By Carissa Casares | SDUN Columnist
Houseplants do not have to be boring. Really. You may currently think of a houseplant as something that is dying, shriveled up and sitting on your table in a sad state, but perhaps that’s the problem. Houseplants don’t necessarily need to be sitting on a table. A number of planters bring new life to houseplants by showcasing them in unexpected ways: upside down, inside clear glass, against a wall. Forget about basic pots and instead look for interestingly designed modern planters. With these, indoor plants have never looked better. We’ve rounded up some of the most interesting planters out there to make bringing plant life indoors a whole lot easier.
Boskke (www.boskke.com), a New Zealand-based design company, designs gardening tools and products for people who live in densely populated urban environments. Rather than take up table space like a traditional planter, their cleverly named sky planter hangs from the ceiling or can be mounted on a wall with their wall mount. The sleek, modern-looking design resembles a traditional planter…only it hangs upside down. Boston ferns, orchids and English ivy all grow well in the sky planter. Or, you could put it in your kitchen and grow mint, parsley, fennel or even strawberries. They come in sizes extra-small, small and medium, so you can group them in variations. Or, you can just have one. Either way, they look fantastic. They’re available locally at Pigment (3047 30th St., North Park/www.shoppigment.com)
Woolly Pockets can be hung directly on a wall and allow you to build a vertical garden anywhere in your home. The planters, made of recycled materials, have a unique moisture barrier that conserves water and maintains soil nutrition. A number of plants could do well in the pockets, everything from herbs to succulents. The pockets are made to be modular, so you can assemble them in grids and create large expanses of foliage-covered walls. They look terrific when planted with dense, leafy plants that eventually grow out and over the pocket itself. When this happens, it looks like there are plants growing straight out of the wall. They’re available locally at Mission Hills Nursery (1525 Fort Stockton Dr., Mission Hills/www.missionhillsnursery.com).
The Circle Planter from Potted (www.pottedstore.com), a specialty garden shop in Los Angeles, is a gorgeous way to incorporate plants indoors. The crescent moon-shaped ceramic planter can either hang from the ceiling or rest on a table. Depending on where it’s placed in your home, it could be filled with a variety of plants. For a relatively easy look, you could purchase tillandsia (commonly referred to as air plants), which require only a bit of water on their root structure two to three times a week, and just nestle them inside…no planting required.
Mixture (2210 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy/www.mixturehome.com) carries two sizes of a gorgeous recycled bubble glass terrarium that hangs from a length of thick rope. Terrariums have seen a surge of popularity recently, and for good reason: the miniature landscapes look stunning in any room. For those skeptical of actually planting inside the bubble, you could simply fill it with air plants instead. Some of the larger varieties, like Xerographica or Concolor, would fill up the space quite nicely and add a vibrant burst of color.
Make sure you ask plenty of questions at your local nursery about the kind of plant you’re going to use. One of the most common problems with houseplants is that they don’t receive proper light or hydration. While succulents are great because they require little water, they do require ample light, so make sure you place them by a window where they’ll get at least two to three hours of sunlight a day.
Carissa Casares is a freelance journalist and San Diego native currently living in Mission Hills. She has five plants in her relatively small apartment.
