A soil-free wall asks different things of a plant than a pot does. The bed is shallow, the water is constant and shallow with it, and the leaves have to cover the planter below as well as their own. Plenty of reliable houseplants fail on one of those three.
Twenty-one species, judged the same way
The same four questions every time: does it take to semi-hydro, are its roots shallow enough for an 8 cm bed, does its foliage cover a cell, and how much upkeep does it want? Most of the answers come from desk work and nursery experience. Three species have been through a full grow cycle in a planter here and two more are growing on Sam, and where a grow log disagrees with the desk work, the grow log wins — the coleus is the reason that rule exists.
SyngoniumBest all-round
Swedish ivyDense, and it flowered
ColeusBiggest plant on the stand
PothosGrowing on Sam
PhilodendronFills the gaps
HypoestesReal color, stays small
TradescantiaGrowing on Sam
African violetCrown rots when wet
AlocasiaLeaves too large for a cell
AnthuriumTall flower stem
English ivyClimbs, does not drape
FittoniaShallow roots rot in standing water
KalanchoeUpright rosette, no cover
MonsteraLeaves too large
Peace lilyDoes not drape
PeperomiaRots in constant moisture
PileaGrows upward
SansevieriaUpright blades, no cover
ToreniaShallow roots rot
Wax begoniaRoots and stems rot when kept wet
ZZ plantNo drape
Grows well in a cellNot recommendedPreliminary. A linked tile has a grow log or a prototype behind it; the rest have not been through a planter here yet.
The plants we have grown
Assessing a plant on paper is not the same as putting it in a planter and waiting. Three went into our first prototype, Frankie, and are still growing there. Each has a dated log with photographs of what went wrong as well as what worked.
Two more, tradescantia and golden pothos, are growing on Sam, our second prototype, and have logs of their own.
- Arrowhead plantSyngonium podophyllumWe put an arrowhead plant that was really too big into just 8 cm of LECA and watched what happened. It lost a few old leaves, grew plenty of new ones, and it's still going. Here's every step, including the parts that went wrong.Read the 66-day log
- Swedish ivyColeus forsteri 'Marginatus'Part of our Swedish ivy on Frankie wilted and died in its first week. The rest grew into a dense, trailing mound and, by day 54, came into flower. Here's the whole story, with supervision from Luna, our cat.Read the 66-day log
- ColeusColeus scutellarioidesOur coleus drooped on arrival, flowered twice, and still grew into the biggest plant on the stand. Here's what 66 days in shallow LECA looked like, including both times we reached for the shears.Read the 66-day log
- TradescantiaTradescantia zebrinaFour small tradescantias on Sam, our second prototype, split into single stems we could place exactly. They filled the middle row in nine days, but they grow upward, so trimming comes next.Read the 22-day log
- Golden pothosEpipremnum aureumTwo large golden pothos on Sam, our second prototype, with roots we cut back to fit. Three weeks on, they're holding up, with little sign of new growth yet.Read the 22-day log