A Guide to My Apartment Plants

My plants make up a large part of my home, my life, and yes, my business, so I thought it was high time I wrote a bit about them.

Fact: I did not set out to be a plant mom. The idea of creating a green and leafy space really appealed to me, and I wanted to slowly grow my plant collection and try to achieve a refreshing space to live in. Growing up, my bedrooms were never well-lit, and I didn’t spend a lot of time in them, so investing in plants as a kid and teenager didn’t seem feasible. However, once I moved into my first apartment, I started taking care of succulents and even a beautiful basil plant! From there it kind of snowballed. I knew my apartment needed more greenery, and that I wanted it to feel fresh and bright and clean, so I started collecting…

I now own 26 plants: 7 pothos plants, 2 corn plants, 1 money plant, 2 jasmine plants, 1 palm, 2 ivy, 3 snake plants, 1 fiddle leaf fig, 1 friendship plant, 1 jade plant, 2 African violet plants, 1 geranium plant, and 2 string of pearls. I don’t have lovely photos of all of them, but I have a few and I’ll try to share what I do to take care of them! I am not a plant expert and won’t try to advise anyone on the care and keeping of these specific varieties, but I do encourage you to be adventurous and save that sad looking plant from the Lowe’s clearance section. It might just become your biggest asset. (Case in point: my corn plant. Holy. Cow. It has grown so much since last spring when I rescued it!).

REMUS THE CORN PLANT

This guy, man. Remus was my first ‘big’ plant, and he was a sad sap, let me tell you. I found him in the clearance section, and he had only a few tall leaves with brown edges. I took him home, repotted him, and let him live outside for a summer. This winter he has really flourished inside my apartment! I water him probably weekly, and don’t touch him otherwise. He gets lots of filtered light in my studio, and every now and then I notice a new leaf growing out from the center. He’s really impressive and beautiful, and forces me to have more ‘white space’ in my studio (due to his flamboyant leaves taking up so much space).

PALM PLANT

This is actually a sago palm plant (as far as I know), and beautiful though a bit temperamental. Two of its fronds turned yellow, sadly, and according to all the information I’ve been able to find, I’m not supposed to cut them off. So I am pretending it’s a two-tone palm, and trying to remember to water it correctly!

SNAKE PLANT

I do have three of these (somehow). The first one I acquired was thriving, until I got a promotion and decided to bring it in to brighten up my new office at work. It unfortunately happened to be the dead of winter, and that, combined with a different air climate (my office is quite dry) sadly killed off all but a few leaves from the plant. It’s now recovering in my studio. The snake plant you see here is a recent purchase to make up for the sad one, and I also have another, darker one in my entry. They don’t seem to require a lot of light or water, which is perfect, but I do wish they grew a little faster!

FRIENDSHIP PLANT & MONEY PLANT

These two look so lovely on my loom! The Friendship Plant has the most unique-looking leaves I’ve ever seen - they are almost like crumpled paper. I still haven’t found quite the right balance of water and light, but it’s not dead yet so I must be doing something halfway right!

The Chinese Money Plant is hugely trending right now, and apparently really easy to propagate, though I haven’t tried yet. This plant has disc-like leaves sprouting off long stems, and they feel like succulent leaves. As with the Friendship Plant, I’m still getting to know this guy and trying to make sure I water it correctly and give it enough light!

POTHOS PLANT

My first pothos plant is this beauty named Porthos the Pothos. I bought him from my local grocery store and have since propagated five or six successful babies from him to give away. In addition to Porthos, I have a neon variety, a painted variety, and three propagated versions of him, PLUS my most recent pothos acquisition, a large beauty named Bertha who sits on a stool behind my little TV.

Pothos plants are said to freshen the air, and they are very easy to care for. They don’t require a lot of light, although I do notice that my neon variety likes more light than most and needs a bit more water than my other varieties.

FIDDLE LEAF FIG TREE

My fiddle leaf is my most recent acquisition, and the one I am most nervous about taking care of! I’ve heard that these are very temperamental plants, requiring specific care or they die. It’s been about a month since I bought this guy, and so far he seems to be doing okay. I water him thoroughly about once every 8-9 days, and I also rotate him (he sits in a filtered light spot near my piano). His leaves haven’t turned brown, and everything seems fine so far! Here’s hoping he thrives and grows beautifully -I was so excited to get my first tree!

Thank you for coming on my little plant journey! Remember, I am nowhere near being a plant expert and everything I do to take care of these plants was gleaned from the internet, those little plant info tags, or just plain trial and error. I encourage you to invest in some plants of your own to brighten your space! The routine of caring for them, the comfort of their living presence, and their beautiful foliage all contribute to an enriched life. Plus, they make some pretty great models for drawing.