Hanging plants and traffic light plants for rooms and balconies

First of all, it is important to have a “little plan of the whole”. With a hanging plant or a hanging plant you bring a plant into the house that will develop a lot of leaves. As pretty as it can look, a hanging plant in the wrong place can quickly become a nuisance, and do it right.

On the other hand, exactly this mass of leaves is their advantage, which grows out of a hanging, relatively small pot. With a hanging plant you can green corners where, with the best will in the world, there is no location for a flower pot. Only one hook has to be attached somewhere, and that can always be attached, if in doubt the hanging plant hangs down from the ceiling.

But the growth form and care needs of the corresponding plant must fit exactly into this space, and you certainly have your own design ideas as well.

It is therefore advisable to first consider what is actually to be achieved with the greening of the hanging plants. Should a “jungle in the living room” be created or is there just a small accent missing on the boring wall? Do you want the overhanging abundance of flowers on the balcony to trigger enthusiastic shouts from passers-by, or do you just want to see a little more green around you, or is your goal a hanging planting from which you can take the leaves for your daily tea or fresh ingredients for the kitchen can harvest?

Anything is possible, but it will only work if you give it a little thought beforehand. Some suitable hanging plants for all these goals and purposes are presented below:

Hanging and hanging plants for the room

Hanging plants for keeping in the room should first and foremost be selected according to their light requirements to match the respective location (hanging place), because the light is a non-changeable factor of the location that decides whether the hanging plant becomes a design element or rather a nuisance in need of care .

Hanging plants for sunny spots in the living room

• The Chinese knotweed, Fallopia aubertii, also known as “slip knotweed”, often grows so vigorously outdoors that it has to be fought. In the room it’s different, he can’t escape from a pot, and if he gets too cheeky, just prune him hard. The knotweed thrives indoors if it enjoys direct sunlight for a few hours a day and is given fertilizer in the summer.
• The green lily, Chlorophytum comosum, is one of the most frugal hanging plants and brings a lot of green into the room with its long runners. It needs a lot of water and will then produce not only green but also “Kindeln”, small spider plants that you can cut off and plant and hang up in the next place that needs decoration. Spider plants should be hung from a rotating hook. They grow towards the light, so develop a nice, even growth habit if you rotate them a few times.
• Cat’s tail, Acalypha hispada, brings abundance of flowers with fluffy red “cat’s tails”. The cat’s tail is a spurge plant that can bloom almost all year round, especially in sunny places. It should only be protected from burns by the blazing midday sun by shading.
• The candlestick flower, Ceropegia woodii, complements the red splendor as a milkweed plant with very elegant flowers in all shades from green-white to dark violet, extremely attractive, it also likes bright sunny places.

Hanging plants for bright rooms without direct sun

• Ivy, Hedera, can be used in different ways as a hanging plant in the home. The ivy kept as a houseplant likes it quite cool, so it should not be hung up near a heater. Unlike garden ivy, which is often supposed to help out in the last shady corner, indoor ivy needs light, without direct sunlight, to develop beautiful leaf colors.
• The ivy, Epipremnum aureum, is one of the most popular hanging basket plants because it develops its meter-long tendrils without excessive care efforts. Ivy will thrive in any bright spot without full sun, and you have the choice of whether you want it to climb up or let it hang down.
• Antler fern , Platycerium bifurcatum or Platycerium grande, grows on trees in Australia, so it needs a lot of light here too, without direct, burning sun. Then he likes to let the decorative fronds hang down from a traffic light, in the case of P. grande in a length of up to 140 cm. A real eye-catcher due to the unusual leaf shape.
• The kiwi knotweed, Muehlenbeckia, is one of the ornamental novelties. The uncomplicated hanging plant has been making a career for us for around two years. The kiwi knotweed is really an exceptionally grateful traffic light plant.
• The Klimme, Cissus, is the wine for the living room. He loves the light, but shouldn’t stand in the burning sun. The Klimme must not become dry in the root area, but must not sink into waterlogging either.
• Throat vine, Columnea, is sold in various hanging species, Columnea hirta and C. gloriosa, and hybrids. It should be hung up as brightly as possible, but not in the blazing sun, likes high humidity and temperatures around 20° C.

Hanging plants and hanging plants for darker rooms

• Arrowroot, Maranta leuconeura, is one of the few plants that will thrive in fairly dark environments. But it needs some moisture, the warmer it hangs, the more, if necessary, spraying regularly can help. The variegated ornamental plant with its large leaves looks very decorative as a traffic light plant.
• The maidenhair vine, Parthenocissus henryana, also known as wild vine, is a convenient ornamental plant with a hanging habit. It does not make great demands on light or the soil and is an ideal hanging plant for bright and cool rooms, but loses some of its leaves in winter and only sprout freshly in spring.

