General Care Tips for Thriving Houseplants

Welcome to the world of happy plants! Each day we care for our houseplants, we'll learn how to keep them smiling. From finding the right spot to giving just enough water, let's make your home a green paradise. Ready for the plant adventure?

Every plant is different and as the days go by, if you pay attention, you can start to notice if the plant is happy or not where you placed it or if it needs water more frequently. The frequency in which you will need to water will depend on the individual conditions that you are growing your plant in (temperature and humidity), but you should get an idea of the pattern before too long. If the plant is thriving, its leaves will look shiny and crisp, if it’s not happy the leaves will start to wilt and look opaque.

Most plants live happier if you wait to water them, excessive water kills them faster than having a lack of water because roots rot faster. A drought is more frequent in real life than a continued flood. Think about it, do you know a place that has plants that are always submerged in water? (other than oceans or rivers). Instead, how many places are there that go through occasional droughts and plants mostly survive? Most plants are not meant to be submerged in water, their roots need air and water not just water.

Exploring General Knowledge of Houseplants

Most houseplants must be grown inside to survive year after year (if you live in a place that doesn't have seasons, this doesn't apply to you). Since houseplants are grown in containers, they require extra care from humans. This includes good soil drainage, proper nutrient levels, and adequate watering. Houseplants come in all types of textures and growth habits suitable for use in home décor. Flowering houseplants can provide color and sometimes fragrance. They usually require more sunlight than your typical houseplant to bloom successfully. Placing them in high-light areas like a sunny window or near a sliding glass door is advisable. Houseplants are even known to improve indoor air quality by absorbing common pollutants.

Exploring the World of Plant Varieties

Plants are known as annual or perennial, evergreen or deciduous, and tropical.

An annual plant completes its life cycle in the span of one growing season. This means they germinate from seed, grow, flower, set seed, and then die; usually Spring to Fall. Some annuals thrive in cool weather and complete their life cycle from Fall to Spring.

Perennials provide short or intermittent periods of color and come back every year for at least three years or more.

Tropical plants have great foliage and can be used as an accent to add texture to the garden or patio. Others have stunning blooms used for cut flowers. Tropical plants are evergreens and live year after year in the tropics.

Evergreen flowering shrubs maintain their leaves year-round while deciduous varieties lose their leaves in the fall and re-leaf in the spring.

Mastering the Art of Houseplant Hydration

Proper watering is crucial for the successful growth of houseplants. Understanding when and how much water is essential.

In general, it's advisable to let the soil dry slightly between waterings. This helps prevent overwatering, the primary culprit behind houseplant fatalities.

• Observe the feel and color of the soil after a thorough watering; dry soils usually have a different color than moist ones.

• Ensure you add enough water to moisten the entire volume of soil. If the container lacks drainage, eliminate any excess water by literally flipping it upside down. Never let the roots stand in water, as this can lead to flooding and eventual root rot.

• Always use room-temperature water when watering your houseplants; cold water can damage the roots. Water slowly and deeply, ensuring the root ball is completely saturated.

• If a new plant wilts between waterings, consider increasing the frequency of watering.

• As a bonus tip, avoid watering at night if possible, as morning watering helps prevent diseases.

Here's a handy trick to determine if your plant needs water: insert a toothpick into the soil and wait a couple of minutes. If the entire toothpick comes out wet, refrain from adding more water.

New Toothpick

Insert it in the soil

Only the tip is wet. Add + H2O

The whole soil is moist

1. Grab a New Toothpick.

2. Insert in soil for a couple of minutes.

3. Check if the toothpick gets wet. In this example, only the tip is wet so the plant needs more water

4. Water and check again.

5. The last picture shows the whole toothpick is wet, which means the whole soil is moist.

Navigating the Light Preferences of Your Houseplants

Ensuring the right amount of sunlight is crucial for the well-being of your houseplants. Different plants have varying needs when it comes to sunlight, so understanding these requirements is key to fostering a thriving indoor garden. Generally, there are three categories of sunlight conditions: bright light, indirect light, and low light.

Plants that thrive in bright light need direct sunlight for a significant portion of the day. These are typically positioned near south or west-facing windows, where the sunlight is intense. Examples of plants that love bright light include flowering plants. On the other hand, plants that prefer indirect light thrive in the filtered sunlight found in areas away from direct rays. East or west-facing windows often provide suitable conditions for these plants. Some popular choices for indirect light include ferns, snake plants, and pothos.

For low-light conditions, where natural light is limited, plants that can adapt to shade are ideal. These are often placed in north-facing windows or areas with minimal light. Common low-light houseplants include peace lilies, ZZ plants, and certain varieties of ivy. Always consider the specific needs of each plant and observe how they respond to their location. Adjusting their placement accordingly ensures they receive the right amount of sunlight for optimal growth and health.

