10 Best Indoor Hanging Succulents & How To Care For Them

Hanging succulents look fantastic inside a home, especially when they are placed on shelves hanging down furniture or planted in hanging basket hung from the ceiling.

The trick is to select plants that will cope with being indoors in shade and lack of airflow as most succulents will only survive if they get a certain amount of direct sun and good airflow. The great majority of succulents will not live long indoors, but thankfully there are some lovely hanging succulents that will happily beautify your home.

10 Best Indoor Hanging Succulents

Ceropegia woodii
Disocactus flagelliformis
Echinopsis chamaecereus
Epiphyllum cultivars
Peperomia prostrata
Rhipsalis species
Sedum morganium
Schlumbergera cultivars
Senecio rowleyanus
Hoya cultivars

1. Ceropegia Woodii and Ceropegia Woodii Variegata (Chain of arts/String of Hearts)

Chain of Hearts is by far the most popular indoor/shade hanging succulent in our nursery, especially the variegated version.

Ceropegia woodii is a rosary vine with heart- shaped leaves on thin stems or ‘strings’. These string can reach a few metres in length, depending on your pot size and conditions.

The Chain of Hearts grows best in a sheltered but bright spot (near a window/ under skylight) with decent airflow although it will tolerate darker spots in the house. It is good to remember that better growing conditions will lead to nicer looking plants.

The best potting mix for the Chain of Hearts is a succulent potting mix or a free draining mix with low nitrogen. Pots should always have a drainage hole, though if you’re careful with the watering you can get away with no hole.

Water every 2 weeks in the colder months and once a week when warm or when the potting mix has dried up. Ceropegia woodii does not mind water and so you don’t have to panic if you water it too much, as long as the plant is not sitting in stagnant water.

2. Disocactus Flageliformis (Rat Tail Cactus)

This cool cactus is a fantastic indoor hanging plant as it is very hardy and can grow in both sun and shade. It can reach a couple of meters in length.

The spines on the Rat Tail Cactus are not too sharp, though, if you squeeze hard enough you’ll definitely feel them. We recommend using gloves when handling this plant.

This plant will grow best in a succulent/ free draining potting mix. It is easy to grow and not at all sensitive so once again, you don’t have to panic if you water a bit too often. Just make sure the pot has a hole so the water can drain away. We grow this plant outdoors under a shade cloth and it has never rotted when it rained a lot.

For a nice looking plant and flowers in spring, grow near a window with plenty of light and airflow. The Disocactus will grow in darker parts of the house, but its growth will be slow and it is also unlikely the flowers will come through.

3. Echinopsis Chamacereus (Peanut Cactus)

Echinopsis chamaecereus is a super hardy trailing cactus that will hang out of pots and is suitable as a house plant. It will not grow as long as the Disocactus, but still looks very attractive with the peanut like stems.

Flowers come through in spring but lots of sun through the window is going to be needed for buds to form.

The care for this funky guy is much the same as with the Disocactus above.

Echinopsis chamaecereus is a fuss free plant that will shower you with pretty orange flowers in spring, if you give it enough light and fresh air.

4. Epiphyllum cultivars

There are lots of Epiphyllum cultivars available and they all hang and are shade tolerant. Epiphyllum usually have flat, elongated leaves and are prized for their flowers that came in all sorts of lovely colours.

Epiphyllum are quite easy to care for indoors as they dislike too much direct sun and prefer bright shade. Morning sun through the window will always be good as the plant still needs to photosynthesize. They are not fussy when it comes to watering either- whenever the potting mix has dried up give them a good drink.

Plant in succulent potting mix and repot into a bigger pot once a year (on average) so the epiphyllum can keep on growing.

Plants are more likely to flower if they have plenty of light.

5. Peperomia Prostrata (String of Turtles)

Peperomia prostrata is a very popular but slightly fickle plant. When we first got these plants for the nursery we thought they can be treated as other ‘string of’ succulents but they seem to dislike temperature spikes and tend to die easily during winter.

After a bit of experimentation and quite a few dead plants we found that Peperomia prostrata likes constant temperature and so that ruled out keeping it outdoors in our shade houses as in summer the mercury often climbs over 40 C (104 F) and in winter we experience near zero temperatures at night.

The best spot for the String of Turtles , it seems, is indoors, in a bright not-too-hot not-too-cold spot. We do have aircon to cool in summer and a woodfire burner to keep warm in winter and the turtles absolutely thrive!

Peperomia prostrata grows well in a succulent potting mix and likes to be watered when the potting mix dries up, but also does not mind a bit of extra water, even when the potting mix is still slightly moist. It’s a rainforest plant and so it makes sense it tolerates more moisture than the majority of succulents.

This plant is a slow grower, but looks stunning and is well worth to add to the indoor ‘hanging’ collection.

