Pimping My First Apartment With Houseplants
I was 26 when I moved into my first apartment. And before I even bought a sofa, I purchased two large floor plants, a Dieffenbachia and a Schefflera. I placed them in separate corners. Looking back, I chuckle that I considered styling my first apartment with houseplants without even remotely thinking about how to care for them properly. Wow.
A New Category To This Blog
As some of you know, I started this blog writing about life lessons and some of my interests and hobbies. I wanted to include my love for plants and gardening, but I am only now adding the “Indoor Jungle” category to this blog. So, you are getting the first installment of articles about my experience with plants.
How I Will Feature Articles About Plants
I am still deciding how I will do this. But most likely, I will focus each article on a particular houseplant, a genre of plants, or one specific houseplant-related topic such as lighting, watering, pruning, or houseplant accessories. With that, you will get a clear glimpse of my experience with indoor gardening.
Sometimes, I will write about houseplants that have been easy to care for. Other times, I will write about plants that are more challenging for me and some I have failed at growing numerous times and have now dismissed from my life permanently. LOL.
Every Plant Parent Has a Do Not Resuscitate List
Every plant parent has a list of dead houseplants and knows the gnawing pain of failing at something that is not-so-straightforward as plant care. I am no exception. I have surely killed my share of houseplants so you will learn about that. But I will also write about non-fatal houseplant mistakes I have made, too. And Lawdy, Miss Clawdy. LOL! I have my share of doozies with that, too.
My Mama Got Me Started
I should backtrack here. My Mama first planted the seed (pun intended) in me for houseplants, so she gets the credit. When I was a child, my mother let me grow “potato plants” on the kitchen table. Using toothpicks to hold a potato up, we would let its bottom half sit in a jar of water. And in two weeks, the potato pushed out beautiful dark green leaves. But every time I grew one, it did not last very long as the potato began to rot. Yet, it instilled in me a keen curiosity for how houseplants grow.
First the Outdoor Space, Then the Indoors
Although I had indoor plants when I purchased my current home, I focused more on designing and building my outdoor garden. These days, my attention is on adding to my indoor plant collection.
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No Online Plant Community In Those Days
When I began styling my first apartment with houseplants in the mid-80s, I did not know any houseplant enthusiasts. There were libraries and bookstores, but I was busy borrowing and buying other books. And, of course, there was no internet with search engines like Google.
Remember I said I knew nothing about caring for houseplants when I bought my first ones thirty-five years ago? That included no knowledge about watering, so I told myself that if I needed to drink water daily, my plants probably needed a daily drink, too. No wonder I was replacing those plants every couple of months! LOL!
Just Replace It If You Kill It, Right?
So, until recently, I would replace every plant I killed with a new one until I killed that one, too. And the cycle continued for many years. So, I joined the online houseplant community to get tips on gardening and indoor plant care. And some great friendships have come from it, as well!
Blog, Vlogs, and YouTube Channels
Nowadays, there are Houseplant Blogs, Vlogs, and YouTube Channels hosted by everyday plant parents who often share better tips than the so-called houseplant “experts,” and they make it fun. Online, you will learn a great deal from them as they share their personal experiences with plants, including their many mistakes. And some of them do it with humor. One such houseplant enthusiast is Richard, whose YouTube channel will educate you about houseplant care with a healthy dose of humor that will make you chuckle. He has some great features for you! Click below to join Richard on his channel.
https://www.youtube.com/@SheffieldMadePlants
The Swedish Plant Guys
Another one of my favorite YouTube Channels is the Swedish Plant Guys. Be prepared for in-depth learning there as they take you through every step, from choosing a healthy plant in the nursery to the best care tips to grow and maintain your plants to maturity. I will list a few of my other favorite channels at the end of this article, so you will have to read to the end to get to them. (No scrolling down now. LOL!)
Help For a Heavy Hand
Until I can control my heavy hand, I am considering using Terracotta clay pots for all my plants. Terracotta is a porous material that allows plants to dry out more quickly. So, it reduces the likelihood of overwatering and early plant death due to root rot. Also, I use orchid bark, pumice, and Perlite to provide better drainage.
Clay Pots are Weighty
The only thing I do not like about Terracotta pots is that the larger ones can be pretty heavy and break easily. I prefer vining plants because I enjoy floor space between my furniture. Plus, I love how they hang.
But that makes it only possible to hang large clay pots from the ceiling if you drill into a stud. But that is easier said than done because there may not be a stud where you want to hang the plant. Still, dealing with heavier pots is much better than killing my houseplants.
Pests
Knock on wood because I have never had any pests indoors in the thirty-five years I have kept plants. The one exception was this past summer after I put some plants in my backyard under a Crepe Myrtle tree to see if the great outdoors would encourage better growth. Well, I got those fuzzy little mealy bugs on my Scindapsus Pictus Exotica. And spider mites were on my Scindapsus Pictus (Jade) and a small Cebu Blue.
