Try letting your drooping and dangling houseplants climb--you may be amazed with the results!
You know those climbing houseplants in hanging baskets, with their stems dangling downwards? They certainly look pretty grown that way… but did you know they don’t “like it” too much? In fact,many will start to produce smaller and smaller leaves the longer they dangle.
Many climbing plants will fight tooth and nail (leaf and stem) against dangling. These plants contain hormones known as auxins in their stem tips, which stimulate leaf growth. When a plant dangles, it is essentially growing upside down, causing the auxins to dilute due to gravity, limiting or even stopping growth.
Climbing is the Ideal Lifestyle for Many Plants!
In the wild, when a hanging plant becomes disconnected from its support, it will often trail downward to the ground, producing increasingly smaller leaves, then its stem wanders off across the soil until it finds a new support it can climb.
Ivy is the perfect example that we see all around our area outside. Ivy can grow both up as a climber and on the ground as a groundcover, depending on the available surface to cling to. It is inclined to climb using its aerial roots, but it will also spread horizontally if there is no vertical structure to climb on.
When spreading horizontally, the ivy exhibits negative phototropism, which means they actually grow away from sunlight–how unplantlike! But there’s a strategy at play here. Ivy naturally looks for vertical surfaces to cling to and climb, and many of those, like the trunks of trees, tend to be in shaded spots. By growing into the shade, the ivy gives itself the best chance of finding a surface to thrive on.
Once the stem finds its anchor spot, it begins to grow upward and return to positive phototropism, growing toward the light and allowing for bigger, fuller leaves. The journey is complete, and plant happiness has been achieved!
If you give your plants something to climb, like a trellis, moss pole or wall, they can do some striking things!
Climbing plants bring life, color and texture to your living spaces and they’re a stylish, natural addition to your home decor. Let’s explore how to decorate your house with these versatile plants, and the care they require to thrive.
Philodendrons & Pothos
Philodendrons are considered one of the easiest plants to get climbing indoors, especially the vining varieties, as they naturally want to climb and can be easily trained to grow up a moss pole or trellis with minimal effort; making them our most popular choice for indoor climbing plants.
These aroids (philodendrons, pothos, monsteras and others) will begin to produce larger leaves — much larger leaves — when they’re able to climb and seek optimal light. Their stems get much thicker and stronger too!
Did you know your good ol’ pothos plant whose leaves are often barely 2 inches wide when it trails, is capable of producing leaves over 1 foot in diameter when it climbs??
Pothos
Pothos is a vining/hanging plant that is very adaptable to our interior environments allowing it to grow in almost any condition. Grow them on totems to get the largest leaves! Pothos like to be on the moist to dryer side, and definitely don’t like saturated soils.
An indoor plant jungle just isn't complete without a few totems to give vertical interest.
The hard part is deciding which one…or one(s)!
Consider mounting plants like orchids for more vertical gardening!
Healthy orchids grow quickly with vigorous root systems making it necessary to re-pot the orchid. While orchid enthusiasts are commonly thrilled to see the rhizomes making their way over the edge of the pot, it also indicates that re-potting is in order. Not so for mounted orchids! Orchids that are mounted rather than potted can live for many years on a slab of wood.
Like everything else in life, there are pros and cons to mounting. While they may not require repotting and therefore save you some time and energy, mounted orchids need more water than potted orchids.
Not only do mounted orchids need more frequent, perhaps daily watering, as their roots dry out much more quickly than potted orchids, but they need more water in the air. If you don’t have the time to dedicate to daily watering or the ability to provide high humidity, you may want to forgo mounting your orchid and keep it in a pot.
Vertical gardening is a fast-growing artform that can bring new life to those hard-to-reach spaces in the home, while allowing your plants to thrive upright, rather than droop on down. And so many plants like orchids, staghorn ferns, bromeliads, airplants and more can be mounted and hung to fill in gaps with botanical interest.
At the same time, your plants are yours to grow as you please! There's no harm done to a plant allowed to droop, but it's important to know how this will impact its growth patterns. As long as you're gardening, you're doing something good!
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