PlantFiles: Purple Waffle Plant
Hemigraphis exotica

I was given a purple waffle plant about two years ago. I went away for a few days and forgot to water it. It was quite droopy but didn't die. I watered it and it came back just fine. However, now my waffle plant doesn't have a crinkled look to it anymore. Any idea why?

I just got a Purple Waffle about 2 weeks ago. It's just a baby, got it in a 4" pot.
I have it in a pot next to my kitchen sink so it gets watered very frequently. The window faces the north but it also gets light from the east and west. It's very lush and bushy and is already sending out babies.
If this little thing keeps growing like it has been I'm going to have to repot it again. What a great houseplant for us north central gardeners.

I absolutely love my waffle plant! It has grown really fast and seems to want to take over my desk = ) The only problem is that I have often underwatered her, especially on long weekends, which has earned her the nickname of the "diva" plant (all credit to my coworker Brian!). I have been able to bring her back to normal but may have just gone too far...it is now winter in Ohio and after the long New Year's weekend I came back to a mostly dead plant (the sight is indeed dramatic, therefore the diva part). I would welcome any suggestions via comments on how to revive her!!! I feel terrible and really hope to get her back. So far I have drowned her in water but I am wondering if I should also cut off the longest shoots so that she doesn't have to spread water and energy all the way to the ends, make sense? I have read that it goes dormant in the winter, though, so I don't want to add the trauma of cutting shoots to the lack of watering! Suggestions?

I bought this plant for a dear friend of mine from a house plants section in Miami, but I forgot to mention this to him. A year later, he gave me a baby purple waffle plant from his original one. Both of us kept our plants outside, and let me tell you, they couldn't be happier! The only secret here in Miami: please do not keep it in full sun. It is happy in part-shade to shade.
Beautiful color adition and pretty ruffles!

Seems to suck up water at an unbelievable rate and the leaves brown and fall off at the slightest drying of the rootball. So you do have to water this a lot more often than most houseplants. Also seems fairly susceptible to mealybugs, but otherwise a fairly easy plant to grow.

This plant is very unique. The showy leaves have magnificent color and Texture. It has a plastic feel to the leaves.

Trailing stems produce puckered leaves with reddish colored under sides. Originally from New Guinnea.