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Plants - 1/27

• I have lots of plants (23 exactly) and have been slowly accumulating them for 5 years
• So i understand when friends sometimes ask me for plant advice - but I have to come clean to them: I actually know nothing about plants
• I started getting plants because (to be honest) they looked nice. And they were cheap (I've never spent more than $20+ on a plant shoutout to Lowes). Right out of college, they were great decoration for someone with little money
• In the process i never learned the names of any of the plants (besides a famous few: Monstera, fiddle, etc), didn't ever look up specific watering or care instructions, or frankly anything about how to look after plants
• But i did take care of them. Ive lost a few plants along the way, but I've also had my oldest plant for 5 years now, and it continues to grow a bit everyday
• I didn't think a lot about why - but as of late ive been (slowly) reading Braiding Sweetgrass and trying to pay attention to the plants and earth around me
• Realizing a few things:
  1. Even though i dont know the names of any of my plants, i do have names for them
     • The zebra plant on the window sill becomes `small-leaved-striped' plant, the hoya carnosa hanging above the miror becomes "leather-leaf" plant.
     • I feel this way about some trees and plants in my neighborhood as well. The chestnut tree that i sit under at Yerba Buena park at least once a week is as clear & distinguishable a being in my mind as much as anything else. I think of it as `the-tree-on-the-hill-at-buena' in my mind (dont come at me for the name, we're going for clarity here)
     • maybe this is a way we can stay in touch with the earth even as we live in places surrounded mostly by concrete
  2. I haven't been looking up how to take care of plants, but i have tried to listen to the plants themselves
     • I idea of a 'watering schedule' always seemed weird to me. What do you mean schedule? You just water they plants.. when they need water?
     • I owe a lot of this to my mom im sure - watering the plants wasnt as much a task as much as just part of being at home for her. She looked at the plants a little closer as she walked past them in the hallway or living room. Instead of throwing out any water ever, she always put it in the plant in the kitchen if she could
       • Also - both karachi and houston are hot. There is something about the heat that makes my mother (and now me) more sympathetic to plants
     • So i've realized I've picked up these habits a bit. I try to water the plants with leftover water that i dont drink or can use. Sometimes when i walk around the apartment i put my finger in a plant to see if it needs more water today. If a plant has been looking "droopy" i try to pay attention to it; water it first whenever i have a spare half full mason jar - or maybe move it near a window or near other plants (i move some plants around all the time). My apartment is just a square with no walls, so paying attention is easy - none of the plants are ever out of sight really.
     • This isn't to say all my plants have been doing great - the second plant i ever got never grew and i never could figure out why. I tried for a year. It died eventually.
     • I have 2-3 plants that i've had for years that look the same or grow very slowly. I know every plant is different, but it feels like i haven't been able to figure out how best to help those plants. I do feel a bit bad about it - but i also know thats just how plants are sometimes. You can't win em all but i feel like thats ok 🤷🏽‍♂️
• All of this is to say: I really enjoy taking care of my plants. Most of this has come through time tho
• And I still don't know a lot about plants - but i do know a lot about my plants

Here is a picture of some of my plants btw. Also go read Braiding Sweetgrass please.

• Lines i liked while writing v1 of this post but didnt make the cut: