Does anyone else name their plants? Asking for a friend…
No, but really, I think it’s happening. I’m becoming a crazy plant lady - with an ever increasing flock of green-leaved friends taking up residency on my terrace. While we did have a few plants in Florida (we miss you, Christmas Ficus), this odd assortment of foliage will be our ongoing project in our new home in California. As I know next to nothing about how to grow plants, I’ll be keeping track of it here and how these guys grow (or ☠)
But these guys, they haven’t gotten any names yet. Soon, I hope. At the moment they are affectionately known between Chara and I as:
Oleander (poison!)
Pink cactus
Tropical plant #1
Mint
Spicy basil (aka wimpy plant)
Cute palm tree
Tomato to be
Smoll green plant (Ivy)
I am quite confident that plants are by far the best house residents, greatly outshining many other options, for our current lifestyle. Here’s the reasons why I think that is:
1. Plants don’t have pulses.
Or at least not in the sense that we do. While I am sure that plants have their own form of energy, they thankfully don’t require the same input as, say, a puppy.
2. You can eat your plants (sometimes)
Plants of the pointy or poisonous variety need not apply.
Right now we have English Mint and Spicy Basil. Us, being the amateur plant parents that we are, put them in the same, small, pot to start. The mint began to thrive with lots of water and sunlight, and well, the Spicy Basil seemed a little sad. We found out it was likely because of too much light and too much cool weather in our Southern California fall weather.
So we separated them. The mint looks amazing:
2A: Bonus recipe: Get a ruby red grapefruit {extra points if it’s from your local farmer’s market}, some brown sugar, and fresh mint. Cut the grapefruit in half, chop the mint and add it and the sugar to the grapefruit. Prepare to be amazed.
3. Plants help the environment and YOUR environment
It’s a well known fact that plants and trees are highly beneficial for our planet, but did you know they can directly impact your quality of life?
This is because not only do plants have great benefits related to cleaning the air, but they also promote a serious sense of calm.
It may be anecdotal, but there’s nothing but spending a little bit of time amongst one’s plants for an instant mini mood booster. Combine a happier mood with cleaner air and you’ve certainly upgraded your environment.
So, what’s next?
Well. First we need to identify the plants. We know for sure about the mint, spicy basil, oleander, ivy, and cactus. But as for the mini palm tree and the leafy plant that we got from a shelf literally labeled ‘tropical green plants’, could be just about anything.
In any case, as all of these plants seem to have varying needs in terms of light and water, we are busier than I would have expected, moving plants and watering them. (the aforementioned basil is inside as I write this)
Once we’ve identified the two unknowns, we’ll try not to kill any of them.
As these are houseplants (except for maybe the ivy and the oleander?? I am actually pretty sure houseplant is just a state of mind, so I’m going for it), I’m also going to track what seems to work so that I can help other amateur plant parents to keep more things growing and less things wilting.
If you’ve got any interesting or useful plant growing resources, don’t be afraid to leave them here. I may love my plants, but this may be what leads to their demise.
Happy gardening! 🌱
Also, happy daylight savings time?