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troy1191

Indoor vine ideas/help

troy1191
11 years ago

My boyfriend and I just set up this nice little nook in our bedroom with 3 window boxes and a lattice (which reeks of wood stain right now! :p ). I want to put up a nice vine on it but am having a planters block. Different parts of it get direct light for a couple hours a day and it gets bright diffused light almost all day. I am open to installing some additional lighting but would like to start without it.

I don't want anything with aerial roots like pothos or the sort as some day I may move it or change the vines out and don't want to ruin the lattice. Twining vines are fine but Tendril types would be best! I've looked at Passifloras and Cissus discolor but I would like some more input! I would love to grow clematis year round but they really aren't the type of plant to be indoors all year.

Any Ideas would be super helpful!
-Troy

Comments (18)

  • birdsnblooms
    11 years ago

    Troy,

    What a nice setup. Beautiful lattice-workmanship!

    You're right, Clematis are outdoor plants. Don't bother. Clematis go into dormancy. Actually, I'd avoid buying any outdoor plants.

    Passionvine are lovely, but need a good amount of light. Especially in winter. During summer, most do well in bright, indirect. Too low, vines grow spindly.

    How much light reflects from your windows and which direction do they face?

    How about Vanilla? Especially variegated.

    Another option is Clerodendrum. Again, variegated is very pretty.
    Clerodenrums thrives in low light areas, and in proper conditions, flower.

    Cissus discolor has beautiful foliage, but can be fussy. Maybe you'd have better luck than I did, so I wouldn't exclude Cissus.

    Toni

  • teengardener1888
    11 years ago

    English ivies love trellises

  • birdsnblooms
    11 years ago

    Teen, there are several gorgeous Ivy varieties, but one problem growing Ivy indoors is mites. Mites love Ivy as much as we do.

  • bedtime
    11 years ago

    I question how much light the far right side will get. I think the vines will have a tendancy to travel towards the window now matter what you do.

    I'd recommend a heartleaf philodendron as they do excellent in low light conditions and you might not even need that extra light installed.

    Do you have any means of draining excess water in the those containers? In not then there may be a chance of root rot with most any ivy indoors.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Bedtime, I'm surprised your Philo isn't making aerial roots. It looks fantastic! In under 4 months while inside, several aerial roots stuck themselves to my walls. They do that outside if they reach the wall, or on the floor of the deck.

    If you put cache pots in the boxes, it would be easy to change soil at some point in the future. Just lift the pot, remove it from the roots, chop most of it off, brush off the remaining soil, slide new pot under. Would take two people and a good covering of newspaper under the area, after moving the couch out for a minute.

    I might recommend a couple things not really thought of as vines, but would suit your purpose well. Tradescantia zebrina or fluminensis, and Callisia repens would LOVE to be woven up the lattice. It's not something they could accomplish without occasional guidance, but I think you'd be happy with it. As succulents, a small pot is fine, infrequent watering preferred.

    Tradescantia fluminensis:

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Forgot all of the plants are outside and it's dark. Will take a new pic of Callisia repens growing UP instead of down tomorrow.

    I haven't done this with T. zebrina yet but it's on my list of house plant experiments for this summer. The pieces that overwintered in the ground outside under leaves are fantastic. I had to move it to make room for a shelter over my potting bench, so it's not still in really long pieces. I think leaning over the side of a pot creates a pressure point and anticipate it would grow faster without that, and with a support like lattice.

    There's also no reason to pick just one thing, or go from just one direction. A mixture of different plants would be the most interesting to me, you like a minimalist thing of just one kind of plant though.

    You could hang tiny plants there with some little hooks, as many or as few as you want. Wax Begonias would bloom there, and don't need much soil. Cane Begonias might bloom there also.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Ok here's the promised pic, just glad this plant's still here after last nights' storm. Callisia repens growing UP.

  • marricgardens
    11 years ago

    What about a variegated hoya? I think that would be neat.

  • wndy_gardenweb
    11 years ago

    Purple: I'm not sure where bedtime lives, but when I lived in Grand Forks, ND, I had a philodendron (1 year in a dorm, 2 years in a college apartment), and I never had aerial roots (sounds pretty cool, would make cuttings easier, right? though I suppose it would get annoying over time..)

    The air was extremely dry on account of having the heat on all the time (outside air during winter those years was around 20 F to -40 F, usually around -10 or 0. I am wondering if that had something to do with it not making those roots? Over those years it grew from a "bush" in a 10" shallow pot, to about 4-5' of many vines dangling off the edge of the bookshelf. I miss that plant!

    As for this indoor vine project, I agree with what Purple says... several types of plants would make it most interesting, I think. The following links contain some examples of mixed-species "green walls" (I thought they were similar enough to your lattice). Not all of those ideas will work with having one big pot at the bottom of the lattice, but maybe they'll give you some inspiration :)

    http://plantsonwalls.blogspot.com/

    http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/plant-walls-for-the-home-by-ja-63408

    http://www.greendiary.com/greenwoks-self-sufficing-modular-plant-wall.html

    Just do a search on "plant wall" for some more fun ideas. Hope you post more pictures once you've picked & planted your plants :-)

    - Siobhan

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Hey, Wndy, I'm not sure if it's humidity, age, or availability of a support to climb up that causes this Philo to start making tons of aerial roots. Could be some combo of these factors, I'm curious with you. I don't think they can ruin a wall, but can cause it to need to be sanded and painted. If you are into trading plants, this one would be easy to get again, and not hard to find in stores.

    Your links clickable:
    http://plantsonwalls.blogspot.com/
    http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/plant-walls-for-the-home-by-ja-63408
    http://www.greendiary.com/greenwoks-self-sufficing-modular-plant-wall.html

    OK, I have a fixation with Tradescantias, T. pallida could be woven up lattice also...

  • wndy_gardenweb
    11 years ago

    Ah, thanks for making them hyperlinks!

    Yes, I had been without one for many years, but a few days ago I went to the store to pick up some medium to start cuttings in, and they had a little one for $4. I'm trying to stick to a budget, so I passed on the larger ones (similar size to what I started with before). I broke down and bought the little guy... hoping in time to get lots of cuttings and then repot them all into one pot again... I think they're one of the most beautiful plants, something about that heart-shaped leaf... and the fact that they've never died on me! :-D

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    YW. That's a perfectly reasonable price and I agree, in time you'll be trying to give chunks of it away!

  • wjp4140
    11 years ago

    The common name for Callisia is wandering jew,right? I have the purple variety.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Wjp, you probably have Tradescantia zebrina.

    There are many Callisias, and even more Tradescantias, with even more common names...

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Won't let me edit, could also be Tradescantia pallida.

  • birdsnblooms
    11 years ago

    Purple,

    Would you happen to have picture of your Philo w/aerial roots?

    Are Philos trained to grow upright more likely to produce aerial roots than those that hang? Toni

  • birdsnblooms
    11 years ago

    Purple,

    Would you happen to have picture of your Philo w/aerial roots?

    Are Philos trained to grow upright more likely to produce aerial roots than those that hang? Toni

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Toni, there are several pics here. November & February. They're doing it hanging and on a support - and on the wall.