Soil PH Preferences for Potted Plants

How to use the information in the chart. To make the best of the lists, group plants with similar soil requirements. Also, avoid planting trees, shrubs, vegetables, flowers and herbs in an unsuitable pH. For example, lilac bushes won’t do much if their feet are sitting in acid soil, while potatoes will be dotted with scab if the soil is too sweet. (Note: Don’t use them as your only guide because other factors may lead to poor performance.)

Plants are listed here in columns according to the pH level they prefer.Note that some are very sensitive to pH levels outside their tolerant range, in which case they will appear in more than one column even though they are colored yellow as being “sensitive”.

This green background means that this is an ideal pH for this plant.

This background is the ideal pH for this sensitive plant

This background means that this plant is very sensitive to the pH level of the soil.

pH 4.5	pH 5.25	pH 6.0	pH 6.75	pH 7.5
Aspidistra	Aechema	Abutilon	Abutilon	Asparagus fern
Azalea	Amaryllis	African violet (St Paulia)	African Violet (St Paulia)	Canna
Camelia	Anthurium	Amaryllis	Asparagus fern	Fern, asparagus (Asparagus)
Columnea	Auricaria	Anthurium	Begonia	Fern, maidenhair (Adiantum)
Orchid (Most)	Aspidistra	Begonia	Bird of Paradise (Streltzia)	Geranium (Pelargonium)
Parlour palm (Aspidistra)	Azalea	Bilbergia	Bougainvillea	Hyacinth
	Begonia	Bird of paradise (Strelitzia)	Canna	Indian Shot (Canna)
	Bilbergia	Bougainvillea	Carnation (Dianthus)	Ladys slipper orchid (Cypripedium & Paphiopedulum)
	Butterfly flower (Schizanthus)	Busy lizzie (Impatiens)	Chrysanthemum	Madonna lily (Lilium candidum)
	Cactus (Most)	Butterfly flower (Schizanthus)	Cineraria	Maidenhair fern (Adiantum)
	Camelia	Carnation (Dianthus)	Coconut palm (Cocos)	Morning glory (Ipomea)
	Christmas cactus (Zygocactus)	Christmas cactus (Zygocactus)	Coleus	Pelargonium
	Chrysanthemum	Campanula	Cockscombe (Celosia)	Pepper (Capsicum)
	Cineraria	Chrysanthemum	Cyclamen	Star of Bethlehem (Campanula)
	Cissus	Cineraria	Daffodil (Narciassus)
	Clerodendron	Cissus	Easter lily (Zantedeschia)
	Columnea	Clerodendron	Euphorbia
	Crassula	Clivia	Fern, asparagus (Asparagus)
	Creeping fig (Ficus pumilla)	Coleus	Fern, maidenhair (Adiantum)
	Croton	Crassula	Flame nettle (Coleus)
	Dracaena	Creeping fig (Ficus pumilla)	Freesia
	Dumb cane (Diffenbachia)	Croton	Fuchsia
	Flame nettle (Coleus)	Cyclamen	Geranium (Pelargonium)
	Flamingo flower (Anthurium)	Daffodil (Narcissus)	Gerbra
	Fuchsia	Dumb cane (Diffenbachia)	Gloxinia (Sinningia)
	Gardenia	Dracaena	Hyacinth
	Gloxinia (Sinningia)	Easter lily (Zantedeschia)	Indian shot (Canna)
	Indian shot (Canna)	Fittonia	Ladys slipper orchid (Cypripedium & Paphiopedulum)
	Iresine	Flame nettle (Coleus)	Lily, easter (Zabtedeschia)
	Kangaroo vine (Cissus)	Flamingo flower (Anthurium)	Lily madonna (Lilium candidum)
	Maranta	Fuchsia	Maidenhair fern (Adiantum)
	Monsteria	Gardenia	Marigold (Calendula)
	Mother in law tongue (Sanseveria)	Gloxinia (Sinningia)	Morning glory (Ipomea)
	Norfolk island pine (Auricaria)	Grevillia	Mother in laws tongue (Sanseveria)
	Orchid (Most)	Gynura	Narcissus
	Pandanus	Hoya	Oleander (Nerium)
	Parlour palm (Aspidistra)	Impatiens	Orange (Citrus)
	Peperomia	Indian shot (Canna)	Pelargonium
	Philodendron	Iresine	Pepper (Capsicum)
	Pitcher plant (Nepenthes)	Kangaroo vine (Cissus)	Poinsettia
	Poinsettia (Euphorbia)	Ladys slipper orchid (Cypripedium & Paphiopedulum)	Sanseveria
	Prayer plant (Maranta)	Maranta	Slipperwort (Calceolaria)
	Rubber plant (Ficus)	Monstera	Spring gentian (Gentiana verna)
	Sanseveria	Narcissus	St Paulia
	Silk oak (Grevillia)	Neomarcia	Star of bethlehem (Campanula)
	Slipperwort (Calceolaria)	Pandanus	Tulip
	Swiss cheese plant (Monsteria)	Pepperomia
	Tradescantia	Philodendron
	Urn plant (Aechmea)	Plumbago
	Zebrina	Poinsettia (Euphorbia)
		Poor mans orchid (Schizanthus)
		Prayer plant (Maranta)
		Rubber plant (Ficus)
		Shrimp plant (Dredgerella)
		Silk oak (Grevillia)
		Slipperwort (Calceolaria)
		Snakeskin plant (Fittonia)
		Spring gentian (Gentiana verna)
		St Paulia
		Swainsonia
		Swiss cheese plant (Monsteria)
		Tradescantia
		Tuberose
		Tulip
		Wax flower (Hoya)
		Zebrina