I got this Prayer Plant from a co-worker, and it was growing but not super healthy. The leaves were all brown at the tips. I even used to mist it every day. Well, I was out of work on vacation between Christmas and New Year's and that same co-worker was supposed to water the plants in my cubicle. Well, HE FORGOT! lol. I came back and while my other plants were ok- just droopy (two spider plants, two different types of Chinese Evergreen, an orchid [not currently blooming], and two different types of this viney plant I forgot the name of), the Prayer Plant was all shriveled and brown. A ton of dry leaves fell off, and only a few were left hanging on until they all turned brown and died within a week or so even though I continued to water it. So I thought it was dead, but I just kept the pot behind some of my other plants. One day about a month ago, I noticed a leaf shooting up!! And then another! And now it is all lush and green and the leaves are so huge- way bigger than they were before, and they're green without any brown edges, and then I came into work this morning and there's a flower starting to bloom! I swear that flower stalk wasn't even there yesterday when I watered it. I had no idea that these plants even got flowers. Now I'm actually glad my coworker "killed" my plant, because now it's doing better than ever!
Maranta do sometimes like a dormant, dry period from time to time - your cow-orker (without realizing it) actually simulated a tropical summer for the plant! Then, when you noticed it come out of dormancy, you started watering, yes? That's a rainy season for your plant, and they generally will bloom during the rainy season. Kudos, though - it's not often that Maranta and their like bloom up north.
That's really interesting that it could go dormant like that. I assumed that because all the leaves were dead that the plant was dead so I stopped watering it. It was dormant for a while, too- about 3 months! So yeah, I started watering it again when I saw new leaves. It's in a west-facing window that gets direct sun in the late afternoon
