Most people think of a deck as somewhere you put furniture. The other thing you can put out there costs a fraction as much, changes the feel of the space more, and is probably already sitting in your living room getting leggy in the corner.
Tropical houseplants spend the Cincinnati summer outdoors very happily. Monstera, philodendron, hoya and most of the foliage plants people keep indoors are understory plants from warm climates, and a shaded deck in July is closer to what they actually want than a living room ever is. They grow visibly faster outside. Then they come back in before the first cold night.
The Potted Palm on Beechmont Avenue is where a lot of Mount Washington gets its plants, and this guide covers what they carry, how to move a houseplant outdoors without ruining it, and what a deck has to offer one.
A Plant Shop and a Community Hub
The Potted Palm describes itself as a houseplant and gift shop in the heart of Mount Washington, and its stated aim is to bring the beauty of nature into your home while bringing the Mount Washington community together. That second half is not decoration. Reviewers keep using the phrase community hub.
The owner, Emy, turns up in nearly every review. People describe her patiently answering long strings of plant questions, tracking down unusual specimens somebody had been hunting for, handing out free cuttings, and talking through propagation and growing conditions with anyone who asks. One reviewer notes that their plant-skeptical spouse walked in indifferent and came out having made a friend.
The plant selection leans unusual rather than broad. Reviewers mention monstera species they had never heard of, one of them in bloom, along with hoyas, philodendrons and succulents. Alongside the plants there is a rotating shelf of work from local makers, crochet, earrings, glass art, prints and stickers, which is why the shop functions as a gift stop as much as a plant stop.
They source from trusted growers rather than growing on site, and they will look for something specific if you ask and it is not on the shelf.
| At a Glance | The Potted Palm |
| What it is | A houseplant and gift shop in the heart of Mount Washington, run by owner Emy |
| Stocks | Tropical houseplants including monstera, hoya, philodendron and succulents, plus pots, vintage gifts and handcrafted goods from local makers |
| Address | 2123 Beechmont Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45230 |
| Phone | (513) 407-6733 |
| Hours | Closed Monday. Tuesday to Friday, 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Sunday, noon to 6:00 p.m. |
| Website | thepottedpalm.com |
Location, Directions and Access
The Potted Palm is at 2123 Beechmont Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45230, in the Mount Washington business district. The shop can be reached at (513) 407-6733.
Beechmont Avenue is the spine of Mount Washington, and the neighborhood’s landmark is hard to miss: the Art Deco water tower that went into service in 1940 stands near the corner of Beechmont and Campus Lane. The shop sits on the same stretch, across from the Kroger, with parking out front.
Hours
This is the one detail to check before you set off, because the schedule is unusual. They are closed on Monday. Tuesday through Friday they open at 1:00 p.m. and run until 7:00 p.m. Saturday is 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Sunday is noon to 6:00 p.m.
Those hours are listed identically on their Google listing and elsewhere, so they are dependable. The evening opening is genuinely useful, since a shop that is open until seven is a shop you can reach after work, which most garden retailers are not.
- Street parking is available directly in front.
- If you are hunting a specific plant, ask rather than assume. Reviewers describe the owner sourcing things that were not on the shelf.
- Inventory changes often enough that regulars treat it as a browsing stop rather than a shopping list errand.
Moving a Houseplant Outdoors Without Killing It
The mistake almost everyone makes is treating this as a simple relocation. It is not. Outdoor conditions are far more intense than indoor ones in every direction at once, and a plant that has spent two years in a living room is not ready for any of it.
The two that catch people out most are light and drainage. Indoor light is dramatically weaker than outdoor light even on a cloudy day, so a plant moved straight from a windowsill into direct sun can scorch in an afternoon. Start everything in full shade for a week or two and move it toward brighter positions gradually.
Drainage is the quieter killer. A decorative pot with no hole in the bottom works indoors because you control the water. Outdoors it becomes a bucket, and one good Ohio thunderstorm will fill it. Either use a pot that drains or keep the plant in its nursery liner and lift it out.
The reward for getting it right is that tropicals grow far faster outside than in. A monstera that put out two leaves all winter will often put out several over a single summer, and the growth tends to be better colored and better formed.
The other half of the cycle is remembering to reverse it. Bring things in before the nights turn, and check every plant over before it crosses the threshold, because whatever has taken up residence in that pot over the summer will otherwise be spending the winter in your house with you.
What Your Deck Actually Offers a Plant
A deck is not one environment. It is usually two or three, and knowing which is which decides where things go.
- The house wall. Shaded for part of the day, sheltered from wind, and the best position for large-leaved tropicals.
- The open edge. Sunniest and windiest. Good for succulents and tough sun-lovers, hard on anything with big soft leaves.
- Under a cover. If any part of the deck is roofed, it is the most forgiving spot on the whole structure and the easiest place to keep plants alive.
This is also a reason to think about plants at the design stage rather than after. A covered corner, a built-in planter or a section of railing wide enough to hold pots are all cheap to include and impossible to retrofit.
It is worth looking through paver patio feature ideas, including built-in planters while a design is still on paper, and at the patio trends worth paying attention to this year, because planting has moved from an afterthought to a structural part of how these spaces get laid out.
For anyone on this side of town specifically, there are good deck ideas along the Little Miami Trail worth borrowing from, and if a project combines a deck with a patio it is worth understanding permits for multi-use spaces combining decks and patios before anything is drawn.
Platinum Deck and Patio builds decks and paver patios across the Cincinnati metro including Mount Washington and Anderson, and a covered corner is one of the least expensive things to add to a design and one of the most used once it exists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can houseplants really live outside in Cincinnati?
For the summer, yes. Most tropical foliage houseplants do well outdoors once night temperatures stay reliably above about fifty degrees, and they need to come back inside before the nights turn cold again.
What should I not put in full sun?
Anything with large, thin, soft leaves. Monstera, philodendron and similar plants want shade or dappled light outdoors, not the open end of a south-facing deck.
Do they only sell plants?
No. Alongside the plants there is a rotating selection of work from local makers and vintage gift items, which is why a lot of people treat it as a gift shop that happens to be full of plants.
When are they open?
Closed Monday, then 1:00 to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 6:00 p.m. Sunday. The late closing makes it one of the few plant shops you can reach after work.
Can they help if I am new to this?
That appears to be the main thing people value about the place. Reviewers describe long, patient conversations about propagation, light and watering, and free cuttings handed over on the way out.
The Bottom Line
The Potted Palm is a small shop doing something quietly generous: selling plants, giving away cuttings and advice, stocking work by local makers, and functioning as a place people drop into rather than shop at. In a neighborhood business district that is worth a great deal more than square footage.
For anyone with a deck, the practical takeaway is that the cheapest upgrade available is one you may already own. Move the plants outside for the season, put them where the house shelters them, water far more than you think, and bring them in before the nights turn.
Go on a weekday evening when it is quiet, tell them where your deck faces and how much sun it gets, and ask what would be happy out there. Call (513) 407-6733 first if you are after something specific.
And take a cutting home if one is offered. That is how most people’s collections started.