12 Best Hanging Indoor Plants to Beautify Your Home

Hanging plants aren't just for porches and patios. Indoor hanging plants can also bring a bit of beauty - and air-purifying benefits - into your home. Any houseplant with cascading foliage or a trailing growing habit will work great in a hanging container. Not every plant has the same light needs, so be sure to choose one that's well-suited for the spot you have in mind.

What hanging plants will work in your home? Check out 12 houseplants that are perfectly suited for hanging baskets to get an idea of what might be just right for your space.

With its tiny leaves and trailing growing habit, baby's tears (Soleirolia soleirolii) is a perfect plant to hang indoors. This plant, which is in the nettle family, grows best in medium light. It likes to stay evenly moist, so you'll need to add water while the top of the soil is still slightly damp.

You may also see baby's tears called Corsican curse.

Bird's nest fern (Asplenium nidus) is a stately, beautiful plant with leaves that look more like the leaves of a banana tree than other types of ferns. This plant prefers medium to bright indirect light, but it'll also do fine with low light. Because it's not finicky about light, you can place it just about anywhere. Be sure to let the top few inches of soil dry out before watering.

Boston ferns (Nephrolepis exaltata) make great indoor hanging plants as long as you keep the soil damp and mist their leaves regularly. They'll also love it if you occasionally put them in your shower and let the water run long enough for a good soaking. They do best in bright indirect light, but will also do fine in medium light. Just avoid extremes - such as direct sunlight and extremely low light - and your fern will be happy.

Devil's ivy (Epipremnum aureum) is an easy-to-grow anywhere plant. Also called pothos, this plant is not actually ivy at all. It gets the devil part of its name because it's as close to indestructible as a plant can get. It's drought tolerant and prefers medium to bright light but will grow in very low light. It even does well under fluorescent lights, which is why it's a popular office plant.

Love succulents? Donkey's tail (Sedum morganianum) - aka burro's tail - is a super-cute succulent with a trailing habit. It works great in a hanging container as long as you put it in a spot where it gets at least six hours of bright light per day. As is common with succulents, only water this plant when it's very dry. Once at least the first two inches of soil are dry, give it a good soaking, then leave it alone until it dries out again.

Looking for more than just foliage in a hanging basket? Get a goldfish plant (Columnea gloriosa). This cool-looking houseplant puts on a foliage show all year, but it really lights up during spring and summer. That's when it produces flowers that actually look a bit like the plant's namesake fish. Goldfish plants like bright indirect light and need to dry out a bit between waterings. Hold off on adding water until the top two inches of soil are dry.

Want to bring a classic but colorful hanging plant into your home? Inch plant (Tradescantia zebrina) is a great choice. Don't let the name fool you - this is a fast-growing plant. It's called an inch plant because its nodes are approximately an inch apart. This plant prefers bright, indirect sunlight but will also do fine in medium light. Don't over water. Instead, wait for the soil to dry out, then soak it thoroughly.

Mistletoe cactus (Rhipsalis baccifera) is a unique plant that's just plain cool looking. Unlike most houseplants, it's not leafy at all. Instead, its foliage is a series of slim, trailing stems that branch and grow in different directions. How cool is that? Mistletoe cactus needs medium, indirect light. The best time to water this cactus is when the top half inch of soil is dry.

To bring a pop of color indoors, pot up a purple heart (Tradescantia pallida) in a hanging basket. Both the leaves and the stems are - you guessed it! - purple. This plant needs bright, indirect light and plenty of water. It likes to stay consistently moist, so you'll need to water it as soon as you notice the soil starting to dry out. Purple heart grows just as well outdoors as inside, so you can move it around a bit.

It's important to wear gloves when handling a purple heart plant, because the plant's sap can cause contact dermatitis. Don't prune or transplant this plant without shielding your skin.

Round leaf peperomia (Peperomia rotundifolia), aka jade necklace or trailing jade, has small round leaves that grow along trailing stems. The stems only grow to around 12 inches long, so you won't even need to trim your hanging basket. It needs medium to bright indirect light and not too much water. Wait for the first few inches of soil to become dry before watering, then water thoroughly and leave alone until it's dry again.

If you love houseplants with variegated leaves, you're sure to love satin pothos (Scindapsus pictus), which is also sometimes called silk pothos. This plant needs bright indirect light. It'll survive in lower light, but it won't have variegated leaves. Instead, they'll turn solid green. Variegated or not, the leaves will feel very soft to the touch - almost velvety. This plant should be watered after the top inch of soil dries out.

When this plant is allowed to climb as it grows, its leaves will grow on alternating sides of the vine. This so-called shingling effect helps it "walk" up whatever it's climbing.

Swiss cheese plant (Monstera adansonii) is the monstera variety best suited for hanging baskets. It's known for very holey leaves (hence the Swiss cheese part of its common name) and trailing growing habit, which makes it a particularly perfect hanging plant. It needs bright light, consistent moisture, and humidity. Add water when the first inch of soil is dry. If your house gets really dry when the heater is on, run a humidifier near this plant.

Ready to add a few hanging indoor plants to your home? You can't go wrong with any of the selections above. Once they start growing, you can take cuttings to propagate even more plants to give as gifts or to expand your own collection.