Trimming Tips: How to Prune Plants with Ease

Pruning houseplants is a catalyst for new growth. Perform this task while the plant is actively growing, ensuring a swift recovery and the emergence of fresh greenery. Post-pruning, fertilize to expedite the growth process.

Pruning involves removing damaged stems, dead leaves, and any dry or decaying flowers promptly from both the plant and its container.

When pruning, opt for angled cuts just above the bud.

Using proper tools, such as hand pruners, is advisable, though regular scissors can work as well. Ensure all equipment is clean and sharp, and consider cleaning your tools with alcohol before and after each pruning session for optimal plant health.

If you ever wish to repot your houseplant in your garden,

There are many sustainable practices that can be used to control weeds and pests, such as:

• Cover cropping: Cover crops are planted between cash crops to help suppress weeds and improve soil health.

• Intercropping: is the practice of planting different crops in close proximity to each other. This helps to create a more diverse ecosystem that is better able to resist pests and diseases.

• Mulching: Mulch is a layer of organic material that is placed around plants to help suppress weeds and retain moisture.

By using these and other sustainable gardening practices, we can help to protect our health and the environment.

In the future, it is important that we move towards a more sustainable way of farming and gardening. This means using methods that do not rely on harmful chemicals, such as herbicides.

Roundup is a glyphosate-based herbicide widely used in industrial agriculture and home gardens. It has been linked to a number of health problems, including roundup cancer. There are a number of safe and effective alternatives to Roundup that can be used to control weeds and pests.

The use of Roundup and other herbicides has a number of negative environmental impacts, including water pollution, soil contamination, and air pollution.

People who developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after heavy Roundup use have been filing Roundup cancer lawsuits against Monsanto and other defendants, claiming the company should have warned the public about the risk.

The use of safe and effective alternatives to glyphosate-based herbicides such as Roundup, like cover cropping, intercropping, and mulching, can help protect our health and the environment, and control weeds and pests effectively. Switching to safe alternatives is a key step towards sustainable gardening.

Now that we learned all these tips on how to care for houseplants, I hope your plants start to thrive! Remember, no over-watering, and enough sunlight, those are the two main tips when taking care of houseplants! And each plant requires different amounts of these two elements. Check out our other blog post for detailed care instructions tailored to each specific plant.

If you have any questions or need advice for a specific plant, let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to help you.

8 Benefits of Having Plants and Flowers Near You

Plants and fresh flowers not only look good in any shelf or corner; have you ever wondered what are some benefits of having them in your home?

Here is a list of 8 benefits of having plants and flowers near you:

1) Plants Provide a Natural Fragrance

It's the most basic benefit of all, as well as by which many flowers and plants are distinguished. When we want to give our home or work a very pleasant aroma, an easy and beautiful way to do this is to use flowers.

It is very important to take into account that flowers' scent is natural, therefore better, since deodorizers sold in stores may contain some negative health effects, in addition to the fact that most are a significant source of contamination.

Plants and flowers, decorate the place where they are and also, provide a natural and safe aroma.

Some of the most fragrant flowers are lilies, stock, some varieties of roses, and peonies.

2) Flowers and Plants Improve Your Mood and Can Help Against Depression

We all know that the act of sending and receiving flowers strengthens the bonds in relationships. The gesture of sending flowers can mean many things, both as an act of friendship or love. In our experience, we can assure you that it is a very beautiful way to express yourself. People who receive flowers can experience a huge wave of feelings, from empathy, happiness, joy and even love.

For people suffering from depression, flowers are not only a distraction in their daily routine, but they're also a reminder that there are people who love and care about them, and who hope they will recover soon.

Taking care of plants, like watering them, pruning them, and watching them sprout or bloom is a highly therapeutic process and can make people feel better.

What are you waiting for to send get-well flowers?

3) Plants Increase Relaxation and Good Moods

The emotional benefits of plants and flowers are due to their color and fragrance.

Surely you've heard that colors influence our mood. Well, the same thing happens with flowers. For example, soft colors tend to calm us, while the more intense ones tend to increase our perception of energy.

In terms of aroma, flowers tend to get us in a good mood and relax us. Lavender is well-known for its relaxing benefits, as well as chamomile, and some other flowers which are highly used for therapeutic purposes.

So if you want to evoke feelings of sympathy, choose light or pastel colors, but if you need to evoke love or passion choose darker colors like red or burgundy.

4) Plants Purify The Air

As we know, through the process of photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide from the environment and transform it into oxygen, which complements the respiratory process of humans, since we need oxygen and we exhale carbon dioxide.

