Plants are the new pets: Bringing some lively green to your living space

When it comes to bringing a living space to life, I have found that taking care of and displaying houseplants are the perfect way to enhance your home.

Though far from being an expert, I do have a good knack for helping my 22 indoor plants thrive and stay alive. From my very first Peperomia to my beloved Marble Queen Pothos plants, the build-up of my collections of propagations and gifted specimens have helped make my apartment a cozy, green home.

For people who may be new to house plants or those who want a way to help spruce up their living space, here are a few tips.

Finding the right first plant for you

Do you have pets that like to nibble? Do you get a lot of sun in your home or would you have to rely on a sunlight? Do you want something that you don’t have to think about very often or are you prepared to water the roots at least once a week? These are all important questions to ask when figuring out what plant you would like to get.

If you have pets, it is best to find plants that are non-toxic to animals, in case one of them is able to get their chompers on a leaf or stem. Some of the best pet-friendly plants are the Chinese Money Tree (or Pilea Peperomioides), the Calathea Concinna or the ever-popular Spider Plant.

If you get a lot of sun in your home, make sure you choose plants that can handle sitting in a window frame, like succulents or any plant that you are propagating. If you have bright lighting but also a spot where your plant can be placed so that it doesn’t have direct light on it, you’ll do well with a Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia), any Pothos or a Swiss Cheese plant (also known as the Monstera adansonii, one of my favorites). If natural light is a little hard to come by in your home, a ZZ plant or a Snake plant will be your friend. Another option for low natural lighting in the home is to use an artificial light bulb or light stand designed for house plants – the one I like to use can be found at most local hardware stores.

As far as watering, it’s important to know what each individual plant type you may decide on requires and then keeping track of them, either through a calendar or by checking the soil every day or so. I prefer to keep house plants that only need to be watered about once a week, or once a month. The most important thing is making sure you never let the soil dry out and that you also never water too much.

Soil, Water, Pot

While you can buy ready made soil from the nursery down the street, I’ve found that it’s more fun to make your own indoor soil. I like to use 2-part potting mix, 1-part perlite and 1-part peat moss for most of my plants, which I like to mix up in a bucket I keep on my balcony. However, not all plants are the same and many of them need different components in their soil, so it is always best to check with your local nursery to see what they say about your specific plant.

As far as watering your plant, the most important thing (besides the potency of the actual water) is the pot that you are using. I would advise against using a planter that does not have a hole in the bottom, since this helps keep your plant from getting root rot (plus, it allows you to see if any roots are poking out, which signals that it’s time to get a bigger planter).

Did you know that the way you water your plants can effect them? We all know about using a watering can to give the top of the soil a good, short rain fall, but sometimes, this is not the way. For many house plants, the best course of action is to water from the bottom – this means placing the pot in a slightly larger bowl of water (be sure not to drown it) and letting the plant water itself. I like to keep my pots in their water bowls for as long as they need (some take a lot longer than others) but 20 minutes is the general rule for minimum watering time.

Propagating is key

Propagation is when you grow a new plant from another source, like a seed or a cutting or another part of a plant. The majority of my house plants have been brought up from propagations, either from plants I already have and love, or a gift from a friend’s plant (always with permission, of course).

When making your own propagation, it’s important to use sharp, clean pruners and to find a tiny brown root node on the vine or stem that you want to cut. Once the right node has been found, use the pruners or scissors to snip a off some of the healthy stem below the desired node – this will be your plant’s new root. To help your new plant thrive, it’s good to give it some options, so I like to cut a propagation that has 2-3 nodes to give the new plant a fighting chance in the root department.

Once cut and cleaned, place the propagation in a clear glass vessel (like a jar, a bottle or a small vase) and fill it with water until the nodes are submerged and the leaves are hanging out over the side. From here, place the vessel anywhere it will get as much sun or light exposure as possible and then replace the water daily.

Once you notice that the nodes have grown nice and long, then you can transfer your propagation to its new home in a pot. However, it’s important to remember that potting and repotting a plant is traumatic shock to its system so take extra care of the newly potted plant for the first few weeks, don’t over water it and expect that a leaf or two may have to be snipped to let new leaves grow.

For more information on basic house plant care, talk to experts at your local nursery or plant shop, read books from the local library and research as many sources as possible on the internet.

A newer Pothos in its tiny Animal Crossing pot.

A Ctenanthe Lubbersiana named Bimini. Rescued from a discount section at a local nursery, this little plant lives under an indoor plant light (for now).

The latest Barbie progagation, this sits in a mustard jar in my kitchen windowsill. I suppose this one will be named Skipper.

My first Swiss Cheese Monstera from a propagation, this one is named after my grandma Mary who loved to garden. Photo by Bailey Jo Josie/Sound Publishing.