Air Head House Plants and Owners

Last time I talked about plant profiles but with a twist. The plant profile was based on the personality type and offered some suggestions on house plants that work for that type of person. Let’s look at another plant personality - the air head house plant owner.

Don’t take any offense to the name as all of us are forgetful at times. As a note and gentle reminder… with cooler temperatures coming have you taken steps to prepare your house plants for winter?

The “Air Head House Plants” owner are the ones who mean well but carry a tendency to neglect or forget things - like watering their house plants. If this describes you low maintenance house plants also need to be in your home. You need plants which can forgive when they miss a watering.

• Cactus the upright types like the night blooming Cereus or small potted ones for the window
• Spider Plant
• Aglaonema - Chinese evergreen
• Pony Tail Palm - Beaucarnea
• Yucca
• Jade

Just because these plants may be able to handle some neglect, does not mean you should spend any less time looking for the best quality. After buying your plants make sure you take the steps necessary to get your new house plants off to a good start. No one needs any extra plant headaches.

This type of house plant care giver would also do well by looking into the use of self watering planters. Next time we’ll look at the house plant owner who loves to coddle their plants.

Plant Care Profile - What’s Yours?

When looking for houseplants we are usually told to look at the light required, space and watering needs. But… we seldom ask ourselves the question of what our “Plant Care Profile” is.

What am I talking about?

After you have examined the environmental conditions for plants in your home or office it’s time to select the plants to put in those spaces.

Before you Buy!

Before you pull out the credit card to buy the plants and decorative containers you need to step back and give yourself a plant care profile. You need to take a serious look at your lifestyle, habits, available time, personal style and level of overall commitment.

For example, if you’re the type of person who gets excited and jumps head over heels into a project or event and soon find your interest tapers off very quickly… you can still enjoy house plants. However, make sure you pick houseplants requiring low care.

Here’s a list of a few to consider.

• Cast Iron Plant - Aspidistra elatior
• Cereus Cactus - Cereus peruvianus
• Pothos - Epipremnum aureum
• Snake Plant - Sansevieria trifasciata
• ZZ Plant - Zamioculcas zamiifolia

There are other low care houseplants besides what is listed above for the “quick to lose interest” plant owner. We’ll look at other “Personal Plant Care Profiles” in future post.

Spraying Chemicals On Your Plants - Make Sure You Wash!

I was talking to a nurse friend the other day that was involved in a life-threatening crisis of poisoning from an agricultural chemical.

She shared how she has seen time and time again the devastating effects on people who waited before showering and continued to wear their contaminated clothing after applying pesticides.

The effects can range from temporary paralysis and respiratory failure to prolonged or extended periods of psychological issues.

The importance of immediate removal of hazardous chemicals from any possible contact cannot be over emphasized. Your quality of life can depend on it.

There are some very safe options the the world of plant pest control… learn about them!