Houseplants: collection or obsession?
Do you remember 2020-2021? As we were stuck at home, many people like me started collecting houseplants. Tending indoor plants is one of those hobbies that doesn’t require stepping outside your front door and you can get things delivered. You can even research plant care instructions online so, again, there is no need to leave your house.
I had started collecting houseplants as soon as I moved into my new home in Athlone at the end of 2018. I am not proud to say that those early purchases didn’t survive in the long term!
My house is cold and damp in the winter, but unbearably stuffy in the summer. This means that I have lost plants to both cold, damp conditions as well as hot weather conditions.
Humble starts
My initial plant collection only included about three specimens from local shops. When I discovered the plant section at supermarkets, my grocery shopping habits changed and I carried large bags full of plants and food back home.
Ambition crept in
I started getting addicted to buying plants but thankfully a more economical option was available: plant swaps. I joined Facebook groups where you can exchange whole plants and plant cuttings, and I started sending and receiving small plant items in the post.
My plant swapping fever took hold during those house-bound years and that’s when I got the bulk of my collection.
Plant cuttings can be very delicate and I lost quite a few of them, but that’s part of looking after live plants. Sometimes, even with the best care, some plants don’t survive because they got exposed to extreme temperatures while in transit, or simply because your home does not provide the best growing conditions.
My plant collection so far
Looking around my house I can see that most of my plants actually came from plant swaps. Natural light is at a premium in my house so I have gathered the majority of my plant collection near the living room window, which is facing East. That means that plants get full light in the morning and moderate light in the afternoon.
My pride and joy hero plants include a large Monstera Deliciosa which I grew from two cuttings received in the post about five years ago, a large Begonia Credneri which I also grew from a cutting and that now covers half the height of my window and a large Begonia Corallina which I got in a swap as a small potted plant.
I also love my small collection of hoyas, which I chose because their blooms are supposed to have a fragrance. Little did I know that it takes years for these plants to bloom and after waiting 3-4 years I saw my first blooms and their scent was so weak it was barely discernible! I recently lost the one hoya that had bloomed last year because the weather became too dry and I forgot to water it.
Compared to other tropical plants like Monsteras, which require quite a lot of watering and humidity, hoyas can thrive with little water and medium humidity as long as they receive plenty of light. The hoya variety that I lost was a Hoya Bella which tends to need more water than average.
Houseplants tend to be tropical plants, generally speaking, as they can adapt to living indoors, therefore avoiding extreme cold weather in winter. During the growing season in spring and summer, adding fertiliser during watering ensures that your plants will get taller and bushier, as well as promote blooming for flowering varieties.
Benefits of having houseplants
Tending houseplants can be a very relaxing hobby (as long as your plants are not attacked by pests, which can be stressful!). There is something soothing about the ritualistic gestures of watering plants, clean their leaves from dust, cutting off dried leaves and simply looking at your plants.
Having plants in my home made my place look more welcoming and inviting. When I’m writing I often look at my housplants as they surround my work desk.
Looking at plants is also a nice distraction from your worries as your mind is completely focused on caring for your plants.
Am I obsessed with plants? Maybe not right now but I certainly went through a phase a few years ago when I was getting my hands on as many cuttings as possible to get a large plant collection.
Do you have any houseplants? If so, which ones? Please let me know in the comments.
I don't think so. It's a mystery. Waiting to see if it can do self resusitation 😆
I have to practice self-control when it comes to house plants, the house could be over-run with the. I call them my babies. I propogate new ones from the ones I have in the house and give them away. Unfortunately one of my monstera looks like it is on its last legs. Don't know what happened to it. I have been reading about solutions to deal with it but none are effective.