I will admit the having isn’t as thrilling as the getting when it comes to houseplants (or of anything really). I would buy a plant and not long after getting it settled into quarantine then I would be looking at the next plant to add, but after a while I didn’t like how cluttered things seemed to become, and to be honest I didn’t have the care down completely for the plants I had! I was adding unnecessary stress for myself and it’s cheap (relatively) to buy a plant but eventually you have long term cost like bigger pots, lighting, soil and inorganic mixtures not to mention the potential pests and the prevention of them or damage control when a pest is found….

I’ve slowed my plant buying and shifted my focus to getting to know my current houseplants and to get them to their best forms and colors and learning to read when each one needs something.

I knew going into houseplants that I didn’t want to own plants that were needy ‘cause I am lazy, but really I wanted to do other things and experience life – see the world and hopefully have kids. The plants have to work well with my lifestyle not the other way around.

I do have plants that seem needier to me on my wish list, or at the very least, some planning for long term placement as it grows large or creeps, but I won’t be adding them until I’m in a phase of life that is slower or my collection is smaller so I can give them the best care possible. Possibly just adding that plant to my collection when I feel ready for it I guess I should say.

And I’ve learned to accept and embrace plant types that I originally disliked because of my lifestyle. I really didn’t like sansevieria (now dracaena), especially the traditional sansevieria trifasciata with its yellow edges – still not a fan of that one, but I love the other varieties now and currently have 3 in my collection! They keep pushing out new growth and they’re just adorable!

It’s not a race to get everything on my wish list and what am I going to do after I obtained them all? Build another wish list and start over? Figuring out what is important in my life and then working my hobbies around that has really helped me in regards to impulse buying or coveting influencers collections. I cannot express how much I’ve chilled out in these areas. I am learning to appreciate more, building my knowledge, and retraining my brain to be giving and being instead of getting and having which will go much further in my life and hopefully trickle into other peoples lives without me knowing the full extent. And that’s okay.