houseplants Archives - One Delightful Life

My mom is quite talented at a lot of things. When guests come over she rolls out the red carpet with the some of the most delicious meals. Even if you’ve dropped by the house mid-day, she’ll serve you a delicious cheese and fruit platter and pour you a glass of Chardonnay. Yea, she’s that kind of hostess.

But don’t be surprised if you knock on the door and she doesn’t answer. She’s most likely outside in her custom built garden house doing what she does best…gardening. Make no mistake. This is no She Shed. She refuses to let people label it as such. This is a real-deal garden house where she spends time cultivating her craft – making her gardens flourish. Whether she is sitting in the screened in porch chair reading about rose bushes or potting plants in the stainless steel sink, her green thumb is at work.

Located behind my parent’s home, mom’s garden house often entices strangers driving by to stop and ask to see it.

It seems only fair that my step-dad, who has his own woodworking shop, would build a garden house for her, right? The 8’x12′ house (not including the 5’x12′ screened in porch) includes the same amenities that any home would have including running water and electricity. During the winter it houses plants she wants to keep alive from the outdoor elements and during the summer the sun beams in on oversized house plants.

I recognize quite a bit of my mom’s style in her garden house’s design from the upcycled screen door to the ceiling light fixture that she held on to for years until this house was built.

Mom’s garden house is an extension of her own home. The interior’s neutral colors, off-set by the bright white counter tops and trimmed windows, includes various green hues from decorative additions and dark black metal pieces. Having collected many of the sitabouts over time, she decorates in a style more sophisticated than rustic farmhouse but less stuffy than classic traditional. She has an eclectic sense of design style that is uniquely her own.

Once inside the screened in porch, glass French doors remain welcome you into a spacious window lit space.

Muted green wicker chairs flank both sides of the screened in porch to the east and the west.

When not busy nurturing plants, she uses the garden house as a quiet refuge to read or just watch her many bird feeders in the yard over a glass of wine. When friends visit on occasion, like her Bunco gal pals, it serves as a getaway space to venture to between games for a quick tour. You can hear the women audibly dote over each detail of the garden house. They want one too. Who wouldn’t?

A serious gardner needs a space to pour over the details found in gardening books. Always the humble student, my mom enjoys learning why some plants and flowers flourish and how she can attract or eliminate insects.

Mom’s appreciation of nature goes back as far as I can remember.

“It (gardening) feeds my soul in a way nothing else does. I’m connected to plants in new says every year,” she said recently.

My childhood was spent watching her in the yard with her hands in the dirt on weekends. After coming home from school we would drag around the hose to water thick, layered flower beds of all colors and varieties. Sunflowers towered over our heads and wildflowers nestled at our feet. She would tell me about butterflies that she adored and the grasshoppers that broke her heart.

Today, she still sees beauty in the colors of delicate flowers and enjoys the harvest of a vegetable or herb garden. Her accepted challenge each year is to learn about the needs of plant placement in her landscape while always attempting to attract birds, bees, and insects.

Antique pottery and her favorite pieces adorn a shelf above the door inside the garden house.

The east side of the garden house exposes an area behind it where she also pots plants and flowers.

The wooden table on the right was her only potting station at our old house.

Gardening is not easy. She admits that the challenge is to find the balance between what she wants to plant and what nature will allow. Admittedly, she says there are more failures to learn every season and enough small successes to keep her happy.

I love spring and wish it lasted longer, she says.

It’s true. She smiles the most in the spring (with college basketball season in a close second place). When the weather begins to warm up and the days spring forward, she is more outdoors than she is indoors. I often call her to wish her a “Happy Spring” only for it to go to voicemail because she’s outside playing in the yard.

While I love the outdoors, I’m not a natural gardener. I struggle to keep plants alive. I either over or under water them. Completely forget about them. I never installed the proper drip system. Can a person’s “green thumb” be learned? Maybe I just wrote it off as “mom’s hobby.” I should have really paid more attention when helping her in the yard as a teen. Just last week I called her seeking advice about our sad rose bushes. Before I knew it, I was at her house on my hands and knees pruning her rose bushes while she used wood glue on the stem ends to prevent bores for invading them again. Glue? Who knew!

A rusty garden tool serves as a door knocker on the exterior of the garden house.

I’m “foodie” thanks to my mom’s love of cooking. In fact, many of her garden harvests end up in her recipes. Ripe tomatoes are the star ingredient in her homemade gazpacho, a cool treat during a blazing hot summer day. Fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme find their way into many of her savory recipes. This year she has decided to trade her tomato plants for perennials because it’s just less to have to worry about and each year perennials come back stronger when given the space to spread out.

