Houseplant Training

I’m undertaking an unusual project. Using magnets, I’m teaching a houseplant to walk across the ceiling in my sunroom.

Before you walk away thinking I’m daffy, allow me to explain.

For starters, the plant is a hoya, a type of vine that will reach out and grab onto pretty much anything it can climb. When I moved my hoya into the sunroom, I fashioned something of a trellis so the plant could scramble up the wall. Before long, several runners reached out to find a purchase on the metal ceiling.

I thought to myself, 'What if I provided a path so the plant could extend across the ceiling?' That’s when I got the idea to use hooks with magnetic bases to direct the hoya where I want it to go.

I think the photographs I’m sharing should help illustrate what I’m doing.

My Hoya Plant

Magnetic Hook and Hoya Runners

—Mitchell Hegman