Indoor plant care: Choosing the perfect pot for your houseplant is about more than how it looks, here's how to get it right

Nov 30, 2023

By Rachael Gavin| 4 weeks ago

There's a real buzz that comes with finding the perfect houseplant to add to your home. But once you've found something you're then faced with an equally difficult choice, and that's what pot you're going to put it in.

It can be a tough decision to make with cost, size, colour and material all factors that go into pot selection.

While making the wrong choice colour and design-wise only means your pot will clash with your interior décor, choosing a pot that's too big or small or has poor drainage can impact the health of your plant.

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According to Patty Willems, Elho PR manager, size is the most common mistake people make when selecting a pot to put their plant in.

"A pot that is too large can lead to overwatering as the excess soil retains too much moisture, which can cause root rot. On the other hand, a pot that is too small restricts root growth and can lead to a stunted plant," she told 9Honey Living.

For plants to thrive, Willems said the "space and soil-to-root ratio" needs to be right, otherwise growth will be impacted by either not having enough room to grow or roots not being able to access all the nutrients in the soil.

"As a general rule of thumb to work out how much space your potted plants need, measure their diameter. Generally, most plants do well with a pot diameter that's roughly five centimetres bigger than their own diameter. This allows ample room for growth to continue as the plant matures and becomes more established," she said.

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There will come a time when your plant needs a bigger pot, but it won't be for a while so there's no need to choose a pot that's a lot larger to save you repotting later.

Getting pot size right is particularly important for the roots, so the root ball can be a good indicator of pot size.

However, Willems recommends checking the proportion of the plant inside the pot as well. It's easy to do this in store by slotting your chosen plant into the pots your considering to see which one the foliage looks best in.

"Aesthetically, a large plant in a small pot does not look good and can fall over, and a small plant is a large pot will lose any visual impact you are trying to achieve," she said.

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The right pot size isn't just about height and width though, it's also about depth as some plants are better with shallow pots, while others prefer deeper pots.

"Succulents and cacti can thrive in shallow, wide pots. Larger plants of these types can be potted in containers with a large pot diameter and shallow depth. Whereas larger herbs, shrubs, and plants with lots of foliage will have larger roots, meaning they'll need tall pots," she explained.

Size is probably the easiest aspect of pot selection, it's choosing the perfect colour for your home and the plant that is harder. And then you have pattern, texture and material of a pot to think about.

Willems recommends thinking about the room the plant will go in and what sort of look and feel you want to achieve in it. You also need to think about where it will be placed and the other colours in the background of where the pot will go.

"If you need to brighten up a darker area of the room then bolder colours such as terracotta can work wonders. Alternatively, muted tones such as pastels or grey can ensure attention is not detracted from your plants," she said.

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"Bright colours draw attention to focus areas, so using brightly coloured pots in an area you want to draw attention to is the perfect way to guarantee that it is noticed without being too obvious.

"Blues and greens are ideal choices for pots as they bring nature into your home. Greens specifically allow the plant and pot to blend, while blues offer a nice contrast often found in nature," Willems added.

"For a sense of warmth and homeliness, neutral tones such as deep orange and dark green as well as earthy and muted colours work best and can be paired with almost any other interior design elements.

"Black is dramatic, sleek, striking. Black pots immediately draw attention when paired with more neutral colours.

"White pots are the go-to option for a minimalist feel that contrast more striking design elements—predominantly black, and Charcoal is another neutral that works perfectly in minimalist interiors with both black and white."

If you're still not sure which colour to choose you can try out different pot and plant combinations and see how they'll look in your home using Elho's online mix and match tool here.

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There are a few different types of pot drainage options on the market: pot covers with no drainage, pots with drainage holes and self-watering pots.

Many pots come without any drainage at all and are typically referred to as pot covers. You can pot the plant directly into these pots but it means you'd have to be very careful to get watering spot on to avoid root rot.

A better option that is more forgiving when it comes to watering plants in a pot without drainage is to keep the plant in its nursery/garden centre pot (or repot into one of these pots, which has adequate drainage) and then slot that nursery pot inside the pot cover.

Keeping plants in their nursery pots means excess water can drain out easily. You also have the option of bottom watering the plant or watering it in a sink without damaging the pot cover.

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If you are reusing old nursery pots for new plants, which is a brilliant way to reuse a plastic item that can't be recycled, Willems wants you to do one thing first to avoid any plant pests or diseases being passed.

"While reusing containers for planting can be eco-friendly, they may not always be suitable for the plant's well-being. Make sure to clean and sterilise recycled containers thoroughly before use to avoid potential issues," she said.

Sterilising pots is a fairly simple process requiring soil and debris to be brushed off the pots. Then give the pots a wash in soapy water, followed by a soak in a solution made of nine parts water and one part bleach for 10 minutes before rinsing thoroughly and allowing to dry fully before planting.

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