Sometimes I think my ideas are really original. Whether it was because I wanted to spruce up spaces in my house or because I read an article about house plants that purify the air, or The Top Ten Easiest Houseplants You’re Definitely Not Going to Kill, I decided I really wanted to order a bunch of houseplants online.
Turns out this is a thing many of us are doing during the pandemic while we spend so much more time in our homes. Also it was a thing many people were into way before the pandemic.
I was over eager and though I only had maybe three houseplants to start, I dove into having about twenty houseplants. When I get into something I do a bunch of research and figure out how to “do it right”. I guess I was determined not to waste the money I just spent and inflict suffering on living organisms. I discovered there are apps you can use to alert you to when each plant needs watering and to educate yourself about what kind of light and care each species of plant requires. All past efforts to grow houseplants had been a disaster for me because I did not pay attention to how often to water different types of plants. The alerts about how often to water have really saved my plants this time around. It tells me to water my peace lily and maidenhair fern weekly or so and my succulents about once a month. This blessed app also warned me when I planted my daughter’s prized string of dolphins into a beautiful ceramic pot without drainage holes. Luckily it didn’t say, “I told you so,” when that poor once beautiful plant started rotting a week later because there was no damn drainage in the pot. I replanted it in a terra cotta pot right away, telling myself to stop being such a rebel in the face of the all knowing Planta app.
The biggest challenges really have been thwarting the cat’s efforts to chew certain plants he can get to and then finding the right lighting for each plant. The cat mostly loves the spider plants which I am coming to accept as a sacrificial offering to him so that he may give up on trying to get to the golden pothos in my bedroom window. By the way, I read online that cats hate citrus and so putting citrus slices in the pot and spraying with citrus oil repels the cat. My cat must be weird because he could care less that there’s citrus, he will still chew. Then as far as the light issue goes, I just had to accept that though I would love to place plants wherever I think they look great, I will absolutely kill them that way. Some need a lot of light, others not as much. I have yet to find a plant with very low light needs to put in my bathroom that has no windows (but let me know if you have suggestions!).
Today looking around I thought to myself, these plants are all really small right now…if I do this right, down the road I am going to have twenty big plants around… not sure where they’ll all go because that cat should still be around too, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it. Also, when traveling is a thing again I am going to have to find someone to water the plants along with feed the cat while I’m gone reacquainting myself with adventure. But for now while we are all at home still, I will sit surrounded by my mini jungle. Something about houseplants is bringing people comfort during really difficult times. Maybe it’s the sense of assurance that if you water and care for this beautiful living thing, it grows and brings a part of nature into your home in return. It’s a bit more predictable and a nice escape from the much changed world we live in, when in a matter of weeks we went from a daily commute to working and schooling from home, and knowing though we miss normality and people, every venture in public brings unseen risks. Yes, let me stay at home and admire my plants.
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