Hello. My name is Isabeau and I'm a Plantaholic.

[Amelia Freund]

I have several potted plants in my courtyard that seem to endure despite my neglect. Nothing much - a jade plant, aloe vera (was left here when I moved in), a stringy looking aeonium, a repotted yucca, portulaca's, jasmine climber, burro's tail, one cactus. An agave - oh that one actually survived for 12 months in a plastic shopping bag before I got around to actually putting it in soil (not surprising I suppose since it grows everywhere. People love to dump them on the roadsides and there they stay living on forever).

I actually have a large round pot full of orchids that flower without me even doing anything! Maybe it was just the right type of pot...?

I tried to plant gardenias to grow as screening hedges a few years ago...killed them before they even reached 2 feet high.
My front abelia shrub was getting dead patches in it so I googled and thought it prudent to trim it back for regenerative growth (during the right time of year)...mistake...now I have a dead trunk in my front garden that I can't dig out.

 

[Sid]

My rule of thumb: If I get or buy a plant, then the first 2 months are crucial. If it is still in good shape after those 2 months, it is my type of plant.
If condition goes backwards, then not so much. I have two different nursing regimes: one for outdoor plants and one for the indoor ones.
Every plant that comes to me, needs to fit itselve in one of those regimes, then it will live happily ever after.
Otherwise... not so much.
So cacti are not for me, they get to much water I suppose.
Orchids originating from more rainy climates do just fine in my apartment.
The ones that prefer less water, should apply for another foster home. They have to pay attention when residing in a store.

People often think I have green fingers (green thumb). Now you know the basic secret behind it.
Only those who manage to adapt to my style have a chance.

 

[Isabeau]

...
If it is still in good shape after those 2 months, it is my type of plant.

...

I like that. Some plants and I are just not for me, too. We are just not made for one another. Some just persist even if I've neglected them and I grow very fond of them. My friends also think I have rhis amazing green thumb, but basically, it's just a combination of picking the plants that "fit" with me and the fact that I actually like playing with dirt, etc.

 

[Rose Karuna]

Hi, my name is Rose and I'm a plantaholic. I have as many plants in real life as I have in second life.

I have bamboo, cacti, ficus, avocado, key lime (from seed) and an Allspice plant growing in my kitchen window now. I have herbs growing in the bay window and I have lilies in the living room. I have all kinds of exotic plants like dragon fruit, night blooming series and orchids as well as cacti on my front porch in pots. I have a vegetable garden on the side of the house and I have banana trees growing all over the place. Did I mention I currently live in a small two bedroom house with a husband and a cat and lots and lots of plants?

The night bloom series plant came from a cutting I took 45 years ago from a plant growing at our childhood home. I am obsessed and frequently will bring seeds and cuttings home from places we travel. My husband tells me that I'll someday be the scurge of Florida because I'll inevitably bring in some awful plant that takes over the state.

We are moving soon and I'm taking some of the banana rhizomes with me. We'll have five acres where we're going and we already have several large oak and pine trees on the property. I'd like to add the bananas, citrus trees, pomegranate trees, fig bushes and several raised beds for vegetables. I'm also going to plant Muscadine grapes along the fence and special flowers that bees in particular like so that when I retire I can add bee colonies to my menagerie.

 

[Chin Rey]

I love plants but unfortunately, as the old song says, you always hurt the ones you love.

I think it's safer for me to stick with the virtual kind.

 

[Isabeau]

OMG Rose Karuna Wow! You win the golden golden straw hat award!

 

[Isabeau]

I have been searching for the name/type of plant I got at the end of last summer ever since. It has been driving me crazy since it has had much difficulty getting through the winter months. It has never been healthy even though it seemed to want to fight to live (no thanks to me). Google can only help with well known succulents, and even then, there can be many varieties of the same plant.

I was certain it was a variety of crassula or sedum and treating it like others I have, but I just finally found, today, what it is. Eureka! It’s a Dischidia Nummularia (string of nickels), a sickly looking one so of course I couldn’t find a similar looking one. Anyway, it’s more similar to orchids as it grows in jungles on bark, etc. NO WONDER it was struggling.

TL;DR

I’m so happy! I will be able to save it now.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Then one of the cats knocked over the pot from the window sill. I stuck what was left of the orchid (a ball of roots and two leaves) back in the pot and took it to work. At least if it dies under my watch, it will be a death of benign neglect rather than aggressive assault.

This poor plant.

It did okay -- as in it didn't outright die -- once I kept it at work. But then I had to bring the orchid home for the long Christmas holidays, plus I had grand ambitions of repotting it in soil and a container especially suited for orchids. Well, that killed it.

So on the one hand I was guilt-ridden over my failure of responsibility, but also, I was kinda relieved that this years-long saga was over and I was finally relieved of my psychological burden. I was a failure, but I could finally put this tortured chapter of my life behind me.

But no.

In an irrational, insane gesture of misguided love, my wife bought me a NEW orchid. A splendid huge plant -- twice the size of the one I killed -- with a spectacular array of violet blooms. The guilt is back, as is my failure. After a few weeks of my complete ineptitude, the top blooms have wilted. Only now I'm not only failing the plant, I'm also failing my wife, who feels like my neglect of the orchid is also now a neglect of her gift to me. My plans to bring it back to work, where it can die out of her sight and where I can just report back bogus "You know, it's still alive and seems to be doing fine"), those plans are scuppered by the need to work from home to escape the coronavirus.

Now I get to work in full sight of my wilting orchid and my disapproving wife, all day long, day after day.

My life has become a living hell.

 

[Casey Pelous]

Beebo Brink ....

