Create a great tabletop mini garden with these exciting Dish Garden Plants! They can easily flourish in a shallow dish or bowl!
Dish Garden Plants are a great way to make your table and desktops look green and attractive. With just a few plants and your creativity, you can design a great looking miniature garden that’s easy to maintain and bring a green appeal indoors!
Best Plants For a Dish Garden
1. Jade Plant
Botanical Name: Crassula ovata
Apart from its ornamental beauty, the jade plant is also considered a lucky plant. It has thick, fleshy, oval leaves, and as the plant grows, the stems turn thick and woody, giving it a miniature tree-like appearance. It does reasonably well in indirect light.
2. Philodendron
Botanical Name: Philodendron bipinnatifidum
Philodendron is a low-maintenance houseplant with blue-green or silver-gray foliage looks perfect on the tabletop in shallow dishes with vibrant colors. It also comes in upright or trailing and climbing varieties and does well in both partial sun and partial shade.
3. Croton
Botanical Name: Codiaeum
Croton offers oval or lance-shaped, leathery, smooth-edged bright colored leaves that are usually patterned with stripes or blotches. With many colorful varieties, crotons are perfect for large dish gardens. Grow them in partial sun.
4. Peace Lily
Botanical Name: Spathiphyllum spp.
The peace lily is an outstanding houseplant that looks striking in a dish garden and complements other plants as well. The bracts appear in spring and look stunning with the green foliage. The plant contains calcium oxalate so keep your pets and children away from it!
5. Panda Plant
Botanical Name: Kalanchoe tormentosa
Panda plant can be an exciting addition to your succulent dish garden! It has fuzzy foliage covered with tiny hair, tinted with brown spots on the edges. As it’s a succulent, you only need to worry about overwatering!
6. Pothos
Botanical Name: Epipremnum aureum
Pothos are valued for their ability to withstand extreme conditions. Trailing stems look beautiful with heart-shaped green leaves, variegated with shades of yellow, white, and light green, depending on the variety. Pothos are also loved for their ability to purify indoor air.
7. Poinsettia
Botanical Name: Euphorbia pulcherrima
Add flair and drama to your interior decor with colorful foliage of ‘Poinsettia.’ This easy to care plant is an ideal centerpiece for the dish garden. Go with mini-poinsettia variety as it remains compact and shows a stunning display with cheerful colors.
8. Moon Cactus & Bunny Ear Cactus
Botanical Name: Gymnocalycium mihanovichii & Opuntia microdasys
Two of our favorite plants for a dish garden–Moon cactus and bunny ear cactus. Since growing them is similar, you can even plant them together in your dish garden.
9. Purple Waffle Plant
Botanical Name: Hemigraphis alternata
The colorful purple foliage with a wrinkled look has a similar texture to a waffle, hence the name. It looks good in a dish garden and various container arrangements with other compact plants.
10. Echeveria
Botanical Name: Echeveria elegans
Echeveria is mind-blowing! This genus has some amazing range of varieties available in many shapes and colors. Pair them with other cacti or succulents to provide similar growing conditions.
11. Purple Heart
Botanical Name: Tradescantia pallida
This popular indoor houseplant comes in various attractive varieties that are perfectly suitable for dish garden planting. Deep purple foliage with light purple-pink flowers look appealing in shallow dishes and beautifully complement companion plants.
12. Nerve Plant
Botanical Name: Fittonia spp.
The deep green leaves with delicate silver-white or red veins look stunning. This low-growing creeper is an ideal choice for dish gardens as it grows up to 4-5 inches with a trailing spread of 10-15 inches. It prefers partial shade or indirect sunlight.
13. Lucky Bamboo
Botanical Name: Dracaena sanderiana
The sturdy stems of lucky bamboo perform well in pure water or in dishes with soil in a range of light conditions. It is very easy to care for and great for people who are fussy about plant maintenance.
14. Calathea
Botanical Name: Calathea spp.
Calathea is a famous, easy to grow houseplant that offers a range of varieties. The eye-catching leathery leaves of ’round-leaf calathea’, narrow light-green leaves of ‘rattlesnake calathea,’ or large glossy foliage of ‘rose painted calathea’ are the best choice!
15. ZZ Plant
Botanical Name: Zamioculcas
The stiff, flat pinnate foliage of ZZ Plant, with a thick tuberous stem, looks great in the dish garden. Keep the plants happy by maintaining the moisture and humidity.
Note: All parts of the ZZ plant are toxic. Keep it out of reach to pets and children.
16. Zebra Plant
Botanical Name: Haworthia fasciata
This plant fits the dish garden perfectly, thanks to its stunning looking zebra stripes on the foliage. If you are lucky, the plant is also going to award you with white or pink flowers.
17. Aloe
Botanical Name: Aloe
The Aloe genus comprises of many good looking plants that can make your dish garden absolutely gorgeous. You can pick Tiger Tooth Aloe, Coral Aloe, or Aloe ‘Blizzard.’
Bonus! Succulents and Cacti
Succulents make for a stunning dish garden plants as they are compact, easy to grow, and don’t call for much attention from the grower. To know about some tabletop succulent, check out our article here.
