Herself's Houseplants

Every other year the River Oaks Garden Club of Houston puts on a Major Flower Show at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts

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Komedama with vanilla orchid

I’d seen the Japanese hanging plants potted in moss around the internet and have had them on my wish list for a few months.

I decided to try first with orchids, they are potted only in moss, and I have more orchids than places to put them.

I unpotted the vanilla orchid, and packed the moss into a tight round ball.

I picked up some thin wire and hooks at the craft store in the bead section, I wasn’t sure string would hold up well and I didn’t want to see the string. I wrapped the ball of moss containing the plant in wire until the wire held all the moss in place.

I attached two hooks, each to an end of an 18″ strand of thin wire, one I hooked to the ceiling, one to the moss ball.

The entire project took about 15 minutes ( not counting clean up ), cost was less than a dollar per Kokedama hanging planter

Supplies for Kokedama

Next time I’ll use some wire closer in color to the moss and I’ll use a hook at the top only and just attach the hanging string directly to the moss ball.

For plants other than orchids you’ll want a ball of 2/3 bonsai soil or peat moss mixed with 1/3 clay inside of the moss.

Kokedama (moss ball/bonsai with out a pot) is a form of Japanese bonsai. Typically the plant is removed from the container, roots are trimmed to bonsai the plant and it is planted in a ball of bonsai soil wrapped in moss.

It is said to have originated in the Edo Era (1603-1868 ) in Japan. The moss balls were not hung up but sit in a shallow container or flat tray.

Part of what holds the ball in place are the plant roots, as the plant grows it will more tightly bind the soil ball.

kokedama phalaenopsis

String of Pearls

This is the first String of Pearls I’ve owned in a very long time. The flowers caught my eye, it’s the first one I’d seen in flower. Flowering takes place in the winter. The flowers have a sweet cinnamon scent.

This makes a great house plant despite liking lots of light. The brighter the window the better, mine is in direct afternoon sun and very happy. When the light is right the plant will flower in the winter and the pearls will be close together on the strand, too little light and you’ll see larger gaps between the pearls (leaves).

They are a succulent so be careful not to over water them, especially in the winter months. Treat it as you would a cactus only watering it when the top of the soil is very dry.

It is fairly hardy temperature wise and can handle temperatures occasionally down to 10′F, far lower than any indoor location is likely to get.

Every part of this plant is toxic.

It is a vine, so it is easy to make plants to share, just snip off a bit of a strand, remove pearls so that three or more nodes can be placed in soil and keep moist until it roots. Because it is a succulent let the cuttings dry over night before planting.

The strings will grow 2′-3′ easily and if happy 6′-8′, a bit of trimming will keep the plant lush and prevent it from getting too stringy.

This plant does well in a cactus potting mix.

Native to South Africa

Asteraceae is the sunflower/aster family of plants