Joining Urban Jungle Bloggers with June's #plantcolorpop

June 30, 2015

purple orchid for urban jungle bloggers plant color pop

Where plants are concerned, I have no natural aptitude whatsoever. If there was something more inept than having a black thumb, that would be me. I even managed to kill a succulent earlier this year. I didn't even know that was possible! But when reminded of Judith and Igor's project, Urban Jungle Bloggers, from this post from Anna about great planters and getting more greenery in her own home, I decided there's no time like the present to improve my plant situation.

So I'm starting out slow, with my little bargain orchid from Ikea, a flower I'd always admired in other people's windowsills yet always thought they would be too delicate for my clumsiness around plant life. According to the website Beautiful Orchids: "Phalaenopsis... are among the easiest of the orchid family to care for." Praise the plant gods! These relatively low-maintenance flowers might be just what I need to tentatively test my toe into the waters of successful plant ownership - beyond a couple succulents and some half-dead herbs.

I remember a few years back lamenting to my friend's mom about my basil always dying and felt immediately better when she told me of basil's temperamental, needy nature, thriving in lots of sunlight that seemed so rare in Germany. This hurdle of understanding each plant and what to expect is perhaps my biggest. I've always been of the mindset that water plus sunlight means it lives, right..? Clearly my learning curve is going to be pretty steep. My fumbling start may mean I'm a less-than-regular poster for this project, but I intend to take full advantage of the inspiration I know it will provide to learn about and care for each of my green friends appropriately.

Pressing thumbs I can create my own urban jungle before too long...

7 comments:

  1. B is plant monitor at our house: I kill everything (except basil, which after murdering at least 300 plants I've apparently finally got the hang of keeping alive. In fact the one on our balcony right now is totally out of control). He kills marginally less, and is definitely more enthusiastic. We've both killed a lot less, however, since we started following my mum's best ever bit of plant advice, which is that *most* things seem to die from over- rather than under-watering. Well anyway, good luck, those colours are lovely together and I'm looking forward to the pretty plant pictures!

    Wow. We've got old, haven't we ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's good advice! My problem is, I always do one or the other - to much attention or completely forget the thing - so I'm destined to fail at that rate. I want to get better though, so here's hoping... Perhaps we should start our own little old lady gardening projects. ;)

      Delete
  2. Oh I'm suuuuuure you will manage, Kate! Joining UJB is a great start :) Welcome! And if everything fails, there are many nice connected tools to help you care for your plants (and even remind you to water/fertilize etc.). Have a great (hot!) weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Judith! I'm looking forward to learning more. I even bought my first air plant this weekend! Though with this weather, all my green friends are looking a little sad...

      Delete
  3. Absolutely gorgeous - plant, colors, light - love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Danke Katrin! I'm to a good start. Here's hoping I can keep up!

      Delete
  4. Nice photo, not too many elements,very elegant!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments. I love hearing from you!

That said, Sole Satisfaction is a space free from hate, drama and spam. If that's all you're bringin', please take it elsewhere.