Upright plants fill floor space and tabletops, but they can’t do much for the empty air above them. That’s where trailing plants earn their spot — on a high shelf, in a hanging basket, tucked into a macrame hanger, or draped over the top of a bookcase, their vines fill vertical space and soften hard edges in a way no upright plant can. It also happens that a lot of the easiest houseplants to keep alive are vining trailers, so this is one of the rare cases where the best-looking option and the most forgiving option are usually the same plant.

Pothos

Pothos is the default trailing plant for a reason — it grows fast, tolerates a wide range of light, and forgives missed waterings better than almost anything else you can buy. A single vine can stretch several feet down a shelf within a year, and trimming it back only encourages fuller growth instead of setting it back. Water when the top couple inches of soil are dry, and expect faster growth in brighter, indirect light.

String of Pearls

String of pearls is a succulent, not a leafy vine, and its bead-like leaves make it one of the most distinctive plants you can hang. It wants bright light — ideally a few hours of direct sun — and, unlike the leafier trailers on this list, needs to dry out completely between waterings. The pearls themselves store water, so soggy soil rots the strands from the base up faster than almost any care mistake will kill a pothos.

String of Hearts

String of hearts trails in thin, wiry vines dotted with small heart-shaped leaves, often marbled with silver or purple. Like string of pearls, it’s a succulent-type trailer that wants bright light and a full dry-out between waterings rather than the more consistent moisture that suits pothos or philodendron — mixing up those two watering styles is the most common way people lose one. It also produces small tubers along the vine that root easily if you want to propagate more.

Philodendron (Heartleaf)

Heartleaf philodendron looks similar to pothos at a glance but trails a little more delicately, with smaller, glossier leaves and thinner vines that drape well in a hanging pot. It tolerates lower light than pothos and recovers quickly from a missed watering — a droopy plant usually looks normal again within a day of a good soak. Let the top inch of soil dry out between waterings and it will keep pushing new vines steadily.

Spider Plant

Spider plants trail differently than the others — instead of long continuous vines, they send out arching stems tipped with baby “spiderettes” that dangle below the main plant, which looks especially good in a hanging basket where the babies can hang freely. They tolerate a wide range of light and temperature and are easy to propagate, since each spiderette roots on its own once snipped off. Our how to care for a spider plant guide covers the full routine. Water regularly enough to keep the soil lightly moist, and trim off spent brown tips as they appear.

English Ivy

English ivy is a classic hanging-basket plant, with small lobed leaves on vines that branch and fill in densely if you pinch back the tips occasionally. It prefers cooler rooms and consistently moist soil, and it’s more prone to spider mites than the other plants here, so it’s worth checking the undersides of leaves now and then, especially in dry winter air. Bright indirect light keeps growth full; too little light leaves the vines sparse and leggy.

Give the vines room to fall

Trailing plants look their best — and stay healthiest — when the pot sits somewhere elevated: a shelf, a wall hook, or a plant stand. That gives the vines room to grow downward instead of pooling on a windowsill or getting stepped on and snapped where they meet the floor.