On Becoming a Plant Lady
Well, it’s week (who’s even counting) of quarantine— how’s everyone holding up? For a good ten minutes after I woke up the other day, I was convinced it was Sunday. Nope. Tuesday. So that’s where I am.
It seems that most of us are in one of a few camps now— Camp Clean All The Things, Bake All The Things, DIY All The Things, or Plant All The Things. For the first 3 weeks or so, I was decidedly in that first camp; my inner Monica Gellar was coming out REAL hard. (And, let’s be honest, I still clean at least twice a week, but with somewhat less ferocity than before.)
I’ve never been a great baker (my sisters got that particular gene); most of the time, I’d rather support a great local bakery. I’m more of a cook, myself— it’s just less fussy, and I don’t particularly like measuring stuff. (I can just imagine the ghost of Julia Child reprimanding me for a statement like that.) So, I baked a few things— literally, I baked three things. And they were good, but I still prefer cooking.
Living in an apartment, there’s not much “home improvement” you can really do, so DIY projects outside of re-organizing all my closets and cabinets (which I did do, obvs) is pretty much out.
Up until now, I’ve always loved plants and gardens— my grandparents have an enormous garden, my parents have several small ones of various types, and walking through public garden spaces and botanical gardens has been a love of mine for as long as I can remember (I’m looking at you, Riverbanks Zoo and Hatcher Gardens) — but I’ve never tried to do much gardening myself. Again— apartment with no outdoor space. Plus, I’m usually absurdly busy and spend more time at work or commuting than I do at home, and I tend to forget to water things. When my cat was younger, she had a fondness for sniffing out any fresh flowers in the apartment so that she could bat them around, chew on them, or just knock them on the floor— so, all things considered, I assumed that any form of live vegetation just wasn’t for me. I just started buying fake plants and flowers (nice ones) and rotating them seasonally— and that worked really well for a while. But lately, I’ve just been getting the itch to invest more time in taking care of something, especially now that my pets are a bit older and seem to have better things to do than knock stuff on the floor (praise).
So, for about a week, I got absolutely obsessed with plant research. I looked up dozens (maybe hundreds) of plant varieties that would thrive indoors, not require a lot of care (just in case I didn’t inherit my grandfather’s green thumb), not be too fussy about light, and, ideally, purify the air to some extent. I read tons of articles, watched videos, and, while I am still by no means an expert, eventually landed on these pretties:
I’m a far cry from Joanna Gaines, but here’s hoping these babies all hang in there! It’s been about a month (I think) since I got them, and so far, so good. (All you folks with extra green thumbs, feel free to hit me with your tips!) The ZZ plants and Peperomia have actually grown a little bit, so that’s positive.
What are your favorite indoor plants? I’ll keep posting updates as I learn more, but in the meantime, what do you want to know? Potting tips? Watering? Where to buy? The ridiculous names I give my plants because I just can’t help myself? Slide into the comments and let me know!
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Laura