The best indoor hanging plants for Australian homes are Devil’s Ivy if you want a trailer that forgives forgetfulness, and the Spider Plant if pets share the house. Below: eight picks from our range, compared on light, watering and pet safety, plus the two habits every hanging pot depends on.
The eight picks at a glance
Light and water lines below are copied straight from each plant’s care card, the same card that arrives in the box with your plant. The pets column sticks to wording we can stand behind, and there’s more on that under the table.
| Plant | Light | Water | Trails or climbs? | Pets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devil’s Ivy | Medium light, can tolerate shade | Water sparingly, soil to be almost dry | Trails | Toxic if chewed |
| Marble Queen Pothos | Bright, indirect, filtered sunlight | Water sparingly, soil to be almost dry | Trails | Toxic if chewed |
| Pothos Snow Queen | Bright, indirect, filtered sunlight | Water sparingly, soil to be almost dry | Trails | Toxic if chewed |
| Swiss Cheese Vine | Bright, indirect, filtered sunlight | Water moderately, allow the top 3cm of soil to dry | Trails or climbs | Toxic if chewed |
| Philodendron Brasil | Medium light, can tolerate shade | Water sparingly, soil to be almost dry | Trails or climbs | Toxic if chewed |
| Spider Plant | Medium light, can tolerate shade | Water moderately, allow the top 3cm of soil to dry | Trails | Listed non-toxic by the ASPCA |
| Hurricane Fern | Bright, indirect, filtered sunlight | Water moderately, allow the top 3cm of soil to dry | Arches | Not known to be toxic to cats or dogs |
| Baby Rubber Plant (Variegated) | Medium light, can tolerate shade | Water moderately, allow the top 3cm of soil to dry | Compact, spreading habit | Listed non-toxic by the ASPCA |
Devil’s Ivy is the one we’d hand a first-timer: happy in medium light, watered only when the soil is almost dry, and quick to fill a hanger. Its care card says it best:
“Let me dry out between drinks and I’ll keep pushing out glossy new leaves all year.” (from our Devil’s Ivy care card)
For detailed routines, read Devil’s Ivy care and Marble Queen Pothos care. Give variegated pothos bright indirect light and watch for natural changes in the leaf pattern.
Swiss Cheese Vine and Philodendron Brasil will trail or climb, your call. Hung up, the Swiss Cheese Vine is the showpiece, because those leaf holes read best from below, which is the whole argument for putting it overhead.
The Spider Plant needs no introduction. It’s one of the easiest and most popular trailing plants going, and it spins out baby spiderettes you can pot up and hand to friends.
The last two round out the pet-household picks, and one isn’t a vine at all. The Hurricane Fern arches rather than trails, a tidy spiral of fronds that looks sharpest just above eye level, while the Baby Rubber Plant (Variegated) has a compact, spreading habit; it is not a climbing vine.
If you’re starting with one, make it Devil’s Ivy.
Which indoor hanging plants are safe around pets?
Three of the eight. The Spider Plant and the Baby Rubber Plant (Variegated) are listed non-toxic by the ASPCA, and the Hurricane Fern is not known to be toxic to cats or dogs.
The other five are toxic if chewed. Height helps with dogs, but it isn’t pet-proofing: cats treat bookshelves as a stairway, and a happy vine eventually trails back down to nose height. Keep toxic trailers trimmed above furniture level, or choose a listed non-toxic option and still discourage chewing.
The Spider Plant is the easy answer for a household with cats, who famously find its arching leaves and dangling plantlets fascinating. Batting at the safe plant is a far better hobby than chewing a toxic one.
Where should you hang indoor plants?
Closer to the window than you were planning. Light falls away fast as you move up and back from the glass, so a ceiling corner that looks bright from the couch is often dim by plant standards. In Australian homes the north-facing side carries the most light through the day, and that’s where a hanging plant earns its keep.
Use a hook, bracket or stand rated for the total weight of the plant, pot and wet mix. Secure it to a suitable support, follow the hardware instructions and keep the plant where you can water it safely.
Then one habit beats every accessory: give the pot a quarter turn each time you water. Plants lean and fill toward their light, and rotating is the difference between a full curtain of leaves and a comb-over.
How do you water a plant in a hanging pot?
Take it down and do it at the sink. Watering in place either sends drips through everything below or, more often, trains you into shy little pours that never reach the bottom roots. Neither ends well.
Hanging pots also tend to dry out faster than the same plant on a bench. Warm air collects towards the ceiling and air moves around every side of a suspended pot, so the mix loses moisture from all directions at once.
The routine is simple. Check the top 3cm of mix with a finger; for the sparing drinkers in the table, wait until it’s almost dry throughout. Then unhook the pot, water slowly at the sink or laundry tub until it runs from the drainage holes, let it finish dripping, and rehang. Five minutes, no puddles on the floorboards.
In winter (June to August), stretch the gaps out. Growth slows, the mix stays wet longer, and a soggy hanging pot hides its trouble above eye level, where you won’t spot it early.
Why does a trailing plant go leggy?
Light, almost every time. Long bare stretches of stem between leaves are the vine reaching for the nearest window, and no amount of water or fertiliser fills those gaps back in.
The fix is position, not product. Move the pot closer to the glass, keep the quarter-turn habit going, and trim the longest bare runners so the plant spends its energy on fuller growth up top. On the variegated picks the light does double duty, because it’s also what keeps the Marble Queen’s cream and the Snow Queen’s white from fading.
If the room itself is dim, don’t fight it with a light-hungry trailer. Our guide to low light indoor plants in Australia sorts what genuinely copes in a dark room from what merely hangs on.
Whichever you choose, it arrives with a printed care card, packed in low-waste, plastic-free packaging, and dispatched from our Queensland nursery, typically 3–5 business days of courier transit to most metro areas after dispatch, plus packing time.
Indoor hanging plant FAQs
What is the easiest indoor hanging plant to look after?
Devil’s Ivy. It’s happy in medium light, tolerates shade, and only wants water once the soil is almost dry, so a missed weekend does it no harm. If your spot is brighter, the Marble Queen Pothos is the same easy vine with cream marbling, and it’s just as forgiving of an imperfect routine.
How do you hang plants in a rental without drilling?
Use a stable plant stand or a suitable shelf near a window. Only use hooks or racks with a stated load rating sufficient for the fully watered pot, and check any rental requirements before installing hardware.
Can you keep a hanging plant in a pot without drainage holes?
Not planted directly, no. Roots left sitting in trapped water rot, and a hanging pot hides the evidence up high until leaves start yellowing. Keep the plant in its plastic nursery pot, sit that inside the hole-free decorative pot, and lift the inner pot out at watering time to soak and drain at the sink.
The Good Plant Co nursery team · our roots · Last updated 12 September 2026