Becoming a Plant Mom

Over the past couple of months, I have slowly evolved into the crazy plant lady, but honestly, there could be worse things… If you are also thinking about becoming a plant mom, I would recommend checking out some cool Youtube videos for inspo. The video “Urban Jungle Room Makeover” (https://youtu.be/9nCizD1C3YU) has some really aweome ideas for haning plants and other ways to display them in your room. I would also recommend Bretman Rock’s channel becuase he has a plant house tour where he hillariously talks about all of his different plants and tips for taking care of them. In sharing my journey of becoming a plant mom I hope to inspire others becuase it is a very zen hobby that helps me find calm.

The Beginning

Last Christmas break I was renovating my room because I wanted to have a more mature and calm place to do homework and relax with the craziness of school and life. I was planning my room makeover and I decided to stick to off-white walls and muted pinks and creams for decor, but something was missing. My room still did not have that zen atmosphere that I really wanted in the first place. Then I watched a room makeover on Youtube and the woman making over her room turned her entire room into basically a greenhouse. She had so many plants all over her room and plants hanging from the ceiling. I realized that is what was missing from my room … an insane amount of plants. I quickly fled to Lowes to pickout pots and plants and my addiction to plants has only continued many months later. 

Getting Started

I will admit that I did not really do as much research as I should have in the first place. I just tended to buy whatever plants I thought were the prettiest and plopped them somewhere in my room where I had some space available. Now, after a few months, I feel like I have found the best way to find new plants and pots so they stay alive and thrive in your room. I just recommend researching the different plants you want and the care that they need, so you can start with the best plants for you. I’ll share some insider tips that I have found for getting started buying plants. 

Supplies

The best place to find reasonable priced pots is at stores like TJ Maxx or Marshalls. They have the cutest pots that are usually priced somewhere between $5.99 and $9.99 for small and medium sized pots. Some of the pots have drainage holes but some do not so be careful if the pot has a hole at the bottom. If it does, make sure it comes with a plate under it so you don’t get water all over the place. On the other hand, if there are no drainage holes, add rocks to the bottom of the pot before adding soil so there is some drainage for your plant. 

As far as potting soil, I just buy whatever indoor potting soil is cheapest or on sale. So far I have not noticed a large difference in the quality of soil.

I have started using plant food recently and I have noticed that it does help my plants grow faster and appear healthier. I use the Miracle Gro Indoor Plant Food. It only costs $5 and it lasts a while because I only use it every 2 weeks or so. 

This is probably the most important piece of advice or most important supply that I know of. Plant bug spray. After a few months, I started noticing small gnats taking over my room. It was actually so disgusting. I found two options to help remedy this problem: a soap-water mixture in a spray bottle or a bug soap spray for houseplant from Lowes or a plant shop. 

Buying Plants

I have found that the simple leafy plants like Aglaonema plants or Snake plants are the easiest to keep alive or care for. They can thrive in different amounts of sunlight and are pretty low maintenance. The Aglaonema plants that I have had for a few months have almost doubled in size and keep getting bigger. 

I try not to spend more than $20 on a plant. They have a decent variety in the garden section of stores like Lowes. Once you start going to nurseries or greenhouses that prices start to get more pricey. Keep it simple. Start small with easy to care for plants and then slowly start to buy more unique or difficult plants. 

Trial and Error

In my first group of plants that I bought between January and February, I found a beautiful palm tree plant that is about 3 feet tall and I found a smaller palm called the Dracaena Marginata Magenta that was about 1 foot tall. These tropical palm plants added so much to my room, but I did not pay attention to the special care they needed. I disregarded the sunlight requirements and as a result they both started to slowly die. Palm plants are very challenging to keep healthy if they do not have excessive sunlight for most of the day, so I would recommend avoiding these plants unless you have large windows that can provide them constant sun. Luckily the large palm was able to be revived outside this summer because of the summer sun. 

Recently I decided to give succulents a try because they are just so cute and some of them are so beautiful they don’t even look real. I spent way too much money on succulents at the beginning of the summer and I bought around 12 different plants. I did my research and planted them in mason jars with the proper drainage rocks and the right sandy-soil mix. Even though I did research, after the first week I noticed half of my plants rapidly dying. They started losing leaves left and right and I did not know what to do. I was watering them the recommended amount, but something was wrong. After more than half of my plants died, despite my best efforts, I tried to research what I was doing wrong. I figured out recently that all of my succulents need different amounts of water and need different amounts of sunlight. It took me 2 months and a lot of wasted money to figure out how to care for these succulents and I am still nervous about walking into my room and they all are dead. I would recommend trying to care for only 1 or 2 of these plants to try and get the hang of it because these plants require completely different care than normal house plants. 

What I have Learned

1. Having plants in my room has made it feel more peaceful and calm. Plants really do bring a level of zen to a room, even if it’s just one. I am still adding a few plants to my collection every couple of weeks or so!

2. It’s kind of expensive. Buying plants can get pretty expensive at times, especially if you want some more unique or special plants. Pots and potting soil can add up too if you are buying a lot at once. I recommend only buying one or two plants at a time so the price stays down. 

3. Start spraying for bugs IMMEDIATELY. Do not wait until bugs become a problem. From the minute you have plants in your room, start spraying your soap-water mixture or bug spray on your plants. This avoids the whole mess in the first place.

I am now officially a self-identified plant mom. I have pinterest boards dedicated to plants and the types of plants I want in the future. The only problem I face now is finding space in my room to actually place my plants and to somehow gather money to buy more plants!

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