If you’re interested in checking out Donnie’s blog about urban gardening in his backyard in Bushwick, you can find that here.
This is a Pinterest board of the initial plant inspo that drove us to seek out a really tall cactus in the middle of the New York City winter.
This is the euphorbia that Jordan’s mom brought from Arizona as a carry-on. It lasted nine months and is still missed.
Sometimes we buy books that we like. The Gardener’s Guide to Cactus (in which the author prefers to use “cactus” in the singular and plural) has practical care tips and a plant directory, which is a pretty popular format. The Bold Dry Garden is a profile of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Northern California, which was one of the first large-scale xeriscape gardens, but it’s less about caring for your own plants. Urban Jungle is the book version of the Urban Jungle Bloggers Instagram account, and it also has some care tips and plant DIYs.
These are some of the books we’ve checked out from the library that have helped educate us about houseplants:
- Indoor Gardening the Organic Way
- The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual
- The Unexpected Houseplant
- The Indestructible Houseplant
The New York Botanical Garden hosts a variety of classes on houseplant care, horticulture, botanical art, and natural wellness.
Maria, the host of Bloom and Grow Radio, has about sixty houseplants in her Long Island City apartment. Her podcast is full of interviews with plant experts and influencers with lots of great tips about caring for all types of houseplants.
Here are some of our favorite places to get plants:
- Union Square Farmer’s Market
- Arizona Cactus Sales
- Leaf & Clay
- Fairyblooms
- And yes, Home Depot
This aloe came from Home Depot and has honestly been our most successful plant in terms of growing consistently and never almost dying. Aloe vera (which this is) can also be harvested for its sap, which is the stuff they put in lotion. Not all aloe is like this, so don’t just rub aloe on yourself. They’re also tolerant to lower light than other cacti and succulents.
These are some of the pot inspo pics from Pinterest we used to paint cheap Home Depot terra cotta pots early in our plant experiment. You’ll probably recognize some of those patterns in the pics of our plants. In the interest of transparency, Jordan’s mom painted the pot for our big cactus because she’s a better painter than either of us.
These pots from Group Partner are admittedly NSFW, but we think they add some fun and interest, as well as aligning with our accidental aesthetic of anthropomorphized decor.
For more plant info, including care tips, check in next week for Part 2 of this episode!
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