Essentially EmmaMarie
Plants that Even I have Kept Alive
A couple years ago I looked around my house and realized that I did not have anything alive in it … I mean beside myself, my husband, and our pets! But there was no greenery! No plants! There are several reasons to incorporate plants into your decor:
· Plants add life and dimension to our décor, and
· Act as natural air purifiers
According to the list I found, the spider plant, English ivy, and pothos are on the list of the top 20 indoor air purifying plants.
I will be the first to admit that plants are not my forte—in fact I have killed quite a few over the years but, unfortunately for the poor plants, I have persisted and have now kept a number of plants alive, some even thriving! Through this process, I have learned of a few plants that are hard to kill house plants and easier to care for than others. The following are the plants that I like and have been able to keep alive—and the ones I really like in my decor!
Spider Plants
While I detest the name, I really like the plant! My mom always had spider plants when I was growing up and spider plants are the easiest plant to keep alive that I have yet tried. Seriously. I have over-watered (you can root a new plant in water so I don’t really think you can overwater them), under watered, and everything in between and they have still lived. They also don’t necessarily need a lot of natural light in my experience! They tend to grow to fill the size pot you plant them in so if you don’t want a bigger plant—don’t give them more room!
Ivy
I have had my ivy plant for about two and one-half years; my mom gave the ivy to me for Christmas a few years ago and she is astonished every time she comes over and finds the ivy still alive! Ivy is the second longest plant survivor in my house—the first being my spider plant. I water the ivy once a week and she seems very happy. I did move her at Christmastime from our front room (that gets lots of light) to our bedroom (which does not get a lot of natural light) and she did not like that. Except for that, the ivy has been happily growing and I believe she will continue to!
Pothos
I am on my second pothos—the first one I killed. This was especially bad because the plant I killed had been grown by my sister-in-law from a clipping of my husband’s now-deceased grandmother’s plant. Thankfully she knew better than to entrust the main plant to me! She also has a difficult relationship with plants and therefore did not judge me (at least to my knowledge) for killing her plant. She has since given me a second plant-clipping and this one is doing much better than the first!
Air Plants
Ok, I will admit to having killed one of these too—but he lived for two years before his death! (I had named it Harry-because he looked like a Harry of course!) These little air plants can be tucked in so many different places in your decor and look so cute! They don’t take much water; some you have to run the water over for a second or two a few times a week, others you may have to soak in water weekly. Other than that, they really don’t require much. We were away for several days during the winter months and had our thermostat turned down much cooler than we normally would and I believe Harry died because it was too cold for the few days we were away. Air plants are native to the tropics.
Pearl Plant
This plant is technically categorized as a succulent but I don’t think of it as a succulent at all. I find it to be easy to care for, like an ivy, but not requiring a great deal of natural light. With a little water once a week, this plant has been growing very nicely for me.
Succulents
These are not plants that I have had very much luck with. I know, I know—they are supposed to be very easy to take care of, and so hard to kill but I’ve lost track of how many I have killed over the years. I mention succulents in this post, not because I have had great success with them, but because I know others who swear by how easy they are also. If you think you are hopeless when it comes to plants because you can’t even keep a succulent alive, you are not alone! Please try a spider plant or an ivy. If you do decide to try a succulent, here is what I have learned: succulents are supposed to be easy because they don’t require much light or water. I think I have drowned mine by giving them too much water. Apparently they don’t want water every week, or at least as much as I was giving them.
All of the above plants are currently enjoying their life in my home; they exist on one watering a week and a moderate amount of natural light—minimal care that even I can handle! If you have tried having plants in the past and have given up on them altogether, I hope this post encourages you to try again and see what happens!
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Plants that Even I have Kept Alive
Now I will be the first to admit that plants are not my forte… in fact I have killed quite a few over the years but unfortunately for the poor plants I have persisted and have now kept a number of plants alive, some even thriving! Through this process I have learned of a few plants that are easier to care for than others. The following are the plants that I like and have been able to keep alive- and the ones I really like in my decor!
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