How to Hang a Plant from Ceilings: Guide to Beautiful Green Spaces

Hanging plants indoors is a new and beautiful tread to decorate the house in a sustainable and cost-efficient method. But at the same time, it is a tricky business, and hence one should know all ins and outs of it before getting started with it.

Here is a guide to help you with the whole process, and at the end, there are beautiful examples to select from different types of indoor plant hangers.

Here are guiding steps and information for how to hang plants from the ceiling:

Hanging plants is an approachable DIY project that can be managed with just a few tools – a few of them are available in your house, and others can be found in any local hardware store. So, let us start with what materials are we going to need –

1. Materials You Will Need

The most obvious and important material is ceiling hooks (hooks with a curved swag work the best), a hinged clip, a hanging chain or a rope, and a drill machine with a proper drill bit (5/8-inch is the correct size for most ceiling hooks, kind of like a standard size). The last thing you are going to need is a properly potted plant itself.

2. Location Is Important

The location to hang the plants depends on the plant itself. The main aspect is the amount of sun the plant needs. For example, if your plant needs full sun to survive like most flowering plants, then hang them near the window that brings in the sunlight. To help even more, you can also use swivel ceiling hooks to ensure that the sunlight reaches all sides of it.

3. Types of Roof

There are two kinds of roofs, both with slightly different needs. The first kind is an ordinary ceiling with drywall. Here if you are using a swag hook with a hinged clip, that will open out once you push it through the drywall.

The second one is the truss roof; here, the most dependable place to hang the plants is into the stud of the solid wood of the joist of the truss. You will need to use a stud finder to trace a hollow spot in the ceiling.

4. Making A Hole in The Ceiling

As mentioned before, use a 5/8-inch drill bit. If you are drilling in the sheetrock with no stud behind it, the drilling should be wide enough to fit in the hinged clip. Once the clip gets past the drywall, it will expand. Removing this is a difficult task without damaging the ceiling and hence should be done with proper care, accurate markings, and measurements. But if you are drilling in the solid stud, then the process is straightforward.

5. Install the Hook

For the installation of an ordinary ceiling, thread your hook into the hinged clip, then put the whole gear into the ceiling until the clip attaches itself to one place.

Most probably, the hole will be covered by the base of the swag hook, which was made to fit the clip. If not, the ceiling will need to be patched. For the installation in the joist made of solid wood, screw the swag hook into the hole you pre-drilled before.

6. Voila! Hang Your Plants

With the holder in place for the planters, you are ready to hang your plants. There are many different designs to select from, here are few choices.

• Shelf-style plant hangers
• Twine hangers
• Handmade macrame plant hangers
• Heavy-duty chain hangers

Select the one that meets the needs of your plant pot as well as yours. It should also go well with the décor of your room, so choose the design accordingly. Have a look at the following examples to get an idea.

There are always many more design ideas, and here are the ones that we recommend the most.

Along with the method of hanging, the type of plant is also important in indoor plants. If you plan to start a hanging indoor garden, here are some species that are particularly suitable and bloom in hanging pots and baskets. 

• A string of pearls (Curio rowlevanus): If you plan the basket at a higher height, this plant is a good option as it requires minimal maintenance. Also, these bead-like succulents spill from the edge of the pot, making it visible from anywhere and ideal for the high location.
• Burro’s tailor Donkey’s tail (Sedum morganianum): The burro’s tail is another plant that flourishes with the least amount of water. But it needs bright light from the sun and hence should be hanged in a sunny window.
• Hoya obovata: This is a semi-succulent plant, which means it can store moisture in the leaves. It grows well in a hanging basket as well as in planters.
• Air plants (Tillandsia): This is a unique genus of small plants that suck the moisture from the air. They do not need soil as well, making it a perfect plant to hang. You do not even need to water them, and you just missed some water around them.
• Spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum) are ideal plants to hang from baskets. As they grow, they spill over the pot, sometimes hiding the pot itself.

All the above plants are easily available and are very beautiful to be around. Hanging plants look visually stunning, may it be in any space of the house.

Most people who opt for hanging plants either have less ground area or have kids, but we think if you are looking forward to enhancing your interior look, hanging plants is the most aesthetically pleasing method.