I’m trying to be a better plant caregiver. Soooo many plants have met their doom at my hands. I might give them too much water, but, really, I’m much more irresponsible about watering, and I forget about a plant (or, more than one plant). I sort of like the plants that wilt when they need water, so I know when I need to rescue them. But some plants are just stoic and try to put on a brave face when I walk by them, and I’m startled when they suddenly just give up and drop all their leaves at once.
The fine folks at the Wal-Mart gardening area have helped me solve one problem, at least a little.
In the houseplant area, there is a great variety of kinds of plants and sizes of plants. For many of the available plants, there are helpful labels that tell the less-than-knowledgeable plant purchasers how to make a reasonable purchase.
They stick little informational cards into the plant’s container that tells what kind of light the plant needs.
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- This plant should be right next to a window, so it can get all the bright light that it needs to grow well.
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- This plant, with the intriguing name, can stay, maybe, in the center of a room, if the windows aren’t covered with curtains all the time.
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- This one has a nice name, too, and, most helpful, also can live in the less-than-really bright space.
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- While this one shouldn’t be kept in a closet, its light needs are, well, rather dim, I guess.
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- Another plant that needs medium light.
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- And, this poor guy. It needs some brighter light, but, sadly, it doesn’t even have a real name. “My full name is HOUSE PLANT!!” Pretty distressing.
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- I didn’t buy the other “beautiful home decor” plant, but I found another variety of “beautiful home decor” that I liked better, and it wasn’t at death’s door, like the other one. It’s much healthier.
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- But what I DO have is a plant identifier app on my phone. I can hover my phone over a plant to get an identity. You can see that my plant actually DOES have a real name (instead of simply “houseplant”).
(Solomon) could talk about all kinds of plants, from large trees to small bushes, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
1 Kings 4:33 (Contemporary English Version)
I know most of the names of the plants that are growing in our yard. And, through trial and error, I’ve figured out what kinds of plants that I can grow with a degree of competence. And which ones I simply can’t.