Plant in full sun to light shade in a fairly well drained soil and water occasionally in the summer – quite tolerant of infrequent irrigation in part sun in our own nursery garden. Tender to temperatures much below 27°F but reported stem hardy to 10-15° F and can be grown indoors in colder climates. Early frosts will often knock down the plant while flowering, but it rebounds well in the spring. Also responds well to being clipped back after blooming, making for a denser plant. According to Sima Eliovson in her Wild Flowers of Southern Africa this plant is tolerant of coastal conditions. Ribbon bush is one of the showiest plants in the late season in our garden and its flowering stems are useful for flower arrangements. It is also good for attracting hummingbirds, bees and other insects at a time when few other plants are flowering. Can reseed a bit in the garden but is not weedy.

In its native habitat Ribbon Bush grows in both wet and dry forests in the summer rainfall Eastern Cape north into tropical Africa. The name of the genus comes from the Greek words 'hypo' meaning "under" and 'estia' meaning "a house" in reference to how the bracts cover the calyx. The specific epithet is from the Latin words 'arista' meaning awn and 'ata' meaning "possessing' in reference to the narrow inner bracts, or perhaps referring to the long calyx lobes.

We first got this great plant from John Bleck, then curator of the UCSB biology greenhouses, in 1983 and listed it in our nursery catalogs from 1990 until 2007. While an exceptionally attractive garden plant in bloom, it is a little weak and brittle in the container when young and this combined with it being little known limited demand by our customers, so we discontinued growing it. We however are still were much enamored with it and everyone commented about it when seeing it in our garden, so we started growing it again in 2017. 

The information displayed on this page about Hypoestes aristata is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.