Hi, I'm Val, and I'm a plantaholic!
It all started with this one trip to Home Depot. Stefan and I had some errands to run sometime during our first few months of living in the new house, and while we were shopping I was like "Hey, having some house plants could be cool, right?". So I grabbed 9 small plants, and that was it. The beginning of it all. If you've made it to this blog post and if you've read this far, you already know that I've accumulated quiiiite a few plants over the years. Last time I did a headcount I was at almost 50 plants in the house.
I've had a couple of people ask me to do a plant tour, so here we are! Welcome to my plant collection! I've got healthy plants, big plants, little plants and a couple of not so healthy ones on the brink of death or already dead that I'm not quite ready to give up on just yet... (I'm pretty sure this is what we call denial?) So if anyone has any tips, I'm all ears!
Little did I know, that trip to Home Depot would be the GATEWAY into my plant obsession!! A couple of those plants from my original haul are somehow still alive, but of course, I managed to kill a few in the process of learning how to care for house plants.
9 plants soon became 15. And then 25, and then 45. And today we're at just about 50 last I counted. Don't tell Stefan, but I don't think that number is going to stop growing anytime soon! ;)
The haul that started it all. Reading that caption now, I still on occasion wonder the same thing haha! For the record 4 of those 9 plants are still alive today.
Here we have Mr Fiddle Leaf fig. He's new-ish to the collection, and fiddle leaf figs are notorious for being fussy. Wish me luck!
One of my personal favourites, a string of pearls that I traded for some clippings. When Alicia gave it to me, the strands were about 2-3 inches long, and now look! He grows so fast!!
A couple of my plants have names, and this mass cane's name is Georgia! A couple of months ago I had asked my followers on Instagram to help me name my newest plants. She's still kicking despite her having a bit of a shock from the cold when I brought her home in February. Ooops, lesson learned!
Lil' variegated philodendron brasil that I propagated from 3 leaf clippings that I accidentally broke off from another plant, oops! You can see the original leaf still, the one that's got some dried up edges. That leaf is the wise senior of the bunch lol.
Newer little dude! I'll be honest, I don't remember ALL the names of all the plants, so I had to look this one up again. Shoutout to Mandy from Trillium Floral Designs for always being just one quick message away to help me identify my plants, including this guy! He is a ficus pumila variegata and is just the cutest little bugger!
I've had this guy for quite some time, I don't even remember where I bought him from. But he's some kind of sansevieria!
Edit: Birdsnest sansevieria! Thanks Mandy! :D
Super fast growing climbing jew plant that I propagated from one of my original first-haul plants! This guy propagates ridiculously easily and quickly. And when he's extra happy, he makes flowers! Yay!
Stefan's lucky bambooooooooo! He wanted something easy lol. So he chose the EASIEST plant of them all.
On the far left, the original variegated philodendron that propagated the smaller version above. In the middle, we have a lil baby sansevieria that came from the original above. And then to the far right we have a very very sad looking earth star plant that I'm pretty sure I've killed (sorry Camille and Chloe if you see this! I'm the worst birthday plant mom ever!), but I'm still a little bit in denial about it hahaha.
One of my favourite weirdo plants, a pilea uhmm... pepereeoemoisoeosoded??? I have yet to find out the proper pronunciation... Google tells me it's: pilea peperomioides! This guy is fun and weird, just how I like my plants! :D Oh and he survived a near killing by Stefan. He knocked him over onto the ground with his guitar and somehow lived to tell the tale with only a couple lost leaves!
Aahh, another favourite of mine! A prayer plant! This lil guy's leaves open and close depending on the time of day. Check out this timelapse HERE. He's grown a bunch since I bought him just a couple of months ago. Fast growing plants are so satisfying!
Oh man... I look at this poor lil rubber plant fella and wonder how he's managed to bounce back! This lil guy is from my original plant haul (you know, the one that started it all!) and I was a complete noob at the time and didn't realize how much WATER these guys need! All the leaves fell off, and I mean EVERY. SINGLE. ONE... And 3 out of the original 6 stems had dried up and died. Something back then just prevented me from throwing the plant out, and I gave him another try and BOOM. Successfully bounced back, AND has sprouted a new baby stem! Hallelujah! :D
SAD PLANT ALERT! (Shield your eyes! I'm embarrassed by the state of this guy hahah.... Beware!)
