Choosing climbing plants for indoors ?
Key growth requirements to factor into your design include: available light, climbing substructure, spacing, specifying plant size & installation techniques.
I’m working on a great project in Melbourne for Whitehorse City Council - the Nunawading Community Hub. The architecture team have designed a “living green curtain” with vertical trellis wires to create a separation between between meeting rooms.
Growing on a trellis wire...
Some plants climb vertically - on walls or other structures.Other plants creep horizontally across the garden floor.
A trellis requires a species that can twine - these species extend nodal/ aerial roots that lodge into small cracks or voids in the bark of trees.
A trellis doesn’t have small cracks, but the leading vine stems can be trained / manually twined around the wire - the use of an occasional horticultural clip or tie can help.
Selection for Indoor Light Conditions...
Epipremnum “Dragon’s Tail” - an evergreen vine from the Aracae family.
Growth Habbit: Vining/Climbing/Epiphyte.
The Dragon's Tail grows well in bright, indirect sunlight but will also tolerate low light conditions.
The plant is hardy and doesn’t require a lot of water, allow the top layer of soil to dry between waterings. This species is a good choice for beginner gardeners.
The Dragon's Tail climbs by means or aerial roots & can grow over 1m tall. Young leaves are elliptical to arrow-shaped with mature leaves up to 300-500mm long. The foliage is a leathery, dark green.
Twining species can tumble but are known to be good climbers if trained properly.
Epipremnum aureum -Devil’s Ivy
A variegated plant, also know as the Golden Pothos, also from the Aracae family.
Epipremnum aureum will survive even with no natural light at all and is quite happily kept in dark or shaded corners. It will thrive on fluorescent lighting, thereby making it an ideal office plant.
The plant is hardy and tolerates variable watering and drought conditions. This plant is known to filter and purify the air.
Spacing ...
Normally a 200mm pot is a good size for this application - there is more than one leading tendril & the plant is fairly advanced.
At Nunawading, we're specifying 150mm pots at a spacing of 200mm so there is sufficient room for the plants to set down their roots and growth up and for the living green curtains. For large species such as the Dragon’s Tail, a 300mm spacing might be more suitable.
Specifying and installation...
Specify plants that are staked - they will be ready for upright growth. Plant the vine at the base of the trellis and gently train the leading edges of the plant to the vine to encourage upright growth.
Ireland Brown Construction, Landscape Plus and Ambius Indoor Plants have contributed to this project.
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