Shade-loving houseplant needed

I am looking for a houseplant to grow along a ledge/shelf that runs above the sliding door in our kitchen. This sliding door faces West and the plant would see no direct light at all. Exactly opposite the sliding door, on the other side of the eat-in kitchen, is a hallway with no windows. Ideally I'd like to find a low-maintenance plant to will wind its way along this ledge and just look green and nice. (My MIL keeps telling me to put up a fake plant, but that just seems so wrong to me!) This seems like a tall order to me and I have no clue about what type of plant to consider or if such a plant even exists. The shelf is about 6" deep.

Anyone have any ideas for a plant that might do well in this spot?

Pothos and philodendrons. You need to water them.

I was just about to say the same thing.

Jdee , I must have read your mind. Are you now thinking about buying some more plants? LOL
Patti
Ps : I am craving begonias. LOL


This message was edited Feb 16, 2006 12:37 PM

I can handle watering... Adding one more plant to the every-few-day watering ritual is no problem at all for me :) I'm familiar with pothos but I thought they needed more light. I like how they look and they seem to stay nice and glossy. Are there any types in particular that you knowledgable folks think would do best in that dark spot up near the ceiling?

calypsa,

check this out--http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/736/index.html

That one sounds like it might do the trick. Nice and glossy and doesn't mind being in a neglected area. I just hope there's enough light for it up there! I think I will give a philodendron a go.

A pothos would look great up there, but I think it would gradually deteriorate without more light.

Is there any way you could mount or set one of those GE plant lights up there?

I tried to find a photo of one, but can't!
They're a compact fixture that you either mount to the wall with one screw (and they can be rotated after mounting) or you can just 'set them' on a smooth surface.

My husband is an engineer and just adores projects that involve sticking electronics to walls. Go figure. Is this type of light one that needs an electrical outlet? Or can it just run on batteries? If I could find a battery-operated light of some sort, I'd guess that I'd be able to grow just about anything up there. I do like the looks of the pothos though and think it would look nice trailing along up there if I could in fact get it to trail :)

Hmmm...those GE light fixtures need an outlet......*BUT*....I'll bet that engineer hubby could rig it up to be battery operated!

You could also (might be a pain) get 2 plants and rotate them every few weeks.

Poor hubby, will his string of weird projects never end?? Probably not so long as we're married :) I'd feel bad for him if he didn't take everything ins tride. I talked with him last night about potentially putting a light up there and he seemed willing to give it a shot.

As an example of how great my husband is, he tried gardening for the first time last year... My mom and I were planting up containers for our respective houses, and we had begun on the pots with impatiens. We ended up with a couple left over and moved on to the other plants. About 15 minutes later, hubby comes out of the garage holding this itty bitty pot with an impatien perfectly planted in it. He had a huge smile on his face and was so proud. That little pot became known as his "training pot" and was a star performer all summer!

Sweet!!
He sounds like 'a keeper'.

Good luck with your (and his!) project.....keep us posted and show us photos when that Pothos gets to trailing up there!

I have a velvet leaf philondendron in a hanging basket in my living room. It gets very little light, but is still growing very well. It doesn't have the shiny / glossy leaves that you mentioned, but it is still beautiful - the leaves actually are velvety feeling and go from green to a sort of burgundy color. For some reason I have a black thumb when it comes to pothos, but this philodendron really seems to like me!

I agree that would be another good choice, herlurie.....maybe both, calypsa!!??

One can never have too many plants!! :)

Herlurie, do you know exactly what type of philodendron you have? Sounds like one of those may be in order for my shelf.

I went houseplant shopping yesterday (I had a rough morning job hunting, so decided that it was time to but myself a treat) and brought home two little Pothos "Golden" plants. There is a brand new Lowe's near my home and I thought it couldn't hurt to take a peek... And I found these two little ones for $2.00 each! They are very nice looking and don't look like $2.00 plants. I bought little pots and saucers for them and spent a whopping $12 total or something.

Next will come the project of the light... And I'll post a picture of the wee ones on their shelf once I dig up the batteries to my camera :)

It is a philodendron micans. For some reason our computer has decided that it does not like our digital camera and refuses to download the programs to take the pictures from either the camera or the card, but if I can get it to work this weekend I will try to post a picture of it. I think it is really a wonderful plant, and continues to thrive in spite of being occasionally neglected.

They're also called Philodendron scandens v. 'micans'.

I tried to link to a page of Google images, but it wouldn't 'take' here.

Try a google search for philodendron micans, then click on the 'Images' link on the top of the page of hits that comes up....you'll see many photos.

I have one of these in quite a low-light location myself, and it is a beauty.
I'm glad you thought to suggest it, herlurie!

I couldn't resist - I had to google it and see the pics! Of course, the one posted here in the plant files was the best looking one!

Oh, you know...I always forget to look in there!!

*I* would still love to see the photo of yours, herlurie!