I do not have a green thumb.
Far from it, actually. I can't even count how many plants we've gotten over the years that we have eventually given away or just tossed. They always die! I don't know anything about soil, or fertilizer, or what kind of light plants need, and I ALWAYS forget to water. Or I'm so obsessive about watering that I do it way too often and basically drown the poor thing.
According to its tag, this plant was a succulent, which I believe is in the cactus family. That's right, I killed a cactus. It was supposed to be easy to take care of and great for beginners... I still have no clue why it died.
But I figured out the secret for houseplants (at least for me, anyway). I am so excited to finally be able to keep them alive! What is my secret, you ask?
I bought a houseplant.
No, don't roll your eyes. This isn't about how I did my research and now I'm a houseplant genius. Quite the opposite, really. Over the winter I happened to stumble across a group of HUGE house plants that were so root bound they were being sold for almost 85% off. I had plenty of empty planters in my garage (from all the other plants I'd let die over the years) so I decided to give houseplants another chance.
After putting them all in new pots and giving them a nice drink, I was happy to see that they looked perkier than when I had bought them. One in particular seemed to liven up. I figured it was just my imagination, but later in the week it started to look sad again. The huge leaves seemed to droop ever so slightly. I shrugged and went ahead and watered it, and all the others, and went about my day. And then later in the week it started drooping again.
By this point I was no longer sure I had an overactive imagination, so I looked the plant up online (see how bad I am with houseplants? I had this plant for almost a month before I even bothered to find out anything about it). I was pretty surprised when I read that the leaves on this plant really do start to droop when it is starting to get thirsty!
I ended up putting the plant in my entryway so I have to walk past it every day. And anytime I notice it starting to droop, I fill up my water pitcher and give it a nice drink... then I go around the house and water all the rest. I know, I know, they don't all need the same amount of water, and I still need to learn about proper lighting and soil and fertilizer blah blah blah, but for me this is pretty much a miracle. I've had these plants almost four months now, and they are all still alive!
I can't be the only one with houseplant problems and I knew I had to do a post about this, so I went a few extra days without watering so I could take a pic for the blog.
Doesn't it look so sad? I took the photo at 8:30am (on a cloudy day, sorry for the bad lighting) right before I gave it a nice long drink of water. Then I took pics again the next day, exactly 24 hours later...
Isn't that crazy?!? Even though I knew it would happen, the vast difference in the "Before" and "After" photos still surprise me.
The plant is called a "Peace Lily" and you can buy them anywhere. These aren't plants that are only sold at fancy schmancy garden stores, you can find them at any regular grocery store. And they are amazing. I love this plant. I can't wait till it's time to repot it, because then I can divide it and have more all over my house!
The plant is called a "Peace Lily" and you can buy them anywhere. These aren't plants that are only sold at fancy schmancy garden stores, you can find them at any regular grocery store. And they are amazing. I love this plant. I can't wait till it's time to repot it, because then I can divide it and have more all over my house!