This is how plants improve the quality of the air we have inside our home.

Send a plant as a get-well gift from our selection; succulents and orchids are also great at cleansing the air and removing toxins!

5) Plants Help Us Breathe Better

As part of their nature, plants provide humidity to the environment, which is reflected in the reduction of levels of dryness in the environment and dust particles in our home.

With this, respiratory problems such as coughing can be avoided. Keep in mind that some plants, like lilies, and very fragrant ones, can provoke allergies. So if this is your case, you might want to choose hypoallergenic plants like orchids, and succulents which provide the same benefits.

6) Plants and Flowers Help Reduce Feelings of Fatigue

Plants remove smoke, pathogenic and volatile microorganisms, and capture dust, reducing their presence in the air by up to 20%. With this cleansing, the feeling of fatigue that we experience when we are in a charged atmosphere, is reduced.

There is a detailed explanation on this from The National Center for Biotechnology Information that literally says "The use of indoor plants could prove to be a cost-efficient way of indoor air-purification that could be adapted for a variety of environments with no need for special requirements and can also add an aesthetic value that can have an indirect impact on human health".

7) Plants Reduce Noise

Plants absorb sounds especially in closed places and with hard floors, thus reducing noise pollution and generating a double benefit since they also clean the air. There are many places that are researching this benefit like The Gardening Know How, who recommends using plants around your home as sound blockers.

8) Plants Increase Productivity at Work

Studies have shown that working with plants around us help decrease absenteeism and increase employee efficiency and productivity.

Now that we are working from home and have more time to take care for them, what are you waiting for?

If you're not very good with plants or are just starting, a good plant for beginners is the Snake Plant or Sansevieria. Snake plants, in our experience, require the minimum amount of attention. They can survive in dark places and don't require much sunlight. Other kinds of succulents are good to start too.

So don't hesitate much longer and buy yourself some plants, and in a while, your boss will be more relaxed and in a better mood, due to your improved productivity.

Warning: plants don't work magic, but they do help.

How To Care For Your Tropical Dish Garden

Learn how to properly care for your tropical dish garden with this comprehensive guide. From watering to sunlight, we've got you covered.

If you have a dish garden, the general rule is to follow the guidelines for the plant that requires less water and less sunlight. We try to combine plants that require the same care so that your gift can have a healthy life.

For example, if all your plants in the dish garden are green foliage, it's more simple. But if you receive our Tropical Dish Garden, you will need to water the orchids and the rest of the plants differently. The orchids will be in an individual container so they don't get overwatered.

Generally, we combine orchids with other tropical plants or succulents. Don't be scared to water them because since the orchids are in an individual container, they won't get overwatered.

The two main guidelines are enough sunlight and enough water:

Light: Place your Tropical Dish Garden near a sunny window. At least 4-6 hours of indirect sunlight.

Tropical plants need a lot of sunlight for healthy development. If leaves start to scorch, they're receiving too much sunlight. If leaves start to yellow, bend, or look translucent, they need more sunlight.

Water: Add water every 7-14 days.

Your Tropical Dish Garden won't need as much water as often as your regular plants. Tropical plants like orchids and bromeliads, come from humid places where it doesn't rain as often. Succulents come from deserts where it is very dry. These tropical plants are designed to live without water for longer periods of time. That is why they're leaves are so thick, they keep water in them (kind of like camels) and if you add too much water, their roots rot fast, rotting the entire plant. Wait until their soil gets dry at least 1 inch under the surface to add more water.

How often? It will greatly depend on the plants' surroundings. Humidity takes a great place here because tropical plants absorb humidity and turn it into water! So really feel the soil before adding more water. If their leaves start to wilt and turn yellow, you're adding too much water. If their leaves start to burn on the ends, your plant needs more water.

Don't water at night if possible. Watering in the morning helps prevent disease.

How to know you're doing a good job? If your plants are thriving, their leaves will look shiny and crisp, if they're not happy their leaves will start to wilt and look opaque.

If you want to learn more about each individual plant, these are some of the plants we generally use. Plants are sorted in alphabetical order:

Bromeliad:

Flamingo or Anthurium:

Orchids:

Pink Wave:

Polka Dot:

Snake Plant or Sansevieria:

Succulents:

Every plant is different and as the days go by, if you pay attention, you can start to notice if the plant is happy or not where you placed it or if it needs water more frequently.

Now that we learned all these tips on how to care for your Tropical Dish Garden, I hope your plants start to thrive! Remember, no over-watering, and enough sunlight, those are the two main tips when taking care of tropical plants.

If you have any questions or need advice for a specific plant, let us know in the comments bellow and I'll do my best to help you.