It may have started with a small golden pothos for the kitchen. Or a coffee plant for Kai. Maybe the neglected peace lily that spent the first few years of life in a fish tank. House plants were never a huge focus for me, but have slowly evolved into a kind of outlet. Maybe an addiction, a healthy one at least.

There are a ton of studies on how plants positive influence on mental health. Being in the presense of plants has always made feel more optimistic and comfortable in my surroundings, whether indoor or outdoor. Probably becuase it's such a contrast to city life. They're green, bright and just feel good to look at. They offer a small escape and distraction from the chaos and urgecy of working in a tech field, surrounded by notifications and screens all day. And there's no instant gratification with plants. They require daily care, time and patience before you being to see the fruits of your labor. I suppose it's been a type of therapy. One that works well to combat my tendency to become overwhelmed with various anxieties. The more I keep up with their care, they more they grow and progress and flourish over time. In that sense, their growth and progress is a tangible representation of my own. A small success to build off of.

This past year, spending so much time at home in self-quarentine has been very difficult. I usually need to keep busy and active in positive ways to keep the blues away. But the 2020 situation has fed my natural tendency to slip into negative feedback loops with little else to focus on. Combine that with the sever isolation, it's been tough. I credit the pandemic with acting as a catalyst ramping up my interested in plant care over the past year. I know I'm not alone in this situation by far.

 

Let's get some plants!

I have a rocky history with plant care. The vast majority of the plants I've owned were outdoor. My tiny little patio garden in the middle of the city thrived for several years producing lots of flowers, veggies and herbs. But with my most recent apartment move, I lost my outdoor space. The only option for greenery would be house plants. I at least have several south facing windows and one west facing, so plenty of light to make it happen.

But there was another key reason I wasn't super into house plants. Not that I didn't like them, but for as much success as I had with my outdoor plants it did not carry over to indoor environments. They were always unhealthy and met an untimely end. I did like the idea of my apartment housing a small indoor oasis of tropical plants. So the restirctions of my current apartment offered good opportunity to figure it all out.

 

Lifting the house plant curse

Right out the gate I didn't really set myself up for success in my house plant journey. On my list were things like ferns, orchids, a gardenia and a couple varieties of calathea. I picked plants based on looks or aspects about them I just liked. The logic was if I put in enough effort and gave them my full attention this time I could surely keep them all alive. Still, one by one each plant died or degraded into a shadow of it's former self.

There were a few exceptions though. A random pothos I got off of Amazon, a forgotten coffee plant I took over from Kai, and a re-potted a peace lily previously residing in an aquarium. 
This small line up of plants were apparently very forgiving of any mistakes I was making. When I moved them in front of my largest window, even though they were labled as "low light", each one exploded with new growth. This very small success felt so meaningful and rewarding after all the previous plant tragedies. I grew to appriciate them for tolerating my ignorance and not dying on me like the others. 

So I wasn't cursed with house plants, I was just doing everything wrong. From watering to lighting to fertilizing. All wrong. My outdoor plants thrived because I picked things that did well in my climate and left a lot of the work up to nature. I greatly underestimated the challenge in creating indoor environments & maintenance schedules that could fulfill the needs of tropical plants. My change of perspective and some time looking up lots of information on google turned things around. If I understood where my plants came from, what their natural environment was and what sort of pitfalls could be encountered with home care, I would be able to find much greater success.

 

Starting with succulents

If you get into house plants you'll inevidably run into succulents. They're colorful and cute. One of the first small plant successes I had was with succulents. At some point I ran out appropriate places to keep them, so my collecting of new succulents has since come to an end. 

 

Moving on to monstera

Instagram has no shortage of plant inspiration. The most instagramable would be the monstera. Specifically, monstera deliciousa. It's known for beautiful large leaves with "fenestrations", being splits or holes that form on each side of the leaves. I knew it as "the plant from animal crossing".

Being the start of covid lock down, however, I wasn't able to visit any local shops. I ended up ordering monstera from a nursery on etsy. This means I did not get to see my plant befor buying. Cue my surprise when my new monstera deliciousa arrived with absolutely none of the pretty leaf fenestrations it's known for. I was unaware this was a feature that commonly came with maturity, and my new plant was only a few months old. We're going on a year and fenestrations are now starting to show in my leaves.

 

Finicky ficus

I got my first ficus early on in my houseplant journey. I picked up a ficus elastica burgandy on sale one day. At the time, it was the biggest house plant I had owned. I didn't think too much of it in the beginning, but have grown to love this variety of ficus. The care is fairly simple and the plant itself is very beautiful. I added on a couple other types of ficus elastic to my collection since, specifically a ruby and ruby tineke. I had no idea plants could be red or pink up to that point.

Eventually I also devled into the challenge of a fiddle leaf fig. It's a type of ficus, but by far not as forgiving as elastica. Lots of trial and error to keep that dude happy and flourishing. Just a polarized experience.

 

The maranta and calathea phase

The impression many house plant enthusiast seem to have of calathea is that of love and hate. They look so beautiful with the elaborate geometrical patterns that form on their leaves and come in so many varieties, but they have high humidity requirements and are known as "drama queens" when they are unhappy. Still, it's hard not to become captivated.