Disclaimer :
I am not an expert, just an enthusiast.
Roughly a year and a half ago, I bought my
first plant – a Lucky Bamboo. It
seemed like a safe bet. And so it proved for a long time…a year and a month, to
be precise. Not long after that, I braved another buy – a Peace Lily this time. It didn’t have a flower bud yet, but I was
adamant I would be able to bring it to flower in time. It still hasn’t. Then a
friend of mine gifted me my first Devil’s
Ivy – a ‘propagation’. She took root fairly quickly. I was proud of the way
she was growing so well. She grew 5 leaves so fast, and then suddenly she was
losing all of her original leaves and she wouldn’t grow much further.
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| My Lucky Bamboo |
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| My Devil's Ivy and her original leaves |
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The new leaves on my Ivy
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Then I brought home a couple of succulents –
a Jelly Bean and a Sedum Spathulifolium. Back then I
used to live in this igloo of a house, so I managed to kill my precious Jelly Bean
for the lack of sunlight. The other one, I gifted to my friend. He’s a
terrible plant keeper and yet, he managed to keep it alive until a month ago
when he decided he wasn’t having any of it anymore.
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| My Jelly Bean |
I lost my first plant, my bamboo to a silly
mistake I was to realize only months later. One of its leaves had started to
turn yellow and naïve plant keeper that I was then, I ignored it and just under
a year later, it plain died. It was only after I moved house that I started on
my journey to become a plant mum. I managed to convince the friends that I had
gone to live with that having alive plants in the house was a good idea, so off
we went shopping. We got ourselves a Bamboo
Palm, a Bird of Paradise, a Geranium and 3 succulents (still don’t know
their names). I also got me Calla Lilies
in full bloom.
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| I bought the one on the left. On the right is what remains of my old Lucky. |
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| My Reed, all grown and handsome |
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| Birdie with her new leaf in the middle |
I’ve named the bamboo palm – Reed, he’s
growing very well. Birdie has grown a new leaf and that’s kind of a big deal. I
don’t think he’ll bear flowers any time soon but that’s fine by me. Geranium
enjoyed her blossoms for a long time until the rain rendered her naked and now
she’s sitting twiddling her thumb.
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Succulent 1
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| Succulent 2 |
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| Succulent 3 |
A month later, I went and bought myself
another set of Devil’s Ivy, this
time – not so vine-y. At that time, I had it in my head that I could propagate
plants so I took one of the stems and put it in water until it grew its own
roots. And surprisingly, this one is doing quite well till now, growing 3 extra
leaves already. My original Ivy, I transferred into soil which seemed to have
the right effect because it started developing more leaves, albeit at a very
slow pace. A week ago, I had to transfer it back to water because a part of the
stem which had last leaves long time ago started rotting. I know it’s hard to
say goodbye to the spectacular root system that grew under your supervision but
you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
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New pothos
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Propagated pothos
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The same month, I got me Calathea Zebrina, a glorious indoor plant with leaves very vibrant
and beautiful. I tried repotting her right away since her roots were showing
from the drainage hole. Repotting her was a good idea but I made a silly
mistake in choosing the new pot for her – the width was right, the problem was
with the height. Zebrina suffered. Her roots clogged the new pot’s drain hole
and the water wouldn’t drain, and that ate away at the plant. Her leaves
started to turn yellow and they look like they’re being burnt slowly. I moved
her back to her old pot but she’s not the same anymore. She’s slowly dying and
there’s nothing I can do but to watch her die. Also, Calla isn’t the same after
her flowers wilted. May be she isn’t meant to live beyond one season of
blooming, may be I’m not working well enough for her. She’s there at a corner
with Zebrina, both succumbing to slow death while all I can do is pray for
their misery to be over.
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| Zebrina on the day I brought her home |
A week after I got Zebrina, I got Anyamanee. She is beautiful, this girl.
She’s got these pretty leaves that have pinkish design that aren’t exactly polka
dots and they aren’t swirls. And she’s doing great. Her leaves still look
vibrant and she’s growing more.
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| My Anya |
By now, I had been watching quite a lot of
videos on caring for plants, propagating them, selecting best kind of plants
for people like me and most importantly, I’d been watching people parading their
own plants. My propagation ventures were working only for pothos (ivy) and I
was failing miserably on propagating succulents. That didn’t dishearten me
though because then I went on to snip the tip of Snake Plant from work and plant it at home. Salazar hasn’t died on
me yet and it has been more than a month. I don’t know if he’s taken root or
not. I’m waiting for him give me signs of new life and I’m told it’ll take time.
And I am patient.
The last one I’ve added to my collection is a
succulent by the name of Gasteria
Caranita var Verrrucosa. I know, that’s a mouthful, so I’ll go by the name
of February since I got him on Valentine’s Day.
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| February looking shy |
Apart from these, I’ve had a few unsuccessful
batches. But I won’t be going into the gory details of how they died on me. I
will however not forget to mention my three may be’s that I actually planted,
as in with the seed – a batch of coriander, a marigold and a couple of chillies.
And they’re growing painfully slowly. But the obsessive plant mum that I have
grown to become, I don’t love them any less and I always make sure I am on
track of their developments, little they might be.
Now, after all that is said and done, I still don't dare boast that I am good with plants. I am always on the lookout for the brown spots, yellowing leaves, any sign that might suggest the plants need some trimming. I also haven't dared buy any more fussy plants. I give out recommendations to other wanna-be plant people like I am any more knowledgeable than they are. I ogle at the plants at other people's homes like pet lovers coo at other people's pets they pass on the street. I am always planning on the next plant I might add to my almost-jungle-y bedroom. I come home to congratulate on the growth of my babies and talk words of encouragement. And mostly I am very thankful for having taken the path of this 'relationship', that is closest to parenthood I have ever come so far.
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| This is a different Lily than the one mentioned above. I got her for the said friend but he couldn't keep her a week, not even to humor me. |
PS. After I finished writing this blog, my flatmate gifted me my very own Monstera Deliciosa, which I was looking to buy for a long time. I've named him Hurricane.
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| Plants make me a happy human |
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