Top tip- buy a mature plant with longer strings as small plants or cuttings can take forever to grow to a decent size indoors.

6. Rhipsalis species (Mistletoe Cactus)

These succulents are easy and abundant. The majority of Rhipsalis will hang down a fair distance.

Plants in the Rhipsalis genus are usually a shade of green, some with tiny hair covering the cylindrical leaves.

Rhipsalis dislike long periods of direct sun and are shade tolerant, however, as with all the previous plants brighter the spot more compact the plant and greater the chance of the plants bursting into small, white flowers.

Succulent potting mix/ free draining potting mix is the best growing medium and water once potting mix is dry to touch.

Rhipsalis can be left in the same pot for a number of years. Regularly upgrading the pot to a larger size will result in a longer plant though.

7. Sedum Morganium

This is a very cute and attractive plant with light blue-green leaves. Sedum morganium is quite slow growing and it will take some time before it reaches any decent length. The great thing about this plant is that it will tolerate the same pot for a number of years.

Sedum morganium will like a very bright spot, preferably next to a window/under skylight. These plants can also be grown in a sunny spot where the individual ‘tails’ will grow more compact.

The leaves on this plant are extremely sensitive to touch and can fall off easily. Do not discard of fallen leaves as new plant will start growing from them. It is best to put this plant in a low traffic area of the house where no-one will disturb them.

Water and potting mix is the same as with the above plants. Because of the chubby, water filled leaves, the Donkey’s Tail is somewhat more forgiving of people that forget to water their plants and will happily grow even if they haven’t been watered for quite a while.

8. Schlumbergera (Christmas Cactus/ Zygo Cactus/ Holiday Cactus)

Schlumbergera is a small genus of flowering cacti originating from mountains of Brazil. Their natural habitat is shady and high in humidity. The tolerance to shade makes plants in the Schlumbergera genus great for indoor growing.

These plants are very easy to obtain, especially around their flowering season which is in autumn/winter. The flowers come in a variety of colours and are quite big for succulent flowers.

Despite them being classed as a cactus, Schlumbergeras do not have any sharp thorns.

Schlumbergeras are very hardy and will grow in any potting mix, as long as it is fairly free draining and low in nitrogen. They will tolerate part sun to full shade. To ensure the plant flowers, make sure they get some sun during the winter months. Water when the potting mix dries up.

9. Senecio Rowleyanus & Rowleyanus Variegata (String of Pearls/ String of Beads/ Pearls Necklace)

Everyone loves String of Pearls, but not everyone has success growing it indoors. String of Pearls can prove hard to keep alive indoors, but will have a good chance of survival if kept in a super bright and airy spot.

Our nursery plants are grown in shade houses with 30% shade cloth and the verandah plants are quite happy too.

Light is very important to the Pearls and they will grow a lot better close to a bright window with some morning sun. However, strong afternoon sun can easily cause sunburns to the leaves and strings.

When it comes to watering, it is pretty much the same as all the other plants above. Water when the potting mix has dried up. A drainage hole is also quite important as stagnant water is not something Senecio rowleyanus will appreciate. Gradually upgrade to bigger pots every year for a lush and long strings.

10. Hoya cultivars

Hoya are fabulous indoor plants and many cultivars grow beautiful, highly scented flowers.

The leaves are usually a glossy green colour, though you will be able to find some amazing variegated cultivars with yellow, cream and white colours.

How To Care For Indoor Hanging Plants

Light

Some indoor hanging succulents will be able to stay in darker rooms, but more light is always going to result in healthier, happier plants.

The absolute best spot would be behind a large sunny window that get early sun. Beware of afternoon sun during hot summer days as it can burn the foliage if the plants are close enough behind the glass.

Under a skylight is also going to be a good growing spot.

The more light your indoor hanging succulent is going to have, bigger the overall growth.

Water

Indoor hanging succulents will not need to be watered as often as their outdoor counterparts. A good rule is to wait until the potting mix dries up. Some may not need watering for a month or two.

Succulents in general prefer not to sit in stagnant water and so it may be best to have a drainage hole in the pot.

Never spray or mist your succulents, indoor or outdoor.

Pot

Succulents indoors will always grow quite slow, but they will grow even slower if their pot is small and not regularly upgraded.

It is understandable that small pots are preferred inside the house, but your plants are not going to like it very much.

Just a small upgrade every year will make a huge difference to the plants growth and general health.

Fertilizing

Slow release fertilizer can be used to sprinkle on top of the potting mix of indoor hanging succulents. The nitrogen should be less than the other compounds as succulents dislike nitrogen-high fertilizer.

A small sprinkle once per year, in spring should be enough for an indoor succulent.

If you’d like to see some other indoor succulent suggestions, you may be interested to read this article.

For rare indoor hanging succulents, see this article.