I’ve have so much to learn from her wisdom about nature, about plants and birds. As I mentioned before, I’m at best a wannabe gardener. In fact, I’ve killed so many house plants over the years that if there is every going to be any hope for me, I’m going to have to spend more time with mom in the garden house. If you’re more like me, you’ll appreciate a post she helped me write last summer 10 Hard to Kill Houseplants You Can Leave While on Vacation.

But not every day can be spent gardening. Sometimes the body needs a day of rest between the hours spent digging in unforgiving soil and pulling weeds away from flowers. On these days, she takes time to let her body relax but we all know she is still thinking about her next outdoor project.

A water drip system was installed for her window boxes, which extends to the container pots near the garden house entrance.

What can we learn from mom’s garden house? Every woman, every person, needs a space to call their own. Where they can go to escape the chaos of the day and appreciate some quiet time or just enjoy their hobby.

What is it that brings you peace? What do you enjoy learning about most? Tell me in the comments section how you pursue your hobby or where you like to spend quiet time.

It’s a fact that we hate to admit. Some of us just don’t have a green thumb.

How can keeping a plant alive can’t be that hard? How is that other people have lush indoor houseplants while yours are barely hanging on? I know your pain. I’ve killed many houseplants and garden botanicals since my college days. I almost feel guilty about it.

I’m turning over a new leaf. I’ve stop beating myself up about my inability to keep houseplants alive and so should you. I’ve gone straight to the most knowledgeable person I know about plants. My mom. Ask anyone who knows her; she is a walking, talking plant guru with two green thumbs, and I’m grateful for her advice.

10 Hard to Kill Houseplants You Can Leave While On Vacation.

These plant types don’t need to be cared for up to seven days so book your vacation without hiring someone to come over and water them. Caring for these plants is easy and simple!

Dumb Canes (Dieffenbachia) – a plant that doesn’t take a lot of watering. This botanical is no dummy and can take care of itself for week without worry. It doesn’t like direct sun near a window but medium light instead.
Dumb Canes
Mother-in-Laws Tongue (Sansevieri; also knows as a Snake Skin Plant) – this plant likes to be crowded and grows upright in a container where it is most happy. It can grow as large as 4 feet high in some varieties. It doesn’t require a lot sun so you can place it in the corner of your room. Water the soil not the leaves.
Mother-in-Laws Tongue
Rubber Plant (Hevea brasiliensis) – requiring minimal water, this plant comes in a variety of colors but it has a consistent oval leaf shape. Rubber Tree plants used to only come in a dark color, but not anymore. Match it to your room colors! Newer varieties have pinkish hues with some cream color on them.
Jade (Crassula ovata) – a low maintenance South African plant that requires little watering. They don’t like their feet wet. Don’t overwater otherwise the roots will rot. Sold nearly at every plant store, but not most grocery stores. You can grow them in a covered, shaded portion of your deck during the summertime.
Philodendron (Pothos) – this ornamental plant is happy in any room as long as it gets a little light. Many owners put them on top of their kitchen cabinets and let them grow long. If you position it near a window, the sun’s rays should not directly hit it. Its soil likes to dry out between waterings. It is easy to start a duplicate philodendron by making a cutting and planting it in a new pot. Another option is to root it in a vase of water to transplant later to a dirt pot.
Philodendron
Corn Plant (Dracaena fragrans) – this plant can get a little lanky and its stalk looks woody or trunk-like. Plant it in a large, heavy pot. My corn plant tends to grow at an angle because it’s seeking nearby window light. Want to keep it short? You can cut it low as long as there is a new leaf growing near its base.
Calathea (aka Peacock Plant) – considered a “pretty” plant that came be left alone while on vacation. Water from the dirt level because watering top-down will rot the plant. They like humid conditions so a partially lit bathroom would be a smart spot for this beauty.
Calathea
Arrowhead Plant (Syngonium podophyllum) – an inexpensive plant that loves to be left alone away from a front window. It flourishes in medium light conditions and likes to dry out between waterings so it’s the perfect candidate for a low maintenance houseplant.
Arrowhead Plant
Spider Plant (aka Airplane Plant) – a plant that can grow inside or outside, it gives off “babies” when it is in healthy condition. They do best in a hanging pot or stand. Trim off one of the newer “babies” you can regenerate it in a large glass of water. The lighter the stripe on the leaf, the more light it requires. Keep the soil slightly moist. Bonus: This plant detoxes your home.
Spider Plant
Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis hyrids) – We saved you the best plant for last! This colorful plant is long-lasting and easy to care for if you follow a few tips. Despite what some say, you should not put ice on their bark to water them. This is a mistake because orchids are tropical plants. They will rot if over water them. Just give them a drink every 10 days. The easiest one to grow is called the Moth Orchid. Place them in medium light. Its pot requires drainage holes.