ar•oid

A plant of the arum family ( Araceae ).

The Aroid family is made up of monocotyledonous flowering plants. These plants have a distinctive inflorescence (flower structure) known as a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). This family has 140 genera and over 4,000 species found.

Popular genera of aroids you may know include Philodendron, Monstera, Syngonium, Epipremnum, Pothos, Anthurium, Scindapsus, and so on.

One of the groups of plants we specialize in growing is Aroids. Some tropical aroids need high humidity conditions to grow, (like certain types of philodendron and anthurium) but most can grow fine in typical household humidity or can be acclimated to it. The care requirements will be listed in a product description in case you don’t already know! These plants grow well in chunky, well-draining soil mixes or semi-hydro. Wait to water until you see signs of thirst, which is typically drooping for these plants.

Aroid leaves description of plant

Examples of Aroids, credit to The tentative plant scientist

flowering peace lily plant

Example of Peace Lily flower

Most terrarium plants need special conditions (‘terrarium culture’) and require very high humidity to grow, hence the term terrarium plants. You’ll need some sort of container that holds enough humidity to grow these. Most of these varieties don’t need much light and may even be sensitive to it. The terrarium box shown below keeps in a lot of humidity and stays damp so it doesn’t need to be watered often. It can be tricky to find a good place to grow these plants, but once they are happy with their environment, growing them is a breeze!

Terrarium-begonia-aroid-empire-rare-tropical-house-plants

The terrarium box without the cover on

We also specialize in growing Desert plants. These plants need very bright light to grow properly, so you’ll need a bright south-facing window or a grow light setup. I prefer to grow my succulents in a shelf with grow lights set on a timer so I know they are getting exactly the amount of light they need. You’ll need to make sure your lights are bright enough and close enough to the plants. You can also use supplementary grow lights in an area that doesn’t have enough natural light. When succulents don’t have enough light they will stretch for the sun, so you want to keep them nicely compacted. Your succulents can ‘stress’ which happens after being under ideal conditions, so their pigments will concentrate. These plants should be in a suitable succulent mix and not overly large pots. Wait to water until you see signs of thirst on your plant and water as normal!

aroid empire - succulents under grow lights
Aroid Empire - tropical plants indoor green house

Some aroids grow nicely in this greenhouse shelf with grow lights as well

A suitable succulent growing shelf

Shipping policies

The goal when shipping a plant is to get it to its destination in the best condition possible. That is why when shipping plant orders, we ship on Mondays and Tuesdays depending on where the plant is going to try to avoid transit delays over the weekend. Unless the buyer contacts us via email stating otherwise, we will automatically wait for those days to ship. Anyone can contact us after an order is placed in case there are any special shipping or packaging requests.

We ship every package very carefully and have plenty of experience in doing so. If the shipping suggestions for buyers are disregarded when placing an order (Not purchasing a heat pack when needed, requesting to ship when not recommended, etc.) then there will be no guarantees for the state of the plant upon arrival. Once a package has been shipped, what happens to it is out of our control, though if something is wrong and you suspect it isn’t shipping damaged you can contact us. We will keep photos of all of the plants safely in their packaging before shipping so you can see what they looked like beforehand. We only ship inside the U.S. and use USPS.

Shipping in cold weather

Plants should not be purchased when the temperature drops below 32° at any time in your state or here in Massachusetts, and it is recommended not to purchase them when the weather drops below the specified amount for different types of plants. Adding a Shipping Hold to your order means that your order will be held from shipping for up to two weeks until the weather is suitable. Heat packs are highly recommended when the weather gets colder, but they may not work when the temperature drops below freezing.

Desert plants are usually alright when being shipped in temperatures no lower than 45°, they also have a higher chance of surviving cold weather when their soil is dry (If the plant specifies it’s shipped in soil) so you can request to wait to ship until the soil dries out if it isn’t already.

Ideal temperatures for tropical plants are 65°-75°, so being exposed to temperatures below 50° for extended periods may cause problems depending on the particular plant's sensitivity.

Most terrarium plants are especially sensitive, so they will be shipped with the utmost care and in containers that should still provide adequate conditions during shipping. Some hardy begonia varieties don’t require terrarium conditions to grow and are not as sensitive, so this type of information will be specified in a plant’s description. Being exposed to temperatures below 50° may be quite a shock for some sensitive terrarium plants. Using a Heat pack to keep temperatures above these specified temperatures during cold weather is highly recommended.

Shipping in hot weather

All of the plants we sell are grown in temperatures of 60°- 75° F so keep that in mind before purchasing. If you want to purchase plants during a period of very hot weather, you can add a Shipping Hold to your order so it will be held for up to two weeks until the weather is suitable.

Desert plants can withstand heat better than most, but still shouldn’t be shipped during anything extreme like a heatwave. Some aroid varieties may be more sensitive to higher heat than others, and most terrarium plants are just sensitive in general and do not like to deal with heat spikes.