Beutify Your House With Vines And Hanging Plants

There are many vines and hanging plants available from local greenhouse and nurseries, or from mail-order suppliers across the country. In selecting varieties it is important to be able to communicate with the nursery personel in what you are looking for or what they are describing.

Below is a list description of decorative uses indoors or out, and information on culture and propagation. For easy reference, those terms are defined here:

Growth cycle Annual, lives for one season; biennial, flowers the second season, then dies; perennial, lives from year to year.

Perennials are herbaceous, die back to the soil in winter; woody, top growth persists. Woody perennials are evergreen, hold their leaves in winter; semievergreen, hold their leaves in mild climates; deciduous, drop their leaves in winter.

Hardiness Tender, tropical, suitable for house or greenhouse, outdoors in very warm climates; semihardy, will survive some frost, perhaps hardy north to climates like that of Washington, D.C.; hardy, suitable for severe areas but not, of course, guaranteed.

Climbing or hanging habit Climbs by coiling tendrils, twining stems, twining leaf- or flower-stems; climbs by coiling leaf-tips; climbs by clinging with aerial roots, or rootlike holdfasts, or tendril discs; climbs or hangs with long, lax stems; trails, prostrate over the soil, or by runners. This information is important in supplying supports.

Decorative qualities An indication or estimate of plants’ size and height; character or structural form – open or dense, bold or delicate; color of flower, fruit, foliage; texture – rough or smooth; what time of year flowers appear.

Decorative use, indoors Notes on whether the plant is suitable for framing a window, growing in indoor planters with natural or artificial light, on vertical areas like walls, in baskets and other hanging containers, or for small table-top compositions.

Decorative use, outdoors Whether the vine is useful for covering building walls, fences, structures like arbor or trellis; for training on a pillar as a garden specimen or accent; for covering ground or banks.

Decorative use, container gardening Whether the size is suitable for growing in tubs, boxes, other outdoor containers; and whether it is best used as background, for blending, or as specimen or accent.

Light and sunlight Full sun, all day and all year, except in tropical areas; semisun (in the North), full sun in winter, early morning and late afternoon sun in midsummer; no sun, does not need sunlight of any duration or intensity, but does need strong daylight.

Temperature In house or greenhouse, cool (45-60 degrees) ; average, moderate warmth (55-70 degrees); warm (60-80 degrees).

Humidity Indicated only when a plant needs 50% humidity or more.

Soil Sandy, provide an extra proportion of sand or substitute; rich in humus, supply added leaf mold or other humus; average, basic mixture for indoor plants, or light, fertile garden soil outdoors; acid, according to soil test; neutral, neither acid nor alkaline; alkaline, add lime to neutralize acid soil.

Soil moisture Keep soil constantly moist, don’t let it dry out thoroughly; on the dry side, dry thoroughly between waterings.

Resting or dormant period Information needed for deciding decorative use, and for determining method of pruning.

Training and pruning Time and frequency; method and purpose; and, vital for flowering vines, whether flowers are produced on old or new growth.

Propagating methods Timing and type of propagation: seeds; cuttings of stem, root, rhizome, leaf; division of roots, runners, offsets, bulbs, tubers; layering, ground or air.

Discover 100’s of Topics – 1000’s of Articles at Plant-Care.com for example:

• How To Care For Tree Roses
• Some Favorite House Plants
• Cordyline Bolero