Calathea Plants

Botanists renamed most of them Goeppertia years ago; every tag on Queen West ignored the memo, and so do we.

Delivered by hand across Toronto and the GTA · Potted before it leaves · Pick-up 702 Queen St W · Designed in Toronto since 2004

Calathea is a genus of tropical understory plants from Central and South America in the prayer-plant family, Marantaceae; most species have now been reclassified as Goeppertia. Grown indoors for boldly patterned leaves that fold upward at night, they want bright indirect light, evenly moist soil, soft water and humid air.

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At Chive Plant Studio, our plant shop at 702 Queen St W in Toronto, calathea leaves look so carefully drawn that people turn them over looking for the signature. One woman went through the whole tray like that, one leaf after another, as if one of them might turn out to be a print. They're real, they're moderate to care for, and they stay this good in bright indirect light, evenly moist soil and the most humid room you've got.

White Fusion is the shop favourite, and the Easter display is built around it each spring: leaves streaked white and green, a blush of purple underneath. It sells itself the moment the light catches it, which makes it the only display in the shop that keeps disappearing on its own. We carry calatheas and their prayer-plant cousins from a 3.5-inch shelf pot up to a 10-inch Makoyana, with the rarer patterns when we have them, grown by our nursery partners and brought to Queen West. The ASPCA lists every plant on this page as non-toxic to cats and dogs. Cats walk past the ZZ and the monstera to sit beside this one, which is lucky, because unlike those two it's fine with it.

Delivered by hand across Toronto and the GTA, or pick up at 702 Queen St W. Every calathea is potted before it leaves the shop, in its grow pot or one of the house pots, with the potting included in the price shown.

Calathea Varieties We Grow

Calatheas, marantas and stromanthes are cousins in the prayer-plant family, Marantaceae. Botanists moved most calatheas into the genus Goeppertia in 2012, as NC State Extension notes, but growers, shops and this page still call them calathea. Each variety below links to its own page; the grid shows which sizes are in stock today.

Long, narrow, wavy-edged pale green leaves with dark green oval blotches along the midrib and purple undersides; Calathea lancifolia (Goeppertia insignis). Bright indirect light; evenly moist soil; soft water. 4-inch, 5-inch and 6-inch. Moderate.

Some plants need a salesperson; this one has a name. Say "rattlesnake" and people picture the long, wavy, blotched leaves before they've turned around, and when they do turn around, they were right.

Leaves veined in red, green or lemon-lime that fold upright at night and lower again by morning; Maranta leuconeura. Bright indirect light; keep evenly moist. From 3.5 inches up to 8 inches. Moderate. Full care is in our prayer plant guide.

At midnight a man heard something move in the living room and went in holding a baseball bat. It was the prayer plant, folding its leaves together like hands, exactly as it does every night.

Dark green leaves marked with fine, paired pink stripes that pale toward white with age; purple undersides; Goeppertia ornata. Bright indirect light; humid air and soft water, or the tips brown. 3.5-inch, 4-inch and 6-inch. Moderate.

Someone ran a pink eraser along one leaf, convinced we kept a junior employee in the back ruling the stripes by hand. We don't. Nobody here can draw a line that straight.

The peacock plant: pale green leaves with dark green oval markings along the veins and purple undersides that glow when backlit; Goeppertia makoyana. Bright indirect light; evenly moist; humid. 4-inch, 6-inch and 10-inch. Moderate.

Most owners live with one for weeks before holding a leaf up to a lamp and finding the underside is purple, like learning the quiet guest at a party speaks four languages.

Calathea Plants in Toronto

Calatheas sit on the plant floor at 702 Queen St W, where Ryan Hearst looks after them and writes our calathea care guide. In Toronto the hard season is winter: heated apartments run far drier than the roughly 60% humidity calatheas want, so leaves curl and crisp unless a humidifier runs nearby, and the pot belongs well away from radiators and cold glass. Calathea at a glance: bright indirect light · evenly moist soil · rain, distilled or reverse-osmosis water · humidity around 60% · keep above about 16°C · non-toxic to cats and dogs (ASPCA) · moderate · pots from 3.5 to 10 inches. Every plant on this page is safe around cats and dogs; the rest of the pet-safe plants are on our pet friendly plants page.

Calathea Plants varieties we grow

Reviewed by Ryan Hearst, Plant Shop Manager · Updated October 2026

From our shop floor

Staff compete for first pick whenever a calathea shipment arrives; nobody does that for a pothos.
Ryan Hearst writes the shop's calathea and prayer plant care guides.
Designing ceramic pots in Toronto since 2004; running the Chive plant shop on Queen Street West since 2020.
Grown by our nursery partners and brought to Queen West; every plant is potted before it leaves.
Delivered by hand across Toronto and the GTA. Pick-up at 702 Queen St W.

Calathea Plants Frequently Asked Questions

Is every plant in the calathea collection a calathea?

No: the collection also holds the Maranta prayer plant, a close cousin from the same family, Marantaceae, with the same care, whose leaves fold even more visibly at night. It grows lower and more spreading, with veined leaves, while calatheas grow as upright clumps of larger patterned leaves; stromanthes such as the Triostar are cousins too.

Do you deliver calathea plants in Toronto?

Yes. Delivered by hand across Toronto and the GTA. You can also pick up at the Chive plant shop, 702 Queen St W, and in winter every plant goes out wrapped in paper.

Where can I buy a calathea in Toronto?

You can buy calatheas at the Chive plant shop, 702 Queen St W, or order them on chive.ca for hand delivery across Toronto and the GTA; we don't ship calatheas elsewhere in Canada. We've been designing ceramic pots in Toronto since 2004 and running the Chive plant shop on Queen Street West since 2020.

Is a calathea safe for cats?

Yes: the ASPCA's toxic and non-toxic plants list shows calathea, and the maranta in this collection, as non-toxic to cats and dogs, and calatheas contain no calcium oxalate or irritating sap. Every pet-safe plant we sell is gathered on our pet friendly plants page.

Is a calathea hard to look after?

Moderately: calatheas want bright indirect light, evenly moist soil, soft water and humid air. We interrogate people about this one at the till. How are you with plants, honestly? If the answer is "I kill them," we steer them, kindly, toward something else. Get it past its teenage years and into a bigger pot, though, and it relaxes and grows like a weed. Our calathea care guide covers the details.

Can you pot my calathea before it leaves?

Yes, every calathea is potted before it leaves the shop, and the potting is included in the price shown. Choose the grow pot or one of the house pots offered with each plant and size; potting is $1 per inch of pot, already built into that one price.

What sizes of calathea do you carry?

Our calatheas and prayer plants come in pots from 3.5 inches up to a 10-inch Makoyana, and a mature calathea forms a clump about 30 to 60 cm tall and wide.

About Chive Plant Studio

More from the plant shop: every plant we carry is on our plants Toronto page, and for another pet-safe genus that copes with drier air, try a peperomia. If you're starting with one, start with the rattlesnake plant. For the right size of home for any of them, see our small indoor plant pots.