10 creative ideas for houseplant care and display

When taking care of houseplants, it can be simple and fun to go the DIY route for ongoing maintenance and projects. Here are a few creative ideas.

Tired of draping trailing plants over doorframes and windows? Give them something to climb on instead.

• Using wall anchors, if necessary, attach vinyl-covered hooks (available at hardware stores) to a wall and hang any reasonably attractive ladder from them, positioning the ladder's legs on the floor a couple of inches from the wall.
• It's easy to train potted plants to grow up and around this rustic support. It looks nice on a porch, too.

• Plastic lids placed top side down beneath drainage holes do a good job of capturing water beneath plants that aren't kept on saucers or trays.
• Turn the lids over to raise pots from wood furniture, where saucers might leave watermarks.

Need a fast way to hang a pot on a wall or post?

• Bend the long edge of a wire hanger into a circle and fit it just below the lip of a 15- to 20-centimetre flowerpot.
• Use pliers to twist the hanger until the wire ring fits snugly. Attach the curved top of the hanger to a hook or nail.

When you water your houseplants, do tiny gnats fly into the air?

• They are fungus gnats, which will be less of a problem if you let the soil dry between waterings.
• Meanwhile, you can use a potato to trap their larvae, which are tiny worms that often injure plant roots.
• Push slices of raw potato around the base of the plant, leave them for two days and then start over with fresh bait.

Are the leaves of your plants looking dull?

• Wipe down each leaf with a soft cloth dipped in a half-and-half mixture of warm water and milk.
• You'll get a nice shine, but there won't be enough residue left behind to clog the leaf pores.

Professional florists use this trick to keep houseplant leaves shiny and clean. You can do the same thing at home.

• Rub a tiny amount of mayonnaise on the leaves with a paper towel and they will stay bright and shiny for weeks and even months at a time.

• Suspending your hanging baskets from a pulley makes it easier to lower them for watering and other care.

Special plant pulleys are sold in garden centres, but you can save some pocket change if you shop at the hardware store.

Want that Christmas poinsettia to look gorgeous by the time the holidays arrive?

• Speed up Mother Nature by placing the poinsettia in a large, dark garbage bag for several weeks to wake up the plant's buds.

• To exterminate bugs on a houseplant, put the plant in a clear plastic bag, such as a cleaning bag, add a few mothballs and seal for a week.

When you take the plant out of the bag, your plant will be bug-free. It will also keep moths away for a while.

• Use small ground covers, such as creeping fig or Swedish ivy, at the base of large houseplants to dress up the bare soil.
• Choose a plant with the same water and sun requirements as the houseplant and pot them at the same time.