Plants are passion that give back to you! They are full of life, growth, and perseverance; something I strive for everyday in my own life!
My plant story really begins when I broke free of a toxic relationship. Shortly after that my best friend and I went on a road trip for a week just to get away and have as much fun as possible before we both went off to college. We were in this cute little shop in one of the cities we stopped in and they had a few succulents for sale. I commented about how I thought I would never be able to keep plants alive so it would be a waste of my time and money. She said, “life in short and you’ll never know if you don’t try and also succulents are hella easy, so you got this!”. I obviously bought the plant and haven’t looked back since. That moment helped me find not only myself again but also a newfound love for plants. That succulent proved to me every day that I kept it alive that I was capable of anything (something I lost sight of in my toxic relationship). I moved away to college and soon found my dorm slowly acquiring more and more plants. I loved the thought that I was keeping them alive, and it gave me something to care for when I was alone and over 5 hours from my friends and family at home.
Fast forward a year or so and I moved into my first apartment. I moved in in January and my dog was finally able to come live with me as well as the new plants my best friend got me for Christmas. I took them all to my apartment and soon found I could fit so many more plants in an apartment than in a dorm room. Then COVID hit and I had school online and no more work so little by little and plant by plant I started filling my home with living plants. I eventually ran out of counter and shelf space for them so obviously I built a whole wall of shelves out of wooden crates to create more space.
After I had about 20 or so plants is when I really started to have a clear passion and apparently a green thumb. I started researching plants that I was bringing home so that I could make sure they lived in the perfect environment. I looked up lighting patterns so that I knew right where to keep my plants and even got a grow light. I looked up which ones were toxic and put them up higher away from my pets. I looked up which ones needed humidity and quickly sacrificed my essential oil humidify to a plant shelf. I started learning how to properly and when to do it. I learned how to recognize different problems with my plants. Experienced my first case of mealybugs and fungus gnats driving me crazy. I even made my own terrarium and experimented with new and more finicky plants.
I love plants more than most things, but my family isn’t one so when my brother was almost killed, I immediately rushed home with a disregard for each and every one of my plants. I was home for about a month helping by brother recover and when I finally got back to my apartment a lot of my plants were seriously struggling. This is when I learned how to nurse plants back to health and read what they need from me and how to say goodbye to the plants that just don’t make it. After that I started noting and keeping track of everything that was happening with each plant and when everything is being watered and repotted and such. This helped me recognize some major mistakes I was making with my plants and helped me especially with planning ahead so that I was able to leave my house for trips and not worry about my plants.
Through my experience with plants and just the last year I have learned to do things that make you happy, not worry about failure, and especially take account of what really matters in life. Now plants take up a few hours of every day for me but that’s what makes me happy. Find what makes you happy and then grab on for the ride and jump in the deep end because you only live once so you might as well make it count.