Flowering hanging plants for the balcony

Flowering hanging plants are loved by all homeowners who not only want to decorate their balcony with flowers, but the entire facade. A house with all the balconies planted with magnificent flowering plants is a beautiful sight. Do you live in the city? Imagine if all the balconies on your street were adorned with overhanging blossoms in summer! Life would be a little friendlier, wouldn’t it?

Here is a series of “overhanging floral wonders”:

• Aspilia ‘Brasilia Gold’ is a new discovery, cascading its daisy-like yellow flowers over the parapet well into autumn. This easy-growing flower enables all balcony gardeners who don’t like it so colorful to have a calm design.
• The Calibrachoa is an abundantly blooming nightshade plant that adorns traffic lights or parapets in a wide variety of colors (Balcony Flower of the Year 2012 in Rhineland-Palatinate).
• The Chilean jasmine, Mandevilla laxa, brings elegant white flowers and, as an encore, a wonderful jasmine scent to the balcony.
• The hanging fuchsia, fuchsia, is one of the classics among flowering hanging plants. The evening primrose family is sold in so many varieties, colors and variants that it never gets boring.
• Gloxinia morning glories, Asarina, free-flowering hanging plants, which are mainly offered in two types: Asarina barclaiana with red or violet flowers on the outside and lighter colored flowers on the inside, and A. scandens, which are available in all colors from white-pink to blue-violet. Both Gloxinia morning glories bloom from June until the first frost. If they are sunny and slightly sheltered from the wind, without special requirements.
• The cat’s tail, like that, also likes to adorn the balcony.
• The petunias are the real stars among the overhanging balcony flowers, their large, expressive flowers in white and yellow, red and blue and countless shades in between inspire many gardeners.
• The shamflowers , Aeschynanthus, are actually indoor plants, but they also feel comfortable on the balcony in summer. Its flowers delight with bright red.
• Black-eyed Susanne, Thunbergia alata, looks great in a hanging pot or balcony box, with lots of small flowers in yellow, red and/or white.
• Hanging carnations, whether Swiss, Tyrolean or Engadine, embellish the balcony with magnificent colors, and they do so for months.

Hanging plants with real utility

A balcony with flowers is beautiful, of course, but wouldn’t it be even nicer if the balcony also had something delicious to offer? Here you go, there are sweet and exciting things:

• Andean berries, Physalis peruviana, develop such a rich mass of leaves that they can also be grown as hanging plants. The harvest of the physalis begins in late summer and continues into autumn. Andean berries need a lot of sun, nutrient-rich soil and the occasional organic fertilizer so that they bear well.
• Balcony owners with children can create lasting memories by planting hanging strawberries in the balcony boxes instead of pretty flowers. Also not wrong for balcony owners without children: The monthly strawberries not only taste wonderfully aromatic and sugar-sweet, but also look really chic with their long tendrils on which the bright red fruits hang.
• There are tomato varieties specially grown for window box cultivation, which usually grow on poles. However, if you For example, if you plant a cherry tomato that has grown into a bush, there is nothing wrong with letting this cherry tomato grow freely. Then it will not only grow upwards, but can also spread out hanging to the sides.
• Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica): has a bad reputation in the garden because it quickly becomes an almost unmanageable weed in any place with sufficient light. It’s different on the balcony, here he can hardly escape his pot. Especially when it’s hanging high in the air. Japanese Knotweed is quite an amazing plant, with incredible vigour. It is known in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine under the name “Polygonum cuspidatum”. Among other things, as antibacterial, antiviral, blood-cleansing, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, antifungal and analgesic. Knotweed is also the plant with the highest content of resveratrol, the new “miracle cure” among antioxidants. Nobody should really miss such a plant, who wants to benefit from his balcony planting. However, the entire upper plant mass dies off each autumn. Japanese knotweed can be kept in a larger bucket on the balcony. It then has to be watered a little about once a month, even in winter.
• The arrowroot was just mentioned as a traffic light plant for poorly lit areas, but it is also a plant to be harvested: the root of the Maranta arundinacea is a starchy vegetable that people who are curious about food usually already know as an extract of starch flour, which is used in sauces without color and Flavor change thickens. Of course, the root itself is also edible when fresh, like potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes, and the foliage of Maranta arundinacea is actually much prettier than that of the ornamental Maranta leuconeura.
• The pepper plant, Piper nigrum, is a perennial climber that can also be planted very well as a traffic light plant. On your balcony? If I’m kidding you, shouldn’t I go where the pepper grows? No, actually, there are several pepper plants that want to be incredibly decorative as they climb along your balcony, including the spice pepper, whose green berries are said to taste exceptionally fresh from the bush.

Conclusion
Hanging plants make a lot possible and there are many more ideas. Plant the balcony with hardy hanging plants. You can use the design with hanging baskets and terracotta strawberry pots. Growing vegetables on the balcony or hanging plants as interior design elements are also possible.