How to with the H20
Be it an indoor jungle that you aspire to keep or just a few chosen favorites, indoor plants that grow well in water are a wonderful alternative to plants grown exclusively in soil. In this blog post I will focus mainly on indoor house plants cultivated in water as stylish decor. Indoor plants grown in a place of business, tend to take on a different aesthetic and feel. You could mimic these easy steps to grow plants in water at the office, shop or show room. If so, I suggest to display the plant on a larger or smaller scale and in either a truly understated or highly branded container.
Today, I’ll be highlighting 5 attractive indoor plants that thrive in water, as an alternative to growing them in soil. The main difference here is that there’s a few key steps to be followed when growing indoor plants in H20. As a rule use filtered tap, spring or rain water, straight up tap water is too harsh. As for my best tip in particular, use rain water when available as it's nitrogen rich and an truly an elixir for all indoor plants.
Key Grow Steps
Step 1
Be prepared to change the water the plant lives in, every 2 weeks to a month. Plants will absorb oxygen from the water, so it needs to be oxygen rich.
Step 2
Have a organic liquid fertilizer handy that you can add to the water every 2 weeks to a month. A few drops will do the trick. I like to use compost tea.
Step 3
Get creative when choosing plant containers, something unique or vintage picked up from a thrift store will work, or using a plain glass container inside a fancy wooden or ceramic outer display holder works too.
Step 4
Place the plant in a spot where it will get indirect sunlight for most of the day, with small periods of spotlights of sunlight. Most of the plants I’m about to share with you do like the light.
Step 5
Mist the leaves periodically to create humidity around the plant and pick a spot void of any drafts, cold plants don’t grow as well as comfortable warm ones do.
Following are the 5 plants that you can get started with that successfully grow in water. If for any reason you can’t get the plants to grow and they do expire, document your mistakes and start again. The plant gods will give you many chances to redeem yourself! Just don’t tell anybody how bad you are at keeping plants alive and grow from your errors.
Indoor Plants that grow well in water
Monstera -
The monstera deliciousa is on the lips of every modern day urban gardenista. A plant lovers favorite due to it’s incredible monster like ability to grow, along with it’s handsome leaf shape, this appealing plant does well when cultivated in a base of H20. Easily propagated, impress your friends with gift cuttings from this jungle beauty. It does well in moderate to highlight conditions.
Philodendron-
Philodendrons are sometimes mislabeled in a garden store as pothos. Although similar in shape and size, on closer inspection they aren’t two of the same at all, in fact rather different. Growing like a weed and super easy to maintain, this heart shaped, 2 tone leaf beauty has a delicate feel and trails magnificently out of any container. As it’s incredibly easy to propagate, ask around if anyone has a cutting before buying plant from a store. Elegant and classic, it adds a touch of charm to any room.
Wandering Jew -
As the story goes, urban myth has it that the Tradescantia zebra, was given it’s common name because of the practice of humans continually passing it on from cuttings. Again this pretty plant is very easy to propagate. Whatever you want to call this plant, it’s colorful, textural, patterned leaf, adds visual delight and a cool edge to any style. Pinch off spent leaves and stems as much as possible to create a bushier globe shaped cascading plant.
Pothos -
Botanists have changed the taxonomy of pothos since domesticating it from the wild. The plants we grow in our homes on scale are in their juvenile form and don’t come close to the size of their wild counterparts. The green leaves speckled and smudged with touches of white or yellow, have a marble like appearance, and the richness of the foliage color changes according to light exposure. In water pothos will grow quite long and grand and is from my personal experience the easiest plant for plant lovers of all levels, to keep alive. Over cultivated and over done, make your display of this plant special by teaming it up with a colorful or mirrored vase, and set the focal point up high to emphasize the free flowing volume and length of the fast growing vine.
Lucky Bamboo -
Mystical and mysterious, the auspicious connotation of this curled stemmed, type of bamboo, conjures up feelings of great juju, harmony and all round good luck. With emphasis on it’s winding shape, the single stems of this plant are striking when paired with assorted base rocks, in a clear glass container, filled with water. Shapely and strong, this whirling wonder will most probably outlast the other plants in your indoor collection.
Prefer to grow plants in soil? Check out my care tip and others shared on the Redfin blog, about growing house plants indoors here.
Watch my indoor plant watering tips video here.
