Houseplants: Not Just For Instagram Posts

As a recovering black thumb myself, I can tell you that over the years, I’ve killed more plants than I care to think of. A running joke in my house whenever I’d bring home a new plant was “you got another one just to kill it?” It got to the point that even though I love plants inside, I stopped buying them because I just knew they wouldn’t make it. If I didn’t kill them, my cat would.

A few years ago, an old friend of mine overheard me talking about how I couldn’t keep anything alive. Being a horticulturist, he assured me I was completely wrong and sent me out to get a plant. A jade plant, specifically. So off I went to the local plant store which specialized in succulents. Jades, apparently, are one of the hardiest succulent plants and very easy to grow. So easy that it would be nearly impossible to kill it. He was so certain that I’d be fine this time that I ended up picking up 2 jades that day because I couldn’t decide between them. One more stop and I had the pots for them and everything else he’d instructed me to get which included cactus soil and perlite. When my husband got home to find me mixing soil and perlite on the kitchen table, he just chuckled, probably making a personal bet on how long these would last. However, I was determined to do everything right and keep these little guys alive. 3 years later, they are still going strong and have started a mild obsession with various succulents and now adeniums.

If you think you can’t possibly grow anything, you are wrong. You just need to find the right combination of things that work for you. Don’t start with a finicky species. Go with something easy and forgiving. Learn about them. Don’t be afraid to try different things. If all else fails, go get a jade, some cactus soil, and perlite. Mix the soil and perlite in approximately a 1:1 ratio (you can eyeball it). Plant the jade in your mixture and water thoroughly. For plants, always use distilled or rain water. You can also let the water sit out for at least 24 hours to let it dechlorinate. This is one of the mistakes I’d been making for years (who knew you shouldn’t use tap water on a plant??) and was probably part of the problem I’d been having. Overwatering was another. For my jades and other succulents, they get watered once a week as long as they are in that mixture. During the summer, they are outside enjoying the sun and rain even though I’m not anywhere near a climate they would normally grow in. During the winter months, they are on a wire rack unit with grow lights to help keep them healthy until the sun and warmth returns to Wisconsin.