Dream Plants

I post a lot of plant pictures on my Instagram because I love them. Basically nature and all things trees and flowers are my jam so, naturally, I love indoor plants a lot too! I could spend hours looking through photos of people’s well-planted homes and can walk around the garden centre near me just smelling all of the herbs!

Sadly I don’t have a garden to plant things [I’ve tried, if you want a fun story about this I’ll pop it at the bottom of this post – the joys of living in shared spaces] so I have to try to implement plants into my home. The sadder thing is that my home is teeny tiny! There isn’t much space for anything, really, so I have to be very careful about what plants I get and where I put them… and I have to try to sneak them in without my boyfriend noticing because he is under the impression we have ‘enough’ [a word I don’t understand?!]; here’s a little sneak peak at what I already have going on [besides my cactus and succulents which are growing on the window ledge].

For fun I figured I’d put together a little dream plant wish list for both my viewing pleasure and yours. Besides, if I have a list that means I can slowly work my way through it until I’m living in a terrarium!

Bonsai Tree – I would love, love, love a bonsai tree but I’m kind of scared I’ll kill it? I don’t know if my green thumb extends towards such a beautiful specimen… saying that, I’ve kept my basil plant alive for about two months now so who knows?!

Lithops – if you haven’t seen these crazy succulent-type plants before I feel bad for you. I want some, desperately, because they look like aliens and also brains and they’re hilarious little guys!

Oxalis – like purple butterflies and very durable. They kinda look like fake plants which I like. I’m a huge fan of big green plants but a purple leaf is so different it’s hard to ignore how beautiful it is!

Fern – I love fern because it reminds me of being a kid and running through it and loving how it curls up in cold weather. Green and dainty but easy to maintain, which is a plus!!

Snake Plant – I am lucky my dog doesn’t care to chew anything because this, like most plants, is deadly to animals! But look how cool it is! I like plants where the leaves shoot straight up [hello bamboo, I’m looking at you!] and I like the dark green/light green combo. This picture gives me life because we can’t have plants on the ground due to under floor heating so I need a raised plant pot like this in my life!

Aloe – because what kind of hippy bish would I be without one? I want to use aloe as a natural remedy; I also know that it’s a plant you can propagate, which I’m excited about because propagation is a cool hobby!

Rubber Plant – I love these but they can get BIG… the plus for these is that they’re really good at purifying air so I’m thinking a good bedroom plant? I have asthma and I get wheezy at night for some reason, especially in summer. I’m assuming allergies and I’m praying I’m not allergic to this plant!!

Air Plants – I want want want air plants in my life, particular for the bathroom because we have no ventilation in that room, bar a small window, and so I’m thinking they would enjoy the constant water supply. Also, with them needing a 10 minute soak in water once a week, I’d be less likely to forget it they were right next to the bath!!

I love how popular it is to keep plants these days. When I was younger I always felt like a nerd because I would take pride in keeping orchids and poinsettias alive for YEARS and it was a habit to try to sneak new plants into the shopping trolley when I went out with my parents! Throughout the years I’ve grown tomatoes, lavender, basil, chives, and even tried and failed at corn and pumpkins [what was I thinking?!] but now it’s a craze and it means I can learn from other peoples mistakes, which is the way I like to learn [whilst probably making new mistakes along the way].

Are you a happy plant parent or are you holding back on owning plants because you don’t think you can keep them alive? [That’s a common fear, I’m sure!!].

Sam

ok – the story I promised at the start! I live in a very small block of flats [there are 9 in this building and, excluding us, 13 people who live here] and we have a small grass space outside our front door with a larger shared garden around the other side of the building. Our small space has a raised planter with flowers in and, silly me, was thinking of planting lavender and coriander in the flower bed for fun and, y’know, to use! I went out and picked some lovely little plants which I left in their pots on top of the soil to get some sun and some rain before I popped them into the soil. A few days later the lavender plant totally disappeared so I left a passive aggressive note on our shared notice board to say it was missing and asking if anyone had seen it… obviously it didn’t reappear. I left the coriander in the pot I bought it in because I was miffed about the lavender and a couple of weeks later the coriander had been turned out and someone had taken the plant pot. I remain miffed at how weird and petty people can be. I have to assume it’s someone in my building who did it because the only other people who come to our door are delivery people and I can’t see them deciding they need a plant or a plant pot in their cars?! Who knows. Growing things indoors from now on!