Living room houseplant

We have just moved into a new (for us) house and our furniture doesn't really fit/go all tha well. We ended up having to put two pieces together that *really* don't look good together in the living room! One is a fairly tall secretary type unit with glass shelves on the top and the other is a piano. The colors and wood are very different and I don't like they way they look next to each other at all. Very cold and boring.

So we got the idea to put a tall houseplant between them to break it up and add some color and softness to that wall. I am not very familiar with a lot of different types of houseplants other than the basic ones. Any suggestions for what might look good there?

I went to a nursery and the only tallish plant that wasn't too bushy and wide was a 'cinnamon' plant. I have tried to look that up online but can't find it. So possibly it is called something else.

One idea I had was to get one of those teepee shaped trellises (I would buy something attractive and 'living-room-worthy') and train a vine type of plant up it in order to get the height and the narrowness required. (A big bushy ficus probably won't fit here.)

Of course I would love it if I could get something that flowered and/or smelled good.

The lighting is okay - not really great and probably fairly low light in the winter as there is a wrap-around porch that blocks a lot of the light. The windows that aren't covered by a porch are north facing.

Advice?

Thanks,
Gwen

Gwen, with low light you're going to have a hard time finding something that has flowers. However, dracena fragans - http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/11606/ - is said to be a flowering plant - I've had one for years that's never bloomed in a low light condition. My boss has had one in his office for about 7 yrs, in a north facing window- and its never bloomed either. Some people just have the touch I guess 8-).

But it would likely be narrow enough to fill up that space.

Good luck!

Christine

You said a ficus would be too big and bushy for your area. Have you thought of keeping one trimmed a bit smaller? I've recently trimmed mine because it was not as bushy as it used to be. It's the best thing I ever did for it.

I have 18" clay pot with Pothos ivy growing up a 7-1/2 foot copper obelisk. It's by a northeast facing window so it gets about an hour of sunlight during the summer. It's growing quite well. It takes up only a 2-1/2 foot circle. I moved it for Christmas and haven't had a chance to move it.

Wow bettydee! That's an awesome pic! Can I ask a question about pothos now? Mine seems to loose leaves (not alot, just a few here and there) near the base of the plant......then maybe another one a few weeks later, and eventually I end up with a long stem with no leaves. Sometimes it will start to leaf out again at a node or two, but not always. At this point I usually cut it off and lay it in a pot and it roots and starts a new plant. Why am I loosing leaves like this? It isn't severe, but enough that I don't get a nice big full plant like bettydee has.

How about a Peace Lily? Mine seems to do great just with the glow from the TV screen and has two lovely flowers on it now.
Pati

Jenny, I've always accepted leaf loss as normal in a pothos, and do the same as you, just create a new plant. However, I do notice that if I let it get too dry between waterings it will get more yellow leaves. Maybe you can try not letting it get too dry between waterings to see if that will help. To get a plant as lovely and bushy as BettyDee's takes a lot of patience - namely, keep those new plants you start and once you have 3 or 4, plant them together in a bigger pot.

ceedub, thanks for your tips on the pothos. Something I'd definately like to try. That photo still amazes me. :O)

Bettydee - Wow! Yes, that would work there.

I don't think it's a completely low light area. I'm going to have to watch it over a period of time and see. We only just unpacked our living room stuff so until about 2 days ago, I rarely even went in there.

I could do the trimming ficus thing. I haven't as a rule had great luck with them. I'm not good about watering and my experience is that once they start losing leaves, they goners from them on. :(

Gwen

Gwen, my ficus lost alot of leaves over the years. I've had it for probably 5 years or so. It was really looking kinda shabby. It lost alot at the bottom (mine is the "shrub" type) but also throughout the plant. I don't know why I never thought about trimming it before, but one day the idea just jumped into my head. So I reasearched it to see if it was safe to do. And everything I read said they bounce back quite nicely. I cut off darn near the whole top half. By no means was it a goner. Now it looks nicer than I ever remember it. It only took about 2 weeks for new little leaves to start growing. Since then I've been better about turning it so it grows more evenly.

Jenny, ceedub may be right about your problem with the pothos. I say 'may be' only because I don't know your watering regiment. I keep my pothos moist all the time. I remove any water that drains into the saucer, however, so it doesn't sit in water. I also feed my pothos with every watering using the fertilizer at 1/4 strength. I get one or two yellow leaves here and there, but that's to be expected. A leaf ages and will eventually yellow and die.

If I forget to water, the leaves get a little dull. Any longer and they will turn yellow. Try to keep your pothos moist, but not wet and feeding more frequently with diluted fertilizer. Instead of cutting a stem and rerooting in the same pot, I peg the stem into the soil and redirect the new growth. The horizonal part of the stem, I pegged, will send new shoots and roots at each node. The pegs are easy to make. I buy a box of the jumbo paperclips and, using wirecutters, clip each paperclip to make 2 u-shapped pegs. They are easy to drive into the soil and are almost invisible.

Let us know how your pothos is doing from time to time.

BettyDee

BettyDee, I think I've done something similar to what you are talking about. I think they call it "wrap around". And I've used hairpins (spread apart slightly) to secure stems. I don't fertilize it at all though. I'll start doing that, and keeping it a bit more moist. I've got 2 kinds. Golden pothos and marble queen pothos. I do notice both have better color with a bit more light.

Varigated plants that don't get enough light will start to lose the varigation and eventually all new growth will be all green. Shoots that are all green need to be removed since the all green is more vigorous. My pothos is the common varigated one. I received it as a 'get well' plant in a 6" pot 2-1/2 years ago. I need to get mine into stronger light. I'm seeing more green.

BettyDee

How about a wicker stand see below

Maybe a Dieffenbachia? They grow nice and tall and slenderly (sp).....just be acreful of them around animals that chew and or small children.