yup. that's right. they call me the plant lady and i'm totally okay with it.
in fact i'll take plants over people any day. just kidding, just kidding....butttt maybe i'm not really kidding. lol.
i love plants and there's so many reasons why you should love them too! not only do they look beautiful and bring color and life to your home but studies have shown that they clean indoor air by absorbing toxins, increasing humidity and producing oxygen. they also reduce stress, fatigue and they have even been said to help with moods, productivity, concentration and creativity. i mean come on now y'all, those are plenty of good reasons to own some plant babies!
today i'm sharing the types of plants we have in our home and how i care for them.
starting with my fiddle leaf fig tree. i love this plant so much. i actually own two of them. one in which i've had for years and has now grown taller then i am (i'm 5'3). when i first got it, it was about the size of my arm maybe even a bit smaller. some people say that figs are hard to take care of but i have found that as long as you don't move the plant around much, water it every 7-10 days and keep it in an area that gets good light you're good to go! i also make sure to wipe the leaves when i notice that they're getting dusty and i actually keep a self watering planter insert in the pot which really seems to help with not having to water it a ton or too often. another general tip i want share is that when i water this plant or any of my plants for that matter i water them all the way through. what i mean by that is that i bring them to the sink or the bathtub and i water them until i hear the water draining out of the bottom of the pot. plants do not like small amounts of water. it can actually cause rotting to occur. so when you water your plants you should always soak the soil through and make sure you allow it to drain properly so that there isn't any excess water sitting on the bottom of the pot which can cause root rot.
next up we have the golden pothos. such a great plant that is so low maintenance. this would be the plant that i would recommend to any first time plant owners because it's pretty hard to kill. we have several of them all around our home because this plant is very easy to propagate. for those of you who may not know what propagating is, it's basically taking a piece of your plant (a piece that is on a vine and that has a couple of leaves on in) off of the plant and either putting it in water so that it can grow roots or you can take it and plant it directly into soil. many people think that all plants need to propagate in water but that is actually not true. the plant is not getting any type of nutrients from just sitting in the water so sometimes plants that are propagating in water do not flourish. instead just take the cutting and plant it directly into the soil. you can't do this with every plant now but you can definitely do it with a pothos.
ever heard of an elephant ear alocasia?! well we've got one of those at home and i have to admit that it's one of my most high maintenance plants ever! why so you ask? because she needs water all the time!!! i even keep a self watering planter insert in the pot but this baby needs water every couple of days. so would i recommend this plant to a first time planter owner? definitely not unless you plan on setting a reminder on your phone to water it every couple of days. this plant also needs a lot of light and warmth. they are tropical plants so they do not like the cold or drafts for that matter. we keep our plant on top of our kitchen cabinets in the kitchen where there's a skylight that sits right above it and the oven isn't far from it so it gets heat from there as well. i've moved this plant around our home several times but this seems to be the spot where it has flourished the most.
next up, we have our english ivy plant. this one is relatively new to our home. we've owned it for a about a year and i love it so much that i purchased another one (i just can't help myself). they're beautiful plants and i absolutely love how they vine. i have a huge one in our bedroom that has vines coming out all over the place. i actually use push pins to hang the vines against the wall. this plant is really low maintenance as well. i water is about every 7-10 days or whenever i notice that the pot feels light (that lets me know that the soil is dry). i would definitely recommend hanging this plant from the ceiling or placing it high up on a shelf so that the vines can fall.
another one of my favorites around here is our beloved pilea peperomioides also known as the chinese money plant. everyone that visits our home falls in love with this plant. it always reminds them of lily pads. i have to admit it really is a cute plant and pretty easy to care for. i water them (we have two) about every week depending on the moisture in the soil. my rule of thumb with watering any of my plants is to make sure the soil is dry before watering them again and i usually stick my finger into the soil a bit to make sure that the soil is dry below the surface as well.
next up we have our jade plant. i've had this plant for years!! believe it or not i originally bought it at ikea and it has grown a ton. so much that it's now a hanging plant. i have never seen jade grow this way but this plant seems to be very happy growing the way that it is so i just let it be. the jade plant is apart of the succulents family. succulents are great plants for first time plant owners. they need water every couple of weeks and actually enjoy being dry. they like warmth and sunlight. these are the best ways to make them thrive!
another beauty we own is a rubber fig plant and no i'm not talking about a faux plant. this baby is live in action! this is another plant which i've had for years and it has grown a ton. its actually probably time to re-pot it if i'm being honest here. just this past week it had a huge growth spurt giving us 4 new leaves. one of my favorite things about this plant is the dark, rich green color of its leaves. at one point in time this plants latex was actually used to make rubber. so interesting right?! this is another great plant for beginners. its very low maintenance. i water it about every 7-10 days and this plant actually does pretty well is low light areas for a ficus. i personally keep ours by a window and she seems to be very happy.
have you ever seen a flowering catcus? well we've got one! it's called a christmas cactus and they're absolutely stunning when they flower. ours was a gift from my mother in law which we've had for a couple of years however last year was the first time it flowered but it only gave me 3 flowers. hey i'll take what i can get but i'm not quite sure why it did that instead of blooming completely. i know its flourishing because it grows new segments all the time but the plant still hasn't bloomed all the way. this plant is a bit high maintenance. it likes bright lighting but not direct sunlight and moisture is key to caring for this plant. it requires frequent and thorough watering during it's active growth which is spring and summer. like i said, its a bit high maintenance and probably not the best for first time plant owners.
that's about it folks, i have a lot of the same plants around our home which is why i have so many. i guess that's why i call them my favorites. we've also got two mini gardens growing on both of our balconies with lots of herbs, vegetables and flowers. i can't wait for things to start coming in so i can begin harvesting!
plants really do bring so much joy to my life so if you're not a plant owner i definitely recommend it. start out small and simple and then slowly add to your plant family. i promise you won't regret it!
happy planting!
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