Ok so.... Speaking of plants bouncing back.... I'm 99% certain this guy is FOR SURE goner! Unfortunately, he was the runt of the family at the nursery and was the last plant left on the shelf, I bought him anyway! As if that wasn't bad enough, fruit trees are notoriously difficult and fussy, most of his leaves had fallen off, and right when I thought MAYBE I had him figured out.... The door blew open in the middle of the night in January and of course, all the leaves froze and fell off and well, now he's dead and I just don't have it in me to throw him out yet. I NEED SOME TIME, GUYS!!! This guy was $60! *Sobs*
Eeee! My lil snake plant dude! I bought this one from Sobey's a while back, and as you can see, it's grown some crazy long leaves since I repotted! He's a little odd looking and unbalanced, but meh! Weird is good in my books!
Another "back from the dead" scenario with my monstera! This was my first large plant, and he's seen it all! Firstly, I stupidly bought him in January (I think there's something about winter that just really makes plants irresistible! I blame the cold!). Anyway, I guess the -20 weather the day I brought him home really didn't jive well. He ended up with a bunch of brown leaves and once I trimmed off all the dead, there were about 5 leaves left, and it was the saddest looking thing for a long time!
And then once the leaves had finally grown back, last summer he ended up with a bug infestation! I used a combination of ground chili flakes and garlic powder (it was recommended online) and eventually the bugs died off, and he's finally gotten a break! Now I just need to get him some support, cause he's hangin' sideways lol!
Stefan's aunt asked me one day if I wanted to adopt her overgrown money tree and I said "HECK YES I DO!". She didn't have the room for him anymore at home, so I gladly adopted. :) This guy is our tallest plant!
Don't judge my birds of paradise's too small pot! It's on my to-do list to upgrade to a larger pot... This guy has grown so much since I initially bought him, he was just 6-7 inches tall, and now look! A strong healthy fella!
Mini money tree that Stefan bought me as my Valentine's gift. He knows me too well! :) Somehow this plant is still alive and thriving, despite the fact that I killed the one from our first haul.
Another one of my favourites, my cacti corner! I bought the shelf from JYSK and was totally planning on mounting it to the wall, but then one day I placed it in the window and it kinda just hasn't moved since. Shoutout to Lindsay for scoring me that amazing vintage dachshund dish that I've turned into a propagated succulent planter!
Hahaha... Oh this poor, poor succulent. I've managed to nearly kill it and bring it back repeatedly more times than I'd like to admit. Right now though I'd say he's pretty happy!
Two English ivy plants that I scored for free from my local Buy Nothing Facebook group! They've grown like crazy and are thirsty little buggers!
No clue what this guy is, but he's a fun time! Don't mind the one brown leaf...
Wandering jew that is a bit of a hot mess... Don't judge! This guy is from the ORIGINAL haul, believe it or not! Has grown a ton since, and I've propagated it a couple times semi-successfully. The one on top of the fridge was propagated from this guy!
The saddest looking unfertilized orchid you've ever seen! I got excited when I saw it was blooming a second time, and then those blooms promptly died, as you can see... Ooops! Bad plant mom alert!
Here's my other super cacti and succulent corner!
I can't help but laugh at my funny looking flapjack succulent (the weird tall sideways one), also from the original haul! He's gone leggy I'm pretty sure due to lack of sun from his old spot. He's another weirdo, but I like him!
Uhhhmmm...... Yeah so pretty sure this baby's tears plant is nearly dead, but in case you can't tell yet, I'm not ready to give up yet!
And as a grand finale, here are my "nearly dead" plants once again! I have people all the time tell me they wish they could have plants, but that they don't have a green thumb. Well guess what friends!? The best way to learn is to just dive in anyways, and kill a few plants along the way, because that's the best way to learn! :)
If you've made it this far into my blog post, congratulations, you are probably just as plant crazy as I am! Also, if you have any tips or tricks for any of my sad looking plants, let me know!
- xo Val
