Plant Aesthetics: Getting the Look You Want
Plants can really make a space look nicer. In addition to being a hobby, they also enhance the aesthetic of your home. And creating an aesthetic with plants isn’t just about deciding which plants you want or where you’ll put them.
There are other things you can do to control the look of your plants. Here are some tips for getting the look you want with your leafy co-habitants.
Force growth
Getting plants to grow is something you primarily attain through nutrition and an appropriate watering schedule. That being said, even with the right basic care, you don’t always get the results you want.
To force more growth, you need to trim and propagate the plants. Propagation is when you make a cutting from an existing plant and then grow the cutting into its own separate plant. Doing this can quickly create more greenery in your home (or whatever space you plan to fill with plant life).
Trimming and propagating the cuttings is especially useful if you have a plant with long, vinelike growth that doesn’t seem to be growing a lot of leaves. Trimming will help the plant look fuller instead of stemmy. Of course, you can also let a plant grow long, thin vines or stems if you like that look.
Combine plants
There’s no rule that you can only put one plant in a pot.
If you have a couple of plants that aren’t very full, you can also make them pot mates. Repotting one or both of the plants so that they share a container will make them look fuller, even though they’re really just two separate plants. This works as long as there is plenty of root space for each.
Encourage climbing growth
For tall or climbing plants, the way to get the best growth is to give them some support. After all, climbing plants need something to climb on.
You can do this by simply staking the plant or by using 3M hooks. Clear 3M hooks are a cool way to encourage a plant to grow up a wall.
This is an example of a plant with a stake for support:
And here’s one climbing up a wall with 3M hooks:
Clean or dust your plants
Wiping the dust off your plants with a damp cloth makes the leaves look cleaner and shinier, but it also improves the overall health of the plant. That’s because keeping dust and dirt off the leaves gives the plant better access to sunlight for photosynthesis.
You can also use white oil to wipe the leaves, which doubles as a pest preventative.
Turn the containers
Plants like to grow towards light, and they can become lopsided as they continuously reach toward the same side of the room. You can even out their growth by occasionally turning the containers to let other sides of the plant face the sunlight.
These tips can help you turn your plants into beautiful décor and enhance your indoor gardening hobby. If you’re looking for new plants to fill your space, we keep a variety at The Tye-Dyed Iguana in Fairview Heights.