Plant Styling Tips: Enhance Dull Space with Hanging Plants
We all know plants are the latest & greatest trend for interior design. Whether you have an indoor jungle or one houseplant that you love to spoil, plant styling can be difficult to master. Hanging plants is one of the top new styling techniques that’s sweeping the plant community. Plant hangers are a beautiful way to add visual appeal to your space, break up the dynamics of a room and keep your plants away from pets or children. Plant styling can be overwhelming at first, but don’t worry, we’re here to help. How can you find what is best for you and your design desires? The possibilities are seemingly endless, you just have to get the right parts to bring it all together.What types of plants are best to hang?
The first thing you should thing about is the type of plant you want. Having pants hanging from your ceiling does seem nice, but you have to make sure you actually want the plant hanging from your ceiling in your home to begin with. Here are some plants that are great hanging plants:English Ivy
English Ivy hanging in a pot via 1800 Flowers
English ivy is a beautiful plant that is great at climbing. They can cling to many different surfaces due to their small roots that grow along the stems. This makes them great candidates for being a hanging plant as it will grow up the rope or around the pot itself. It is also important to note that the leaves are toxic, so hanging this plant would be an effective way to keep it out of the reach of children or pets. Check out our guide on ivy care to learn more.Devil’s Ivy
Devil’s Ivy hanging in a pot via https://www.plantshed.com/hanging-golden-pothos
Devil’s Ivy is one of the most popular plants in the world, and for good reason. This plant is very easy to take care of, it doesn’t need a ton of light, standard soil is perfectly fine, it has shallow roots so not much watering is required, and they do well in smaller pots. They tend to outgrow the pot they are in and provide beautiful, draped coverage, giving your home a mini jungle feel. Just like the English Ivy, the leaves of Devil’s Ivy are toxic so make sure to keep these up high, from children and pets.Boston Fern
Boston Ferns hanging in spherical pots via https://balconygardenweb.com/best-hanging-ferns-ferns-for-hanging-basket/
Boston ferns are a classical fern shape and can grow all year long if taken care of properly. They do well in larger baskets and do well with bright, indirect sunlight. Due to their light needs, many ferns do better hanging outdoors, or indoors under a hanging grow light. These tend not to be toxic, so they are safe to keep around children and pets, but they are still good plants to hang.Spider Plant
A spider plant hanging in a pot via https://shopgreendigs.com/products/spider-plant
The spider plant is another easy plant to have in your house. This plant can adapt to many types of conditions and only really suffers from brown tips occasionally. This plant is great for hanging as its “spider leg-like leaves” dangle over the edge of the pot and offer good dimension to a room. Spider plants aren’t toxic, but they do have chemical compounds that can result in upset stomachs, so hanging it away from children and pets isn’t as important with other plants (ie. Boston and Devil’s Ivy) but it is still something to keep in mind.Heartleaf Philodendron
A Heartleaf Philodendron hanging in a pot via https://www.pinterest.com/pin/256986722475230941/
This is another easy plant to grow, if you pinch it back, it will become bushier as is the hope with hanging plants. If you don’t pinch it back, it will grow out as one long stem. You could leave it to grow like that if you desire, perhaps to incorporate a thin, long plant into your jungle, but if you want it to look like the previous 4 listed, pinching will help you accomplish that. These plants are toxic to pets and children so be wary of where these are hung. The next thing you’ll need to have hanging plants is the right pots.What is the right pot for my hanging plants?
Now that you have a plant in mind, it is time to figure out how to hang it. The pot you put your plant is in just as important as your plant in terms of aesthetics. What good is having a beautiful English Ivy if the pot it is in does not match that same beauty? There are a couple things to consider when picking the right pot for your plant. How big is your plant? How heavy is the pot? Can the pot provide proper drainage? Here are some examples to make sure you get the best pot for your plants.
A hanging wire basket lined coir with Via Kinsman Company
A wire frame basket lined with moss or coir drain naturally. On top of this, they allow your pot to blend in as it is made of natural material. Kinsman Company offer the basket above and as you can see the basket does a great job at allowing the plant to be the focal point while also providing adequate drainage and protection. Another option you have it to cut holes in regular pots. No matter what you chose, you have to make sure that there is good drainage, so you don’t waterlog your soil and drown your plants. Check out our blog post about the Top 10 eco friendly plant pots for your indoor jungle. There are a couple of hanging baskets and even a couple that you could convert to hanging pots if you have the creative ability for that.How do I properly hang my pots?
The last big question facing you will likely be how do I safely and securely hang my plants? This is an important factor that you likely don’t realize the importance of. If you’ve gone through the effort of hanging your plants from the ceiling, you will likely not be pleased if you wake up one morning and it has fallen to the ground.
Plants hung from a metal beam already incorporated into the room
Apartment therapy has a good guide on how to hang plants from your ceiling. In summary, you will need a drill, hook, ladder and a ceiling. Following along with their steps should allow you to have a secure base in your ceiling from which your plants can hang. If you aren’t trying to Bob the Builder your way to hanging plants, your next best option would be to be innovative. Do you have any horizontal pipes or exposed beams? If they are sturdy, you could tie your pot to those. This way, you are incorporating the plant into the shape of the room, without having to test your handyman skills. Another thought could be to use Soltech’s Archetto. This wall mount, originally designed for the Aspect grow light (which could also be used to help your hanging plants grow) runs up the wall and curves out. You could feed the plant rope through it, allowing it to hang freely and securely in a beautiful arch from the wall. Hanging plants are definitely one of the better ways to liven up a room. If you can combine these plants with a cool design style for the rest of the room, you’ll have a nice, revitalized living space to enjoy. If you are looking for more inspiration for design styles check out simplychivintage.com. Chi has a great page with “an electric mix of the 80’s and 90’s, mid-century, boho inspired and anything that just has an organic, earthy feel.”
