Meet the Plants | Your houseplant questions: answered!

Ok guys I wish you could feel my excitement through your screen because I am SO excited about this post!! If you know me well, you probably know that I have a bit of an obsession with my small colony of house plants. Caring for my plants has become such a wonderful hobby, and even though I sometimes feel a little bit crazy, having lots of green in my living and working space has done wonders for my mood, anxiety levels and overall wellbeing!

I’ve been asked about these little guys (and house plants in general!) a lot recently, and because I love nothing more than sharing all about them, I decided to do an ENTIRE blog post to introduce you to to my leafy gang. Heads up, this is going to be a long one! I’m sharing some of my favorite tips to keep your plant babies alive indoors, some of my favorite plants for growing AND a full list of what I have growing now! (I can’t wait to look at this in like three months to see what is still alive 🙈)

I certainly do not have a green thumb by any means, but I do like to pretend! For a long time, I didn’t trust myself to keep anything alive, but I’ve learned a lot since welcoming these little plants into my apartment and wanted to share a little with you today!! Sooo… let’s get started with tips for keeping your houseplants alive!!

Keeping Your Plants Alive

Know your space

I can’t stress this one enough! Knowing how large of a space you have, what kind of light it gets and its general climate is so important! I have a westward facing window and know that plants that require indirect sunlight do the best in my space! My living room gets little to no light, so I know that smaller desktop sized plants work best for me right now! Keep an eye on a plant’s rate of growth too! If you have a small space and purchase a small plant but the plant will double or triple in size in a year, it may not be the best fit for you! (Speaking from experience here!!)

Keep water on hand

I keep a watering can and a spray bottle filled with water on my desk almost always! This helps to remind me to actually water my plants so they don’t get too dry! DO make sure that you are not overwatering your plants as well! I typically wait until the top layer of soil is dry to water my plants again!

Fertilize

Your plants aren’t lucky enough to have the support of outdoor soil and nutrients. I found a great fertilizer for indoor plants from Miracle-Gro, and it has made all the difference! It comes in little “Plant Food” sticks, and I add a new stick in my pots about once every two months. It has really helped to keep my plants happy and green… and it is really easy and clean to use!

Switch up your pots

As your plants grow, their pots and living spaces should be growing with them! Keep an eye on your plants’ growth and switch out their pots as they get too large! A few signs that your plant may need a new pot? The roots are growing out of the top of the pot or are growing out of the bottom drain hole, you are watering your plant appropriately and the leaves are turning yellow (and it has been in the same pot for a while) or if your plant has become root bound (When you lift it out of the pot, the roots look like they could be another pot!). There are quite a few other signs too, but I’ll leave it at that for now!

Make sure your pots have appropriate drainage

Root rot is no fun! DO make sure that your plants have appropriate drainage! I put pebbles in the bottom of all of my plants to help support the drainage process and try my best to be sure that I choose pots that have a good drainage hole in the bottom!

My Favorite Plants for Growing Indoors

If you are looking for some fun and easy plants to help get your houseplant collection started, look no further! These are some of my favorite plants to grow indoors!

For the ‘Gram: (ya know… the ones that Instagram seems to love seeing these days!)

Heart Leaf Philodendron: I got this little guy yesterday when my tomato plant decided to die on me, and I am already obsessed! They grow vibrant, green leaves and tend to grow long arms that drape over their pot! They make great hanging plants and are also great hanging off of a shelf.

Snake Plant: These plants are SO easy to take care of… seriously. We had one in my old office, and I don’t think it was watered for close to 6 months. It was still thriving when I started watering it! They are spiky, tall plants that look like little snakes! You can also get them in various sizes and they are pretty slow growers.

Air Plant: These are also quite possibly one of the easiest plants to take care of! They absorb the majority of their nutrients from the air. They like bright, indirect sunlight, lots of air flow, and occasionally may need to be soaked or spritzed! If you don’t like dirt but still want some green in your space, these plants are for you!

In the Kitchen: (because growing your own food is fun)

Basil: If you don’t have a basil plant in your life, you are missing out! I LOVE cooking with fresh basil! This is a relatively easy plant to take care of and will produce the best smelling (and tasting) leaves ever! I’m pretty sure I bought my plant at Trader Joe’s, so you should probably be able to find these at your local grocery store. DO make sure that you are watering your plant enough!

Mint: This is the BEST to add to water and cocktails! I just recently added a mint plant to my collection, and so far, it has been super easy to take care of! I have heard though that it can grow pretty fast, so do keep that in mind! I started with a super small plant!

For Sharing (because plants are more fun with friends)

Pilea Plant: This plant is SO much fun! It has waxy silver dollar sized leaves and grows little shoots that can be propagated, replanted and shared with all of your favorite people! So far, I’ve taken FOUR clippings from the one plant I bought at Ace a few months ago and have two more that are growing right now! Plants are way more fun when they can be shared with friends.

My Plants

OK… I may or may not have hosted my own photoshoot in my room on Monday morning. I would say I was embarrassed about it, but I’m really not! I’m really proud of these little guys and have never actually photographed them on my real camera! It was a lot of fun, and now I have pretty pictures to share of them whenever people ask to see my favorite house plants!

Left: Pilea Plant Right: Air Plant Left: Mint Right: My Favorite Watering Can Left: Herbs! (Basil, oregano and baby cilantro) Right: Passion Fruit Vine (I don’t actually recommend growing this one inside! I didn’t think it would grow from seed… and then it literally went crazy!) Left: Heart Leaf Philodendron Right: Lithop Left: Fiddle Leaf Fig Right: Propagated Pilea Plants for my mom! Left: Money Tree Right: I'm not actually 100% sure what this one is, but I think it is a caladium or is in that family!! Left: Money Tree Right: I’m not actually 100% sure what this one is, but I think it is a caladium or is in that family!!