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 Beautify
and Expand Your Indoor Garden
By Melinda Myers
[September 06, 2025]
Keep your
houseplants looking their best with a bit of pinching, trimming and
cleanup. A few well-placed snips can improve a plant’s appearance
and create cuttings to start new plants.
Start by removing any dead stems and leaves. Improve the overall
beauty of spider plants, dracaenas and palms by trimming away the
brown leaf tips caused by fluoride from tap water accumulating in
the leaves. Avoid the problem by using rainwater, well water or
water treated by reverse osmosis.
Trimming to improve the plant’s growth habit and size can provide
immediate and long-term benefits. Removing a small or large portion
of the stem tip encourages the plant to form more branches and
compact growth. When you remove the stem tip you reduce the amount
of the growth hormone auxin that promotes upward growth and
discourages branching. |
Encourage more branching without greatly reducing the
plant’s size with a soft pinch. Remove just the uppermost portion of
the stem where new leaves are developing. Use a hard pinch to remove
the tip and several inches of the leafy stem when you want to reduce
the overall size and promote fuller growth on leggy plants.
Make a clean cut using sharp micro snips or pruners like Corona’s
houseplant pruners (coronatools.com). The rust proof, stainless
steel blades can cut up to 1/4” in diameter and are shaped to make
it easier to cut the intended leaves and stems. Your plant will look
better, and the wound will close more quickly.
Avoid leaving stubs and keep the plant looking its best by making
cuts above a set of healthy leaves or a node, the place where leaves
once grew. Pruning elsewhere distracts from the plant’s appearance
and the stubs create entryways for insects and disease.
When you finish pinching and pruning, do a bit of cleanup. Use a dry
or damp soft cloth to wipe away any dust that accumulates on the
leaves. Use a cosmetic brush to clean fuzzy leaved plants like
African violets. Or give your plants a gentle warm shower in the
sink or tub. Wrap the pot in a plastic bag if needed to keep soil
out of the drain and plumbing. Removing the dust allows more light
to reach the leaves for photosynthesis which is essential for plant
growth.
Use the trimmings from heirloom and non-patented
plants to expand your houseplant collection. It’s easy to start new
plants from leaf stem cuttings of various houseplants like inch
plants, philodendron, pothos, dieffenbachias, dracaenas, and many
more. Use a sharp knife, snips or bypass pruners to cut three- to
six-inch-long pieces from firm, mature non-woody stems.
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Remove the lowest leaf or two from the stem where
roots will form. Stick the cutting in a small container filled with
vermiculate, perlite or a well-drained potting mix. Loosely cover
the potted cutting with a plastic bag left open at the top to
increase the humidity around the cutting while it forms roots. Set
the container in a bright location out of direct sun for several
weeks as the roots develop. Once rooted, pot it up and place it in a
space that receives the sunlight it prefers.
You’ll be amazed at how a bit of grooming and propagating can perk
up a tired indoor garden. Share or trade extra rooted cuttings with
family and friends so each of you can grow your indoor garden and
memories
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books,
including the Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small
Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything”
instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s
Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and
contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned
by Summit for her expertise to write this article. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.
[Photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com]
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