I'll just leave this here in case anyone's interested ....

 

[Isabeau]

I have two orchids and frankly I have no idea what I’m doing right or wrong. I’m just winging it. Their roots and leaves seem to be doing well after the end of their initial blooming, and one grew another shoot which bloomed two flowers but the other buds are struggling. I think it’s called bloom blast from cold air from my balcony door.

I don’t fully understand them. Finicky creatures.

 

[Isabeau]

This poor plant.

It did okay -- as in it didn't outright die -- once I kept it at work. But then I had to bring the orchid home for the long Christmas holidays, plus I had grand ambitions of repotting it in soil and a container especially suited for orchids. Well, that killed it.

So on the one hand I was guilt-ridden over my failure of responsibility, but also, I was kinda relieved that this years-long saga was over and I was finally relieved of my psychological burden. I was a failure, but I could finally put this tortured chapter of my life behind me.

But no.

In an irrational, insane gesture of misguided love, my wife bought me a NEW orchid. A splendid huge plant -- twice the size of the one I killed -- with a spectacular array of violet blooms. The guilt is back, as is my failure. After a few weeks of my complete ineptitude, the top blooms have wilted. Only now I'm not only failing the plant, I'm also failing my wife, who feels like my neglect of the orchid is also now a neglect of her gift to me. My plans to bring it back to work, where it can die out of her sight and where I can just report back bogus "You know, it's still alive and seems to be doing fine"), those plans are scuppered by the need to work from home to escape the coronavirus.

Now I get to work in full sight of my wilting orchid and my disapproving wife, all day long, day after day.

My life has become a living hell.

(Also, I laughed at your story, and not at your spousal predicament and plant burden/guilt, of course.)

 

[Clara D.]

This poor plant.

It did okay -- as in it didn't outright die -- once I kept it at work. But then I had to bring the orchid home for the long Christmas holidays, plus I had grand ambitions of repotting it in soil and a container especially suited for orchids. Well, that killed it.

So on the one hand I was guilt-ridden over my failure of responsibility, but also, I was kinda relieved that this years-long saga was over and I was finally relieved of my psychological burden. I was a failure, but I could finally put this tortured chapter of my life behind me.

But no.

In an irrational, insane gesture of misguided love, my wife bought me a NEW orchid. A splendid huge plant -- twice the size of the one I killed -- with a spectacular array of violet blooms. The guilt is back, as is my failure. After a few weeks of my complete ineptitude, the top blooms have wilted. Only now I'm not only failing the plant, I'm also failing my wife, who feels like my neglect of the orchid is also now a neglect of her gift to me. My plans to bring it back to work, where it can die out of her sight and
where I can just report back bogus "You know, it's still alive and seems to be doing fine"), those plans are scuppered by the need to work from home to escape the coronavirus.

Now I get to work in full sight of my wilting orchid and my disapproving wife, all day long, day after day.

My life has become a living hell.

I'm a killer of plants, an Orchid would be the last thing I'd want

My only advice would be to put it in a terrarium.

 

[Free]

Having this thread come back around makes me a tiny bit sad.

I think I've mentioned this before...I'm a cat person. However, I can't keep pets in my apartment, and I'm at least another year from looking for one that's pet friendly. Is there such a thing as a pet patch?

Anyway, I was thinking the other day that if I had some skill with plants, that could relieve some of my cat addiction issues. You feed them. You spend time with them in one way or another, and what with repotting and moving them about your living space for the best lighting and other environmental conditions, there's a similarity there to dealing with litter boxes and scratching posts and the various rearrangement and replacement of cardboard boxes. I'm not embarrassed by the idea of talking to them - I often say hello to my friend the Moon when others are around! (Though I wait till we're alone before starting any heart-to-heart conversations.) And a lot of people often make emotional connections with their plants.

I guess my point is, plants are basically low-impact pets. A shame they almost always die on me, quickly.

 

[Isabeau]

A “pet patch”... wouldn’t that be great? A little fluffy kitten sprouts in the spring, and during the winter as you take care of it, watering, fur-tilizing, etc. You wait in anticipation wondering what colour it will be.

For the 1st time in my life I have no pets, so yes, plants kind of have filled in an empty spot. Not the same, but for the time being, they’ll do.

 

[Beebo Brink]

(Also, I laughed at your story, and not at your spousal predicament and plant burden/guilt, of course.)

And I love you for it. It was SUPPOSED to be a funny story, but you're the only one who laughed, dammit.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

And I love you for it. It was SUPPOSED to be a funny story, but you're the only one who laughed, dammit.

Your post is one of those time when I wish I could give more than one reaction. I laughed. I wanted to give you a hug. The hug won out.

 

[Free]

And I love you for it. It was SUPPOSED to be a funny story, but you're the only one who laughed, dammit.

I was too busy feeling your pain to laugh.

 

[Isabeau]

Is there such a thing as a pet patch?

A “pet patch”... wouldn’t that be great? A little fluffy kitten sprouts in the spring, and during the winter as you take care of it, watering, fur-tilizing, etc. You wait in anticipation wondering what colour it will be.

Found a tree!

 

[Sid]

I've decided to skip having plants on my balcony this year.
Shopping for plants, soil and stuff is not essential at the moment (and in the next months).

 

[eku zhong]

I've decided to skip having plants on my balcony this year.
Shopping for plants, soil and stuff is not essential at the moment (and in the next months).

Actually it can be. We have decided not to buy veg to eat raw (aka salad greens etc)
Now salad greens are the easiest thing to grow and you can pinch leaves from them on almost a daily basis and keep them going to months...
Salad on tap really.