Many vines grow well as houseplants, lending a lush, tropical feel to interior space. Tropical vines, which do not grow in areas with freezing temperatures, prefer the warmer temperatures of indoors. These vines grow as floor plants or in hanging baskets with their long stems trailing over the rim to the containers. A wire support system can allow vines to be trained up a wall and across a ceiling. Prune back the vines so that they stay at the desired height.
Some vines are grown just for their outstanding foliage. Arrowhead philodendrons (Syngonium podophyllum) produce green arrowhead-shaped leaves covered with white markings. The tiny flowers usually go unnoticed hidden among the leaves. Heart-leaf philodendrons (Philodendron scandens) grow dark green heart-shaped leaves 2 to 3 inches long. This vine rarely flowers when grown as a houseplant. Rex begonia vines (Cissus discolor) stays 1 to 3 feet tall when grown in a container. The elongated heart-shaped leaves are dark green with silver patterns on top and red underneath. This vine climbs with red tendrils and produces green summer blossoms.
Blue passion-flower vines (Passiflora caerulea) produce 3- to 4-inch-wide scented flowers during the summer. The disk-shaped blossoms are colored with rings of blue, white and purple with an outer ruffle. This vine can reach up to 15 feet tall outside with orange-yellow edible fruit. Control the height by snipping back the stems in the spring without cutting the flower buds. Vanilla plant vines (Vanilla planifolia) grow oblong leaves on short stalks covering a long vining stem, which attaches to a support with fleshy roots. Twenty or more flowers appear during the growing season. Vanilla flavoring is produced from the bean or seedpod of this vine.
Fragrant vines fill the house with sweet aromas from flowers or leaves. Balfour aralia (Polyscias balfouriana) produce aromatic leaves on green stems with gray spots up to 6 feet tall indoors. The leaves are split into groups of three leaflets with slightly wavy edges. The small flowers rarely appear indoors and then only in the spring. “Marginata” balfour aralia (Polyscias balfouriana “Marginata”) produces green leaves edged in white. Madagascar jasmine vines (Stephanotis floribunda) grow clusters of fragrant white tubular-shaped blossoms with evergreen leathery leaves, on stems reaching 15 feet long in its native habitat. This vine only reaches 2 to 3 feet tall when grown as a houseplant. The sweet-scented flowers appear from spring through summer.
Flowering vines offer seasonal color along with tropical color. Pink Parfait mandevilla (Mandevilla x amabilis “Rita Marie Green”) grows vining evergreen stems reaching 30 feet long outside. This easy-care vine produces double trumpet-shaped pink flowers the bloom all summer long. Sun Parasol burgundy mandevilla (Mandevilla x “Sunparavel”) produces 2- to 3-inch-wide blossoms that start dark burgundy in color fading to a pink wine color on a bushy 10- to 15-foot-long stem when grown in the ground. The trumpet-shaped blossoms appear throughout the summer on this fast-growing vine. Both mandevilla vines survive severe pruning to control the size of these plants. Even when trimmed back to the ground, they will still grow back quickly and flower.
- Fine Gardening: Vines
- Monrovia: Madagascar Jasmine
- Monrovia: Pink Parfait Mandevilla
- Monrovia: Sun Parasol Burgundy Mandevilla
- AgriLife Outstanding Interior Plants: Balfour Aralia
- AgriLife Outstanding Interior Plants: Butterfly Nepthytis, Arrowhead Phillodendron
- AgriLife Outstanding Interior Plants: Heart Ivy, Heart-Leaf Philodendron
- AgriLife Outstanding Interior Plants: Vanilla Plant
- National Tropical Botanical Garden Meet the Plants: Vanilla Planifolia
- Clemson University Cooperative Extension: Mandevilla
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