Prayer Plant Flowers: Do They Bloom Indoors? (What to Expect)

Yes, prayer plants do flower — but the blooms are so small and unassuming that most owners never notice them, or mistake the flowering stem for new leaf growth.

Ours flowered in March 2025 after spending a winter on the bathroom shelf. Emilie spotted the stem first and thought it was a new leaf unfurling. Joakim identified it as a flower scape. Two weeks later: tiny white-to-pale-purple tubular flowers. Delicate. Easy to miss. Gone within a month.

Here is what the flowers actually look like, whether you should cut them off, and how to encourage your own plant to bloom.

What Prayer Plant Flowers Look Like

Prayer plant flowers are not what most people expect. They are not bold or dramatic. They are small, tubular, white to pale lavender-purple, arranged in pairs on a slender stem called a scape that rises above the foliage.

Each individual flower is only about 1–2 cm long (under an inch). The flower stem itself can reach 6–12 inches (15–30 cm) tall. The blooms open in sequence — a few at a time over several weeks — and each individual flower lasts only a few days.

The appeal is not the flowers themselves, but the fact that an indoor plant you’ve been growing for a year or two has decided to reproduce. It’s a milestone.

Should You Cut the Flowers Off?

This is genuinely debated among prayer plant growers, and the honest answer is: it depends on what you want from the plant.

Arguments for cutting: Flowering takes energy. Maranta leuconeura is a relatively slow-growing plant, and redirecting energy from flowers to leaves means faster leaf production and potentially more vibrant colouration. If you cut the flower stem at the base, the plant will continue growing normally.

Arguments for keeping: The energy drain from a small prayer plant flower is minimal compared to, say, a Strelitzia or an orchid. Letting the flowers run their course (2–4 weeks) rarely causes any visible harm to leaf quality. Emilie keeps them. Joakim cuts them. Our two plants both look healthy either way.

Our recommendation: If the plant is young (under 2 years), cut them. The plant is still establishing its root system and leaf canopy. If the plant is mature and thriving, let them be. The experience of watching a prayer plant bloom indoors is worth keeping.

How to Encourage Your Prayer Plant to Flower

Flowering in prayer plants is not something you can force, but certain conditions make it significantly more likely.

• Maturity: Prayer plants typically don’t flower until they are 2+ years old. If yours is young, wait.
• Bright indirect light: Ours flowered the year after we moved it to a brighter bathroom spot. More light = more energy = more capacity to flower. Aim for 200–400 foot-candles.
• Seasonal difference: A period of slightly cooler, shorter days in winter followed by spring warming seems to trigger flowering. This mimics the plant’s natural Brazilian forest cycle.
• Good care consistency: Flowering is a sign of a stress-free plant. Consistent humidity (50%+), consistent watering, and regular fertilising in spring set the stage.

What to Do After the Flowers Die

Once the flowers drop and the scape (flower stem) begins to dry out, cut it back to the base. There is no benefit to leaving a dead scape on the plant, and it looks untidy.

After flowering, resume normal care. The plant may produce slightly fewer new leaves for 2–3 weeks as it recovers from the reproductive effort, but this is temporary.

Prayer plants do not die after flowering (unlike monocarpic plants such as some agaves). Yours will continue growing and may flower again the following spring if conditions are right.

Prayer Plant Flower FAQ