Here’s a Smart Spot To Hang Smaller Plants, According to a Feng Shui Expert
Plant parents know coming up with space-saving, creative ways to display a growing greenery collection can get difficult. You need to provide your plants with enough sunlight, space to grow, and, of course, water to live. If you’re looking for more functional and unique places to display your plants though, it may be time to consult an expert — or let me introduce you to one for a little bit of free plant styling advice.
Feng Shui plant consultant Clara Leung lives in a 1500-square-foot townhouse in Maryland with her fiancé, two children, and their dog, Tiva. She’s lived in this home for the past 14 years and strove to decorate it mindfully to maintain its balance of energy. “I grew up in Hong Kong where my mother and grandmother raised me with a strong foundation in Old Chinese Feng Shui,” Leung says in her house tour.
When searching for the perfect home for herself and her family, finding a place that was big enough to house all of her plants was a top priority. While her style marries modern, farm, and vintage elements with Chinese design, Leung’s favorite element in her entire home is actually her dedicated collection of rare plants. “Waking up every morning and coming down the stairs, my eyes are always trained on those plants,” she says. “I even say goodbye to them every night!”
Being pretty much a pro plant parent, Leung has a few smart display ideas up her sleeve. One brilliant spot for the right kind of plant in particular? Right inside her shower! While it’s not uncommon to stash some eucalyptus branches in above your shower head for a nice, fresh aroma, Leung’s approach to placing plants in her bathroom is pretty original in my book.
Instead of working her showerhead or hooking plants onto a shower curtain rod (which she doesn’t actually have… since her bath features a glass door), Leung suspended a curved wood branch from the ceiling inside her shower and used it as an anchor to hang five potted plants. This unique decor decision works for a lot of different reasons. For one, she used white ceiling hooks that almost blend completely into the ceiling. So from afar, it seems as though the branch is floating in mid-air, adding to the whimsical indoor forest factor. Secondly, if you have plants that thrive in high humidity atmospheres, what better place for those plants to live than right in your shower?
You really could recreate this look in just about any room in your home, though the bath has its advantages because of its air moisture and proximity to water for easy watering. You’ll also want to make sure that you have a window in your bathroom, as Leung has, so your plant babies are getting the sun necessary to thrive. So it’s important to find the perfect hanging plant. Keep in mind that wherever you decide to display your plants, in this hanging branch fashion or otherwise, you also still need easy access to them for feeding. If you’re going to work your ceilings like this or even just a high spot on a wall, you’ll have to be comfortable with watering on a step ladder or using one to bring plants down to drink when they’re dry.