Sunday, September 22, 2019

Plant Love


I grew up helping my mom water all her patio plants and working with turf grass from about 13 to 23. I took many botanical classes in university but mostly cold season and warm season vegetables and crop production courses. As an ag teacher I helped coach my students in a nursery and landscape contests, learning quite a bit myself. Plants have always held a special place in my heart. But now I am holding special places for them in my home. 


The prolific bloom of nurseries, online plant shops and plant-related YouTube videos has grown my own indoor plant passion. I still have a lot to learn (many of my plants enjoy the humidity of my patio more than my home, which makes sense why mom always put hers out there). 


But some are content to live inside. I even have started a propagation station.


I have collected plants from Walmart, yard sales, nurseries open to the public and even boutique plant shops. It has been fun hunting down the smaller Mom-and-Pop nurseries.



Sometimes it sucks to live in a sub-tropical climate. No fall leaves. No snow. Now definitive shift of seasons.


But I will concede that it makes gardening and plant tending fun.


Abundant grow year round.

Do you do house plants? Gardening? What are you loving? I am finding I murder ivy at a pretty consistent rate. 

11 comments:

  1. We used to have plants in various stages of near-death. Somewhere along the way we just gave up and had none for years and years. More recently, we've wanted to get some plants again but Minion is a holy terror and we know he would never leave them alone. The three snake plants we have are constantly chewed on. We'd have to be careful to select non-toxic-to-cats varieties.

    ~Deb

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    1. Hahahaaaa!!!! I hear ya on that!!! I have sent my fair share to the firepit graveyard of doom. Hoping to send them to the compost bin of death in the future. Toddles does chew on the floor plants for sure. So no peace lily or Easter lily for me. I think the only toxic plant I have indoors is pothos but they are hanging from the ceiling and she can't reach them. She has left my snake plant alone, strangely. She tends to like my spider plant which I am about to hang. But those are not toxic to cats. I just don't want her to destroy it. Hoping you find something you enjoy. The spider plants are pretty easy and fun. <3

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    2. We had a really nice spider plant way back in our early years. I don't know what we did with it. I've wanted to get one again but wasn't sure about it around cats. Yeah, we'd hang it up but still. If you're sure it's cat-friendly I think I might have to go ahead and get one again. Cool!

      ~Deb

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  2. Your plants are gorgeous! I am living for my houseplants lately, too - including the ones you sent me! <3 I love bringing life into the home, and fortunately my plants seem to love our light. I do tend to have a dryer interior, so I need to boost the humidity a bit with misting. I don't like to bring my houseplants outside, for fear of bugs coming in on them. When I lived in Florida, I kept most of my plants on the screened in patio, too! Everything loves to grow there.

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    1. Thank you!! I knew you would understand. <3 I love that your home has a great light situation. Ours has a lot of dark corners but the areas by the windows are getting some friends to hang nearby in the form of plant buddies. I was reading that my calatheas I put outside for better humidity like lower light so now I am going to have to brainstorm where they should live. You are right about the bugs. I really don't want to have bug issues any more than I already do here in the Sunshine State.

      Florida patios are the best. <3

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  3. When we were renting, my poor plants would die during each move and we'd have to start over but since buying and putting down roots (pun intended :D ) I've been working on making my thumb a little greener. I'm a pro at killing succulents-I have a hard time with plants that want to be left alone because I'm a fussy plant mom. I do have a zz plant that I put in a corner that needed some brightening and making a conceded effort not to mess with it. We have limited light in the house so our two front windows are clustered with two snake plants, a few parlor palms, large fig tree (and lots of babies I've managed to propagate) a few pancake plants and two cacti that have somehow managed to live despite being constantly over watered. We've also got aloe plants all over the house-I like to keep those on hand to use on the kids. My son has taken an interest so he has a few tiny plans in his windowsill. I love the life plants bring into the house-my dad had a green thumb so I always had plants around growing up so it's hard to imagine not having something around.

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    1. LOL! I love puns!! I have certainly killed my fair share of succulents. And you are right, it is usually because I overwater and tend to them. I am slowly learning though... drying out that soil is important. I don't have a zz plant yet but it is on my wishlist. How big are your parlor palms?? I have one now that my husband gifted to me but it is still pretty small. Hoping it will get nice and big. I love that your son has some plants to tend too. I am just like you, the plants really help make it a home. I love the greenery and life they offer. I am an aloe fan too but mine is outside on the patio in a terra cotta pot. I am hoping it makes some babies so I can plant some in my yard. Enjoy your plant babies!! Hope you are doing well!

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  4. As odd as it may seem (coming from me), I seemed to have inherited my grandmother's green thumb. All of my other siblings kill any plant they look at! Several years ago, I spent many weeks growing a variety of plants and flowers from seed to bloom. I had Ken build me some grow light stations. There were a few tricky varieties that I never mastered any luck with, but man what fun I had. I was a member of an online forum called Garden Web...not sure if they're still around or not. But it was a place with a plethora of info and even a seed swap section. I was obsessed!

    I still keep a few indoor houseplants, but I seem to be limited with space since the brightest spot seems to be the bay window in my kitchen only. Any other bright spots are very limited.

    I've always dreamed of working in a nursery, tending to the plants all day. I suppose these gross humid summers keep me from actually doing it!

    I died laughing when I saw the photo of your "Don't Die" plant holder! So cute!

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    1. I love that you have a green thumb and it doesn't seem odd to me at all. You are totally a nurturer. Thanks for the Garden Web rec. I will definitely check it out. I have been reading up on some specific plant care on The Spruce. Did you do the heirloom seeds and all that? I am trying to plant some giant sunflowers in my yard but the squirrels keep digging them up. LOL! I think I will have to try and grow them on the patio and then transplant them to have any luck.

      I hear ya about bright light space. I don't really have much but I am still trying to get away with putting plants here and there.

      Oh my gosh. I totally would work in a nursery. The only thing that keeps me from doing it is the small pay right now. I have some bills I need to help with and some travel I want to do. So teaching it is for now. :-)

      LOL! I figure some expectations might help give the plant an idea of what I am needing form it... to not die. I have a TDC post going up tomorrow. <3 I am LOVING these blends I bought!

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  5. I like plants and I learn to take care of them with each orchid that I drown. :) My biggest problem is the lack of sunshine as all the windows in my flat are north-facing, which makes autumns and winters dreadful for plants. However, I've figured out a system that works for the surviving mini phal – let's hope it'll make it through these dreadful months!

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    1. Aw!! Hahaha!!! I had a friend gift me an orchid for our housewarming a couple months ago and she told me not to worry if it died since that is what they do. We had a good laugh at that because she has the greenest thumb I know. Well about a month after that I went to Universal Studios and saw they had tied orchids to their palm trees and MAN were they HUGE! So I went back home and tied my orchid to the palm tree near my pool and guess what?! It is growing new leaves and roots!! Woot!! I hear you about the lack of sunshine. My house is super dark and my front windows are south facing and the back is north facing. I hope your plants make it!!! I even thought about using grow lamps but I kinda want to cut back on electricity and that wouldn't help. Best of luck!!! <3

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