Anyone alive in the 1970s is bound to remember a macramé hanger with a spider plant laden with babies hanging in a bright window.

My mom had one, and a few years later, I had one displayed in my kitchen window complete with a macramé hanger that I made (and still have).

Chlorophytum comosum, commonly known as the spider plant, is a flowering perennial herb. It gets its name because of the plantlets or “spiderettes” (often called “babies”) dangling down from the mother plant like spiders on a web.

Although native to tropical and southern Africa, it is an easy-to-grow houseplant that thrives in a wide range of temperatures. They prefer a cooler climate of 55 to 65 degrees but will tolerate temps as low as 50 degrees and as high as 85 degrees.

Spider plants will gladly live outside in the summer on a porch in higher temperatures, as long as it is not in direct sunlight. They can suffer sun scorch if placed in direct sunlight and should be brought back inside before the first frost.

Spider plants prefer well-drained and well-aerated soil. They should be watered thoroughly, until water runs through the holes in the bottom of the pot. The soil should then be left to dry before watering again. New plantlets, however, should be watered more frequently until the roots begin to establish.

The plant has thick white roots and rhizomes, which are actually underground stems that act as storage containers for the plant. This makes the plant very forgiving if you go a little too long between watering.

One of the most common problems encountered with a spider plant are brown tips at the ends of the leaves. Tip burn is often the result of fluoride found in the tap water used to water the plant. The fluoride in the water causes salt buildup in the soil. Using distilled or rain water will help with the browning and can be used to flush the soil of excess salt. Brown tips can also be snipped from the leaves with sharp clean shears without harming the plant.

Mature spider plants will produce small, star-shaped, white flowers on long, thin stalks. The plantlets, or babies will grow at the end of these stalks.

Propagating spider plants is easy to do and can be done in a variety of ways. Plantlets that have not developed roots yet can be snipped from the mother plant and placed in a container of water. Roots will sprout from the plantlet and can be planted in soil. Be careful not to submerge the plantlet too deep into the water, as it will cause the leaves to rot.

A handy trick to keep the leaves out of the water and just the root area submerged is to feed the leaves of a small plantlet through the hole in a CD. Leaves will be over the top of the CD and the rooting area below. The CD can then fit over the top of a container and filled with water until it just covers the bottom of the plantlet.

If a plantlet has already developed roots while still attached to the mother plant it can be propagated in one of two ways. The first is to snip the plantlet from the mother plant and put directly into a pot with well-draining potting medium.

The second way is to leave the plantlet attached to the mother plant and rest the plantlet on top of a pot filled with soil. The plantlet can be secured down with a u-shape wire fastener or bent paper clip. After the plant has rooted and starts to produce new growth, it can then be snipped from the mother plant.

Spider plants can be grown in any room with enough light and, as an added bonus, they are natural air purifiers, as they remove formaldehyde, a common indoor air pollutant.

Until next week, happy gardening!

— Irland, a member of the Limestone County Master Gardeners, can be reached at kippirland@hotmail.com. For more information on the Limestone County Master Gardeners, visit http://mg.aces.edu/limestone.