Images may show mature specimens and are provided as a guide only. As plants are living products, the size, shape and appearance of the stock supplied may vary from the images shown.
Nursery Direct
Cuban Cigar Calathea
Calathea lutea
Everything is included in this price: the plant, free delivery and professional installation
The price you see is the whole job: the plant supplied, delivered free and professionally installed. Done for you.
Supplied in 400mmtypically 1.5 to 2.5m tall on delivery
Want to see the actual plant?
The photo shows this species, not the individual plant reserved for you. Send us an enquiry and we usually reply within 1 business day with photos of the actual stock available in the size you want.
Request photosGetting it in: this size needs about 900mm of clear access. Measure the narrowest point on the route and tell us on the booking call. Standard access is included in the price, and anything unusual is quoted and agreed with you before work begins. What happens on installation day
Looking for a larger size?
Sizes shown are the sizes we currently source in this species. If you need larger specimens, project quantities or a size not listed, our sourcing team can look for it through our national supplier network. We confirm your exact stock with you on the booking call before anything ships.
Send An EnquiryYou order. We do the rest.
After checkout, our team contacts you to confirm site access and book a day that suits. Most orders are delivered and planted within 2 to 4 weeks of your booking call. Nothing else for you to organise.
Registered Australian business, ABN 33 683 675 603. Public liability certificates available on request.
Product Details
Overview & Specifications
Price includes everything: the plant, free delivery and professional installation by our planting team. One price, whole job done.
Cuban Cigar Calathea - Calathea lutea
Calathea lutea is the largest of the calatheas grown in Australia, throwing paddle-shaped leaves up to a metre long on tall upright stems to build a clumping tropical thicket. The undersides of the leaves carry a distinctive powdery white waxy bloom, so the plant flashes silver whenever wind turns the foliage. Its common name comes from the flower bracts, which are stiff, waxy and cigar-brown, held on their own stalks above the clump. This is a structural foliage plant, used for scale and texture rather than flowers.
Why Cuban Cigar Calathea
Leaf Scale: Individual leaves reach around a metre, giving instant tropical mass that few shade plants can match.
Silver Reverse: The waxy white leaf underside creates a two-tone effect as the clump moves.
Cigar Bracts: Rigid maroon-brown bracts appear through the warmer months and last for weeks, cut or on the plant.
Clumping Habit: It spreads by rhizome into a controlled clump rather than running through a bed.
Shade Performance: Filtered light and shade suit it, so it fills the difficult ground beneath palms and large trees.
Ideal Applications
Tropical understorey: Planted beneath palms, heliconias and gingers for a layered rainforest effect.
Poolside screening: A clump gives soft, moving green privacy around a pool in warm climates.
Shaded courtyard: Large pots in a protected courtyard where the leaves are safe from wind shredding.
Indoor atrium and light well: Suited to bright, humid interior spaces with plenty of headroom.
Specimen & Installation
Spacing (screening/hedge): 1 to 1.5m
Spacing (feature/avenue): 2 to 2.5m
Best Planting Season: Spring and summer while soil is warm, year round in the tropics
Soil & Drainage: Rich, moisture-retentive soil with plenty of compost, free draining but never allowed to dry out
Establishment Care: Water frequently and keep humidity up, as the leaf edges brown quickly in dry air or drying wind. Mulch heavily, feed with a balanced fertiliser through the growing season, and cut damaged canes to the base to keep the clump looking fresh.
Plant Details
Height: 2 to 3m
Width: 1.5 to 2.5m as a spreading clump
Growth Rate: Fast in warm humid conditions
Foliage: Evergreen
Light: Part shade to filtered light, protected from wind and frost
Native to: Tropical Central and South America and the Caribbean
Flower Colour: Waxy maroon-brown bracts with small yellow flowers
Delivery & Installation
Delivery and installation are included in your price
No freight calculators and no separate installation quote for a standard installation. Your price covers specialist plant transport, positioning and professional planting by our installation team. The whole job, handled.
- Wrapped, secured and transported by specialist plant freight.
- Professionally planted, staked and finished by our install team.
- Our team confirms site access and schedules a time that suits you.
Installation
Professional installation included, never extra
Every plant we sell is planted by our professional installation team, and it's already in the price. We coordinate the delivery, the machinery and the planting for standard site access, so your only job is choosing the tree. Unusual access or engineering requirements? We'll confirm everything with you after checkout before any work begins.
Questions? Send An EnquiryWhy Nursery Direct
Every price includes supply, delivery and installation
Buying a mature tree often means three separate jobs: the plant, the freight and finding someone to plant it. We price the whole job as one: the tree, the delivery and the professional install.
- One price: supplied, delivered and installed
- Mature trees and specimen palms at every scale
- National sourcing for hard-to-find stock
- Residential, estate and commercial projects
How It Works
Place your order. We do the rest.
We Supply
Premium advanced stock, selected from a national network of wholesale growers.
We Deliver
Specialist plant freight brings your order to your door. Free, anywhere in Australia.
We Install
Our professional team plants, stakes, mulches and finishes the job on site.







