole point, giving a clean even line at roughly knee to hip height with no clipping at all. It has become the default mass planting under established trees, along shaded building edges, in raised planters and beside pool fences where a tidy tropical block is wanted.

Placing a Xanadu mass planting

Shade to part shade, warmth and no frost are the requirements. It suits Queensland, coastal New South Wales, Perth and sheltered courtyards further south, and it takes dry shade under established trees better than nearly any other large leaved tropical once the roots are down. Soil should be free draining with compost worked through it, and in heavy clay it is worth planting on a raised bed. Space plants so mature clumps just touch, since crowding forces the stems upward and spoils the low even line, and mulch between them while they fill in. Water regularly through the first summer, then moderately. In a raised planter, check that the drainage holes are clear, because a saturated planter kills a Xanadu faster than dry shade ever will.

The failure mode arrives with age. After several years the clump develops short woody stems that lift the crown, the leaves sit higher, and the middle of the planting goes bald underneath. It does not fix itself and it looks worse each season. Cut the whole clump back hard into the woody base in late spring, or lift and divide it, and let it rebuild from ground level.

Xanadu against the finger leaved philodendron

Philodendron stenolobum carries similar deeply cut leaves, but on a creeping stem with long narrow blades on ribbed stalks, so it works as one sculptural plant rather than a block of foliage. Xanadu is the repetition plant, bought by the dozen for coverage. If the ground you are covering is shaded and you need something much lower and finer, green mondo is the cross shop, evergreen and frost hardy where Xanadu is not, but flat and quiet where Xanadu is bold. Choose by height and hardiness: mondo for a fine cold tolerant carpet, Xanadu for knee high tropical mass in a frost free garden. Both philodendrons sit in the tropical range.

Cutting back a leggy clump

Remove old leaves at the base of the stalk as they yellow, and take the hard renewal cut in late spring so the regrowth comes away in warm weather. Wear gloves for any of that work, because the sap irritates skin, and the leaves carry calcium oxalate and are toxic if chewed, so keep prunings and offcuts away from children and pets before you plant a low block of it along a path or a pool fence. Divisions are straightforward: chop through the clump with a spade, keep roots on each piece and replant straight away. Feed in spring and again in mid summer with a controlled release fertiliser, topping the mulch up at the same time. Snails and slugs chew new leaves before they unfurl and those holes stay for the life of the leaf, so bait or pick them off while the spears are still forming.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 11 sizes, from 120mm up to 300mm, priced from $16.95 to $93.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to when to plant in Australia.