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Want to take your houseplants from potted plant to living art? Try some creative mulching ideas! Mulches retain moisture, help keep pets out of soil and keep your “dirt” from looking so dirty. This little extra touch will have your indoor (and outdoor) potted menagerie looking like you paid a bundle for something that cost you a buck!
I admit, my houseplants are naked and bare. They probably shouldn’t be, especially the plants that are not yet very full, but they are. To tell the truth, I just haven’t thought much about it. A few years ago a friend of mine began mulching all her plants with Spanish moss. It looked great! I did try a few with decorative stones, one of which still survives today (which tells you how hard I can be on houseplants!!).
When I started to work at a garden center, my garden partner, LeAnn dutifully set to making gorgeous containerized plantings. She has a real knack for them, and part of her artfulness is in the decorative mulching she chooses. For indoor plants, LeAnn often combines sheet moss with glossy black or white stones. Just a few stones set on the “seams” of the moss to hold the ends in place. Sometimes she will use beautiful dried Spanish moss, which is grey and usually needs no additional adornment. The curly texture of this moss makes it nest-like around plant stems.
There are times when LeAnn also chooses “real” mulches such as the coconut mulch which comes in compressed blocks. It has a beautiful red-brown natural color, and is perfect for tender plants and trees that you might take outdoors in summer and bring back in when the temperatures drop. Lastly, LeAnn shows her true artistic tendencies with living mulches. Often termed “groundcovers” – live plants can act just as mulch does- to camouflage soil and hold in moisture. Tiny sedums can be used as living green carpets around larger houseplants – especially single stemmed specimens. Or, you may choose to add “living mulch” to your perennial container plantings as in the first picture, above. Creeping jenny, ajuga, small colorful heucheras, beautiful living mosses, tiny ferns…all manner of small or tiny leafed trailing plants make excellent living mulches.
Little finishing touches like mulch can make your plants look just like they came from an expensive florist. Tiny adornments can take your plant from sophisticated simplicity to whimsical fun. Whatever your style of plant or decoration, mulch is inexpensive and can add a little finesse.
Special thanks to LeAnn Howard of The Village Green in Atlanta
About Glynis Ward
Music, color and gardening - the three go hand in hand in my Electric Garden. I enjoy gardening organically for 12 months of the year in the South and am garden speaker and educator, coach and designer. I write about rock'n roll, vintage fashion and of course, gardening.
Posted by greenguerrila (from Boston, MA) on November 19, 2008 at 08:34 PM:
I happen to have some that is in danger of freezing. Using it to mulch is a great idea!!!
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Subject: IT'S ABOUT TIME
Posted by docgipe (from NORTH CENTRAL PENNSY, PA) on May 01, 2008 at 07:11 PM:
Why yes all soil indoor or outdoor should never see the sun light. Cover it always with plants and/or mulch. The mix of living plants and attractive moss both living and dead is a refreshing reminder that mulch need not be a ho hummer. Thanks for this interesting article.
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Subject: Great idea!
Posted by Cordeledawg (from Cordele, GA) on May 01, 2008 at 08:23 AM:
Your article is the answer to my delimma with my house plants! My cat loves digging in the dirt. I'll go shopping now for an indoor mulch. Maybe if she can't see the dirt she won't "use" the dirt. Love the idea of sedums and the moss too. Great article, GGG.
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Posted by cathy4 (from St. Louis County, MO) on May 01, 2008 at 01:11 PM:
They do look better with a finish, like a bow on a gift. Thanks for reminding me to try a tiny bit harder!
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Posted by Kelli (from Los Angeles (Canoga , CA) on May 01, 2008 at 08:43 PM:
Do you have trouble with mineral buildup on the stones after a while?
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Posted by girlgroupgirl (from Atlanta, GA) on May 01, 2008 at 10:40 PM:
Hi Kelli:
No, I do not get mineral build up. My soils are organic based, and I only fertilize occasionally with fish emulsion. I just take the plants outside to do it and let the smell burn off. The "mineral" build up is often salt from chemical fertilizers.
I have seen some organic houseplant fertilizers on the market more recently too. They are not carried by salts so should minimize build up.
There are times when LeAnn also chooses “real” mulches such as the coconut mulch which comes in 
Tiny adornments can take your plant from sophisticated simplicity to whimsical fun. Whatever your style of plant or decoration, mulch is inexpensive and can add a little finesse.