So Glad I Checked First!
The good thing is that I did not bring any of those plants indoors before placing them on the patio table and inspecting them. That is how I noticed the pests! It hurt me to cut off some of the new growth, but that is precisely what I did because I didn’t want those critters in my house. After all, they freak me out! LOL!
All Natural Homemade Pesticides
After some research, I learned about homemade pesticides from one of my favorite houseplant YouTubers, Drea @Aloha Plants. So, I immediately ordered everything I needed. The only thing is that I went crazy with the spray, and I now know it was the cause of a few of my plants’ suffering. EEK!
What You Need For a Homemade Pesticide
Here are the ingredients for those interested: Tea Tree Liquid Castile Soap and Peppermint Liquid Castile Soap, Tea Tree Oil, Isopropyl Alcohol, Hydrogen Peroxide, and water. It’s a good mixture, but please remember to use it carefully. Please don’t panic and get overly zealous and kill a few plants by spraying too much pesticide as I did.
Dry Air and Pests on Houseplants
As we approached the winter season, I panicked and ordered more chemical pesticides than anyone would ever need! LOL! I imagined being stuck inside after a significant snowfall and not having what I needed to kill any creepy crawlies. And remember, this is coming from somebody who never had houseplant pests inside my home. Good Lord, Denise.
Don’t Stress About Your Plants
Now, this is the kettle calling the pot black. But I am speaking from experience. I went from not knowing how to care for my plants to stressing too damn much over them. I check my propagations daily and move plants all the time depending on how the sun “moves” inside my home. Sometimes, I move them because I want to and because it is the only reason I can think of. LOL!
Ain’t Nothing Wrong With a Few Yellow Leaves
Today, I found some yellow leaves on my Epipremnum Pinnatum Cebu Blue Pothos. I freaked out because I wanted to grow this “wish list” plant to its full capability, shy of fenestrations. (It’s not a popular opinion, but I wouldn’t say I like fenestrations). I panicked and immediately sent photos to one of my plant buddies for suggestions on what to do. But as the day went on, I decided to let the plant be and enjoyed the rest of my day. I did not need the stress which would negate my whole purpose for having indoor plants in the first place.
Stressing Will Make Things Worse
Everything worsens when we stress over it, and caring for houseplants is no different. When you get all worked up over your houseplants, you start doing too much to them, and that only stresses them out, which stresses you out even more. It’s a crazy cycle. You only need to do your research, follow it as much as possible, and then leave the rest to nature. Also, allow for trial and error. To do otherwise is to take the fun out of the houseplant journey.
Making Plants From Plants
A lot of practice has taught me more about how plants work. If I see a plant failing for whatever reason, I cut parts off to propagate it to grow more like it in case the original plant dies. That can be done by leaf cuttings or by root-dividing the mother plant. I wish my 8th grade Earth Science teacher, Mr. Villemarette, was around to see my experiments. I think he would give me an A-grade.
I prefer water propagating, but I am also experimenting with soil, perlite, and sphagnum moss propagating.
Vessels For My Plants
At one time, I had a fear of power tools. My son tried several times to teach me how to use a drill, but I flat-out rejected it as long as he was here to drill everything for me. But I had to overcome that fear when he left for college.
You Can Turn Almost Anything Into a Planter
Then one of my houseplant enthusiast friends talked about buying ceramic containers at thrift stores to use as planters. I asked him to teach me how to drill holes in glass and ceramic vessels, mugs, pots, pitchers, and bowls, so he did a demonstration on his channel. Ever since then, I have purchased several containers from thrift stores.
Save Yourself Some Money!
You can find beautiful vessels that you would have to pay upwards of $60-$80 for at Home Goods, Hobby Lobby, Target, and even at Walmart! Plus, it gives me the pleasure of practicing using my drill. I also use my drill to make holes in the ceilings to hang plants!
I am Grateful For Small Beginnings
From my first Irish Potato plant to those plant-parent days in my first apartment, I have come a long way in my houseplant journey. But I still have a long way to go because there is so much to learn about nature that we could never exhaust. And that is a good thing because if you are like me, you love to stay open to learning new things.
Finally, as we grow, our preference for different houseplants will inevitably grow, too. For instance, I am trying to remember the last time I had either a Dieffenbachia or a Schefflera in any of my homes since that first one-bedroom apartment. But I am grateful because they helped me fill an empty living room with hardly any furniture.
Wait! Before you go, I promised to share the list of a few other online houseplant channels. (Did you cheat by scrolling here without reading my article first? LOL). I follow many houseplant channels, so I could never list them all here:-). I hope you will enjoy the ones I have posted; they will lead you to others, and then you will have your own favorites:-).
https://www.youtube.com/@PeggysPlants
https://www.youtube.com/@KillThisPlant
https://www.youtube.com/@XiuHouse
https://www.youtube.com/@PlantsandLucia
If you have enjoyed this article, let me know by emailing me at Denise@TalkGumbo.com.
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