Pilea peperomioides is one of those plants that looks like it should be fairly easygoing. Round green leaves, neat little stems, generally cheerful appearance. And, to be fair, it is.
But mine have always had a slightly annoying habit of making their opinions about where I’ve put them very clear.
Too dark? Suddenly it’s stretching itself towards the window like it’s trying to escape.
Too much direct sun? Pale, unhappy leaves.
Perfect spot? It grows beautifully for six months, at which point I decide it would look nicer somewhere else and ruin everything.
So, if you’ve just brought home a Chinese money plant, here’s where I’d actually put it.
Pilea Like Plenty of Light
Pilea do best with bright, indirect light. For years, I though that just meant “somewhere vaguely near a window.”
Pilea need somewhere that feels properly bright during the daytime, but where the plant isn’t sitting in strong, hot sunshine for hours on end.
They can cope with some direct sunlight, particularly gentler morning or late-afternoon sun. What you want to be more careful with is prolonged, intense midday and afternoon sun through glass, especially in summer.
How Far From a Window Can a Pilea Go?
This is where houseplant advice gets frustrating, because three metres from a window tells you almost nothing without knowing which direction the window faces, how big it is, or if it’s inside a Victorian terrace that hasn’t seen direct sunlight since March.
Light levels drop surprisingly quickly as you move into a room away from the windows.
For most homes, I’d start by putting a Pilea fairly close to a bright window and adjusting from there.
An east-facing window is often lovely because it provides bright light and some gentler morning sunshine.
A west-facing window can also work well, although you may need to move the plant back from the glass if afternoon sun gets intense.
A bright south-facing window gives you loads of options. Rather than putting the Pilea directly against the glass, try it a little further into the room or somewhere the strongest sunshine is filtered by a sheer curtain.
North-facing windows are gentler. A Pilea can certainly grow there if the window and room are reasonably bright, but I’d generally keep it quite close to the window rather than putting it on the other side of the room.
My Favourite Spot: Near a Kitchen Window
I think Pilea are particularly good kitchen plants.
They’re relatively compact, they don’t need loads of floor space, and those round leaves look ridiculously cheerful sitting amongst all the practical kitchen clutter.
A bright kitchen windowsill can work if it doesn’t get blasted with hot sun. Otherwise, a shelf, worktop or little plant stand near the window is ideal.
Just don’t wedge it next to the hob because you’ve read that Pilea like warmth. There is warm, and then there is being lightly sautéed every evening.
Keep it away from radiators and other strong sources of heat too.
A Bathroom can (Sometimes) be Brilliant
If you’ve got a bathroom with a decent window, Pilea can look gorgeous in there.
The important bit there is with a decent window.
Bathrooms get recommended for houseplants constantly because they’re humid, but humidity doesn’t compensate for darkness. A windowless bathroom is still a windowless room, however tropical it feels after somebody has had a 25-minute shower.
If your bathroom gets good natural daylight, though, a Pilea on a shelf near the window is definitely worth trying.
Living Rooms Give You Plenty of Options
Pilea work particularly well in living rooms because they’re small enough to put on furniture rather than needing their own dedicated corner.
Try one on:
- A sideboard near a window
- A shelf receiving plenty of natural light
- A side table beside a bright window
- A desk or console table in a well-lit part of the room
- A windowsill without harsh midday sun
And because Pilea tend to grow towards their light source, give the pot a little turn every week or so if you’d like the plant to stay relatively even.
I say this as somebody who inevitably forgets, notices the entire plant leaning dramatically in one direction, rotates it 180 degrees and considers the job done…
It eventually sorts itself out.
How Do I Know If My Pilea Needs More Light?
Your plant will usually give you clues.
A Pilea that isn’t receiving enough light may develop longer, stretched stems and wider gaps between its leaves as it reaches towards the brightest part of the room. Growth may slow and the whole plant can start looking a bit sparse rather than compact and full.
If it’s very obviously leaning towards the window, that’s another useful clue.
Move it somewhere brighter, but don’t suddenly transfer a plant accustomed to low light into hours of strong direct sunshine. Introduce brighter conditions gradually.
Don’t Forget That Light Changes
This caught me out embarrassingly often when I first started keeping houseplants.
The spot that’s perfect in June isn’t necessarily perfect in December.
Our days get dramatically shorter through a British winter, the sun sits lower in the sky, and rooms that were beautifully bright in summer can become surprisingly gloomy.
So I tend to let plants migrate around the house a little throughout the year.
Your Pilea might need to sit closer to the window during autumn and winter, then move back again once stronger spring and summer sunshine returns.
And if you’ve found a spot where it’s producing lots of healthy new leaves, isn’t stretching, and generally seems perfectly content?
Leave it there.
Do not, as I inevitably do, decide that it would look much nicer on that shelf over there.
The Pilea has spoken. Respect its decision.
Now all you’ve got to do is get the watering right. Head over to my handy little watering pilea guide for some really easy ways to make watering a breeze.
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