I can't help but love house plants. I even considered becoming a botanist. (for about 2 days during my senior year of high school... ) Who knows where my interest in plants comes from. Maybe it's my mom, who loves to garden and knows each name of the plants she grows. I'm sure she used to get sick of me always asking, "what is this one called again?" Haha, with the way my memory works I'm SURE she got sick of me asking. Or maybe I picked up my interest from my Grandma, Patricia, who dreamed of a kitchen herb garden for years and finally got it at their home in the country.
I do know one thing for sure, my love of flowers is my own. Bursting with color and fragrance, what is not to love about flowers? God created the world's colors to bloom into flowers and color is one of my true loves in life. Secondly, my mind remembers in scents and smells. So to me, the scents of fragrant herbs and flowers bring memories to my mind. For instance, my Grandparents had a stone patio surrounded by pine trees and boxwoods. And now anytime I am near a boxwood, I remember the leisurely dinners we would have on their patio. Or when I smell a rose, I think of my Grandma Joyce who would surround herself with roses if she could. I can't surround myself with fresh flowers, and house plants give me a way to bring something green and growing in the house. Read a post at Fine Green Design to read more about using houseplants to "green" your home. I really enjoy keeping houseplants if only for some live color here and there around the house. They also purify the air, a huge benefit in my book. Currently I have three in the living room and one in the kitchen. My favorite houseplant is ivy, especially variegated varieties.
Ivy is so easily trained to trail in any direction you'd like by turning it towards the light or winding it around a wire frame. My mom used to keep an ivy plant that she wound around a wire heart standing up in a pot.
I also love citrus trees. They take a long time to grow, but you can start them from lemon, lime or grapefruit seeds. The only thing is that grown from a seed, a citrus tree will not bear fruit unless it is pollinated. But you can buy trees from a company like Whiteflowerfarms.com that will bear fruit. Like this lime tree:
or this Meyer Lemon Tree:
Just about the easiest kinds of houseplants to have are succulents. They can be watered once every week or two weeks, and they love the warm air inside of our houses in the winter.
Something I have not had a lot of success at growing inside, but would love to try some again is a potted herb garden. Rosemary, basil, and parsley are my favorites. Each time I've tried to grow them, they seem to die on me. I think I watered one too much, one not enough, and forgot to water the other one...
picture from whiteflowerfarm.com
I've also tried to grow a rosemary topiary. Aren't these cool?
Have I inspired you to buy some houseplants?
I have sooo many houseplants! My husband and I live in a tiny studio apartment, and I really have more plants than we have room for. I cram them in everywhere - on top of the fridge, on nightstands, on the kitchen table! They make me so happy, though! I should try getting some succulents, because they're so pretty and easy to take care of.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about houseplants that can boost your mood? I agree, my houseplants make me happy too! I have a corn plant/tree that I inherited from someone at work and it must be 6 and a half feet tall and about 20 years old. It's the oddest looking thing, but I just love it.
ReplyDeleteLove the topiaries. I blogged about succulents last week...they're making the rounds :)
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