🌱 My Plants – Part One

As I mentioned in my July round-up post and excessively on social media, I’ve recently become a plants mom. I bought my first indoor plant last month, and has since grown my collection from zero to seventeen. 🙊

I had never thought that I would be into plants at all. Especially since I grew up surrounded by them in my family home where they annoyed me for getting in the way of my playing area during my younger days.

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To be honest, I never really appreciated Sheffield’s greenery (both city and my home) until the day I left. City living had me craving the feeling of being surrounded by nature.

Owning plants seemed to be the best option to replicate even a bit of homely vibes into another flat in the middle of a busy city. Although I can never beat the fresh air mixed with familiarity of home, I could try my best!

So then… came my new favourite hobby – visiting plant stores nearby and welcoming each plant to their new environment. My favourite stores in Leeds have been The Plant Point at the Leeds Corn Exchange and the marketplace at Kirkgate Market. Both have a large collection of various plants alongwith all the extras – soil, pots, accessories – you name it!

Today I wanted to share a few of the plants that have made it into my flat, and who have since made the whole place feel like home. ✨ I’ve decided to split this into a few posts so that it doesn’t get too overwhelming!

The collection

Calathea White Star

I was a bit of a plant noob when I bought my Calathea – it was my first plant. 😂

I didn’t realise how high maintance they are in comparison to other plants. I’ve already had some moments where I think I’ve killed her, but she was just being a bit of a diva. 😆 I’ve moved my Calathea a few times now and found that she thrives best in the bathroom where the humidity is high.

Even though Calatheas can be a bit of a pain, watching them pray every night makes the high drama so worth it. Check out my time-lapse below:

I finally created that time lapse of my Calathea (prayer plant) today – from 6pm to 9pm 😍 Look at that! Magical. pic.twitter.com/gYFJ8JgdRA

— Pauline P. Narvas (@paulienuh) July 25, 2019

Fittonia

I’m still so sad about my Fittonia, because I actually killed this one by overwatering mixed with overfeeding. Again, one of my first plants, I wasn’t quite aware of how to fully take care of them. But you learn and I know I definitley have since!

Here’s a photo of when I first got her… I will take better care of my next Fittonia.

Mexican Snowball

One of my favourites to look at because of how pretty it looks (like a little flower!) and with a plus – it is so low maintance.

Heartleaf philodendron

This is a species of flowering plant in the family Araceae, native to Central America and the Caribbean. I had to get one when I saw the heart-shaped leaf, they are so gorgeous and can grow super long 😍 This one is part of my trialing plants collection.

Spider plant

I bought a spider plant after watching a few plant videos on “the easiest indoor plants to take care of!” I got my spider plant for a lot cheaper than usual, just because it wasn’t in her best shape and needed a new nuturing home.

Initally I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to help her bounce back, but she is doing so well now with some new growth already 😊

Crassula “Buddha’s Temple”

These first caught my eye on the Plant Point’s Instagram page. I had never seen anything like them before! It was one of those, “damn, mothernature is gooooood!” moments. 😂

Again, relatively low maintance and is a great conversation starter – just because of how interesting he looks!

Aglaonema Silver Queen

And finally, the last one for this post is another one of my favourites… The Silver Queen. Being relatively low maintance (low light plant? what?! 😱) but also listed as one of the best houseplants to have because of her air-purifying abilities, she is honestly the best type of queen. 👑

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Do you own any houseplants? Tell me all about them! 👇🏻

You can find Part Two to this series here.