An Ode To My Plants | Inspiration: Plants

Oh, how I love plants. This blog post has been a long time coming. I knew I wanted to decidate a full post to plants for months now but it never turned out how I wanted it. But here we are. Plants are a must in my life. I love taking care of them and seeing them getting new leaves and growing. Sounds very strange but you’ll read all about it in this blog post!

∿ Why I love plants

I didn’t think I really needed to explain why I love plants but here I am explaining it. Years ago I didn’t have any plants in my room until I got the very well known Ikea cacti trio. These cacti lasted me a long time which surprised me. I always thought I could never keep plants alive. So, after the Ikea cacti trial, I got more plants. First only cacti and then also succulents and other plants. If I don’t have plants in my room, it doesn’t feel like home. Plants are friends and make everything better, including the vibe of your room.

∿ Taking care of plants

Seeing plant thrive is such an achievement because taking care of plants can be hard. Unfortunately plants can’t talk so you kind of have to know when they need water or more (less) light. Overwatering my plants or not watering them at all is what I am good at. So, how to take good care of your plants? What I do is ALWAYS look up the plant I just got and see what the internet says how I should take care of it. Does it need sunlight or not any at all? Does it need a lot of fresh air or not? How much water does it need? Of course you can just guess and place it anywhere in your home and water it once a week. That’s what I did when I first got plants. But I would suggest doing some research so you can enjoy your plants for the longest possible time.

∿ My favorite plants

What would this blog post about plants be without a couple of my favorites? Over the years I’ve owned many different kinds and have definitely discovered three faves:

Monstera ➵ This is my all time favorite plant. It’s aesthetically pleasing, it grows so fast and doesn’t need that much taking care off. The perfect plant for me. In the beginning I did struggle with finding a place for it and learnt it doesn’t like direct sunlight.

Air plants ➵ Air plants are so fun! Mine I’ve put in a glass holder which I can put up. One is hanging from my shelves and the other one is on my cabinet (the bottom is flat so you can put it down as well).

Philodendron Birkin (white measure) ➵ When I saw this plant in the garden centre, I had to have it. It’s so unique and I love the white leaves. It’s a low grower and doesn’t like direct sunlight. Especially for this plant I bought a plant mister to make sure to keep the soil wet.

∿ Plant tips

Plants need love and taking care of. I am still learning, so that’s why I’ve listed three things I’ve learnt about plants so far and I think everybody should know:

𝟏 ⋮ Don’t forget to remove dead leaves. Why? So all the energy of the plant goes to the leaves that need it and not the ones that are dead.

𝟐 ⋮ Use fertilizer. I didn’t realize but most plants really thrive when they get fertilizer besides water. Make sure to first check if your plants needs fertilizer and in what season.

𝟑 ⋮ Propagating plants is the best thing there is. My mom and I do it all the time with her Pilea peperomioides, aka pancake plant. I also want to do it with my monstera but I have to delve into it before I actually do it.

And yeah, that’s all for now. I can talk about plants for days. My friends and I immediately send each other photos when we spot a pretty plant in the garden centre. It’s so weird but so fun! I already can’t wait to own a home and putting plants all over the house. It will look like an indoor jungle. Ahh. I am imagining it right now… Are you also into plants? What’s your favorite plant?

Love,

Neeltje