Great balls of moss: Hang your plants kokedama style

Kokedama is a more striking means of hanging plants. You'll need to get used to bathing your ball of moss from time to time, however. Photo: Andrea Warnecke/dpa

Kokedama appears to be how the cool houseplants are hanging these days. This form of planting means you don't need a pot – instead, the plant's roots are wrapped in a ball of moss.

The benefit is that when you hang up your plant, the moss becomes an additional attractive feature. The one drawback, however, is that watering it can be a little trickier.

You can, by all means, water it as you would any other hanging plant, providing small sips of water from above. But in that case you may also want something underneath to catch any drips of water.

Kokedama, a Japanese term translating roughly to moss ball, is a means of hanging plants (like this poinsettia). Photo: Stars for Europe/dpa

Alternatively, you can remove the moss ball every few days and place it in a container with a little water. You need to drain the plant well before you hang it up again after its bath, of course.

It's also easy to make your own kokedama. You'll just need to source some fresh moss and twine, as well as some extra soil.

Take your plant out of the pot, shake off any loose soil and shorten any roots that are too long and straggly. Now form some moist soil in a bowl into a sphere that is about the same size as the plant and place the plant ball of roots and soil inside it.

Cover the ball with fresh moss and wrap it tightly with twine or wire. Job done.

Now you can hang up your plant, perhaps with some dyed rope or with a nearly-invisible nylon cord. – dpa