Best Plant to Choose If You're a Virgo

If your Zodiac sign is Virgo (born between August 23 and September 22), we've found a houseplant that lines up perfectly with your personality. And "perfectly" is what exacting, detail-oriented Virgos prefer. These earth signs are reputed to be critical and picky, but the intention behind all this attention-to-detail is to help others and bring them joy. They make the best friends of any horoscope sign, the ones that bring comfort when a buddy is down. They are also efficient, meticulous, and amazingly resourceful. Though modest, they are inspired by beauty and consider their home decor an extension of their personality.

Taking all those traits into account, a heavenly houseplant match for Virgos would be the polka dot plant, an intricately patterned foliage plant, modest in size but so eye-catching and cheerful that it makes anyone looking at it happy.

Despite its cute name and modest size, the polka dot plant (‌Hypoestes phyllostachya‌) offers some of the wildest and most wonderful leaf patterning in the natural world. Leaves often have a pink base color, but this is mottled with spots and splashes of green, rose, purple, white, or deep red in an intricate and endless design. Like a Virgo, each plant is eccentrically unique and sure to calm and comfort with their dazzling patterns.

On the other hand, polka dot plants remain small, topping out at 12 inches tall and wide. Outdoors — in USDA hardiness zones 10 and 11— they form relatively low mounds of foliage that mix well with other pretty-leafed plants; as a solo houseplant, however, a polka dot plant becomes the focus of all eyes.

While a Virgo can demand a lot of themselves, they tend to be more easy-going with others in their circle, providing friendship and good advice but asking for little in return. Just so, a polka dot plant makes few demands as a houseplant. Placed in an east- or south-facing window, they'll receive the bright, indirect light they prefer. As long as they have a good site and excellent drainage, a polka dot plant is happy. Don't let the soil dry out though, since the plant may wither.

Meticulous Virgo will be ever-attentive to the polka dot's needs. They are the sign most likely to make certain that the soil is constantly moist but never soggy and calendar bi-monthly fertilizer feedings during the growing season. In exchange, the polka dot plant will offer the stunning display that makes it the ultimate mood-lifter plant. Since a Virgo regards their home design, like their clothing, as an extension of themselves, this cheery houseplant will project the contentment and beauty they regard as ideal. Or, more likely for a Virgo, close to ideal.

Some publications name the polka dot plant as the "it" plant of 2021, and who could argue with that prognosis? Coming out of the pandemic, the entire world could use a bit of a mood lift, and polka dot plants — like Virgos — are there to help. What this means for you is that polka dot plants should not be difficult to find this year, in local garden stores as well as online.

Since no two polka dot plants are exactly alike, your best bet is to head to the store and pick out the one that reflects your character. Virgo may take a long time with this decision, carefully analyzing the patterns and colors before intuitively picking the perfect plant for their home (and their Instagram.)

But Virgos like to be thorough so they may shop online to find more of a selection. They will probably take just as long evaluating the available plants as they would in person. For those shopping online, we warn you: you'll need lots of time to admire the different patterns available. We love Walmart's Red Splash polka dot plant, with its brilliant mix of crimson and green. It's small, but so is the price, and it will set you back less than $5. Or go for a bigger pot with White Splash, for just over $10.

Etsy has a hundred lovely specimens featuring different colors and patterns, including this beauty from Cleverstem for $22. We also suggest you look at the many options offered by Bear Foot Farms, with 2-inch ($9) or 4-inch ($16) pots of red-based, pink-based or white-based plants. Another polka dot selection to consider: a 4-inch pot from Amazon in several shades for just under $13.