I need a plant(s) suggestion.

I have a plant shelf above the bathroom wall and it remains plantless. :) Some natural light comes in from one side, but from the shady side of the house. Is there anything that doesn't mind being in the dark most of the time AND likes the humidity from showers/baths? It would also have to be short, preferably vining as the opening is only about 12" tall. Anybody have any ideas?

how bout silk....lol

This is probably totally impractical, but I've been looking at orchids yet again, and there are some smaller ones that will take 500-1000 footcandles - though I don't know if you even get that much in that location. They would love the humidity. Note some of these are tiny. (And pricey if you're not hooked on orchids already.) They also won't like to be steamed....

Some egs:
http://andysorchids.com/pictureframe.asp?pic=images/Species/1872med.jpg&PicId=1872
http://andysorchids.com/pictureframe.asp?pic=images/Species/2380med.jpg&PicId=2380
http://andysorchids.com/pictureframe.asp?pic=images/Species/1860med.jpg&PicId=1860
http://andysorchids.com/pictureframe.asp?pic=images/Species/1856med.jpg&PicId=1856

Kaempferia would work well. A dwarf Anthurium may work as well, depending on the height. They both prefer shady conditions, and love the "humid tropics".

Chris

Chele:

I have a cast iron plant (Aspidistra elatior) in my bathroom. It's not a vine but it is small at the moment and seems to like the humidity.

http://www.plant-care.com/PlantTips/1999/010899.htm

There is a deep medicine cabinet in my bathroom, which makes a high shelf. The cabinet is on the wall perpendicular to the window. The window is relatively large and faces west, but is all frosted glass and there is awning outside. The top of the shelf is at about the same height as the top of the window. On top of the cabinet I have a small parlor palm and a Janet Craig dracena. They've been there for a couple years. Once or twice a year, they get a vacation in a brighter part of the house.

Thanks for the tips! Sorry I did not get back sooner. This was my first chance between work and the crash today. I'll do some research and see if any of these will work for me. Do any of you know if ivy, philo or pothos would work?

Ivy, yes depending on variety. Pothos the same. Philo, probably not, unless it's well lit, or you have kids that refuse to turn the lights off.

I have a couple of baby Philodendrons in my bathroom in about the same condition...they are doing pretty good.
I can share one of the babies with you if you want to try it out. I also have a regular old fashioned Philo in a rooting vase that is suction cupped to the mirror..it is doing well,too.
If you wanta try it out just email me .I have other trades going out in the mail for Thursday and can pop it over to you.
LMK.
MsC

sarv, I forgot to say LOL and you are probably right! :)

I'll have to look around at the types of potho and ivy available and I'll make sure to check labels. I was just thinking it would be nice to have something live in there, while also figuring it was too dark for anything to be happy. I recently saw a basket on a desk at the hospital and it barely got any light at all and despite that, the planter was still growing along nicely. I could tell it had been there awhile because the plants were very long, not nice and thick like when you first get it. It was obviously a florist type arrangement.

Ms C. it is very generous of you to offer! I'll look around here though. I am sure I can get a 4" pot for about what postage would cost and I hate to take one of your plants knowing that. And if it died....boy would I feel guilty!! :)

i have my spiders n hoyas in the bathroom on the north side of the house!

I'd think pothos would get kind of leggy and scrawny. Some people have them here at work (fairly bright fluorescent light ~10 hours a day, absolutely no sunlight) and they get pretty rangey and lose a lot of leaves.

ZZ?

I've never had a problem with Philod. in any room of my home. As long as there is some sort of natural light and on occasion a lamp on at night they do great. Almost too well. I think one would be great in there. You would have to keep it trimmed though, because of the space you have to work with. They aren't difficult or picky and they can be beautiful. Especially the burgundy. Mere

'Chele... I had a small Peace Lily in my bathroom over the winter, about 3 feet from the window. I didn't think it would do well, but had no other place to put it. Of several I had around the house, only this one survived AND flowered!

It must love the humidity, and the low light.

Thanks for even more suggestions! I had pothos in my dining room which gets decent light all day, but a lot of light in the afternoon and early evening and they croaked! It was a mix of plain green and variegated ones. Spider plants and a decent sized peace lily do just fine here, even with less light because they are on the other side of the room. I guess that is why I am hesitant to put any of these in the bathroom. The other night at work, they marked all the 'tropicals' down to $2 and $4 to get rid of them. I did buy a small bushy type of Dracena (too lazy to go get the name LOL) that said it liked medium light. Most of the others said bright, or bright indirect. The bathroom does stay well lit, but nothing like sunlight or lighting, very indirect! I have it on the back of the toilet in the bathroom closest to the window. Anyway, had I felt less pregnant that night, I really could have cleaned up. They had parlor palms, corn plants (the big grafted dracena), small dracena, big ones, all sorts of vining and big leafy plants, just not enough time or interest for me at that very moment. LOL You know I am kicking myself now. Some of the plants were 4 feet tall give or take and the prices were $2 and $4. Silk plants are sounding better and better for the bathroom ledge. :) Hey, nothing to water and nothing to clean up.

wish I was there. (sale) LOL

LOL I joked about buying them all if they would mark them down to $1. But there were more than 60 left. LOL I forgot about it and went home. Geeze!

You still have to clean silk plants though!

I bought some really great stuff to clean the one in my under-the-stairwell windowless bathroom downstairs. Works like a charm. Need to do it agaain though. Geez they get dusty!

Judith

YOu have to clean real plants now and then, too. I do this for a living. I have a small parlour palm in my bathroom with the window that faces north. It likes the windowsill most of the year, except it can't stand the heat that comes from the vent over the window all winter. I had to move it off the sill to the vanity counter to save it. When the heat goes off, it will go back on the sill. I also have a pellionia,or 'watermelon pellionia' which is also called 'polynesian ivy' on the plant tag. Not an ivy, but a cute plant which is sitting away from the window on my towel stand in the same bathroom, ditto, doesn't care for the windowsill when the heat is on. Supposedly they come bigger than the 4" one I have and in hanging baskets, but I haven't seen any that way around here. It is living a happy life in my usually dim bathroom. as for ZZ, or Zamioculcas zamiifolia, It is a large plant and it gets rather tall and leggy, though it does extremely well in way low light. you can get little ones in the Home depots of the world, but they will get bigger.