Houseplants: Right Plant, Right Place!! by Debbie Chilcutt

All Photos by Debbie Chilcutt

During COVID I’ve heard that along with adding pets to the household that a lot of people are buying houseplants for the first time.

Why do we insist on buying plants we cannot have success with?  I am often given a dying or already dead houseplant from my daughter to try to bring back to life.  She buys things without any research because she likes them.  The latest project has been two fiddle-leaf figs.  I’m hearing this has become super popular due to Instagram.  This is a plant that is native in Western Africa - in lowland tropical rainforest.   Hmmmmmm, first clue? 

I received one of them with three dead dry leaves hanging from it.  The other one had one leaf bravely growing.  I put them both in an area that would provide the amount of light they needed and started watering consistently when the top 2” of soil was dry.  After a few weeks it was clear that one was dead with no hope; the other started growing new leaves.  I started putting it in the sink and misting it regularly to try to provide the humidity it desires.  Needless to say, I don’t have a lot of hope that 5 years from now I will still have this plant.  But... if this plant that doesn’t like drafts, wet soil, dry soil, and dry air somehow happens to be happy in my house then I could have the problem of it outgrowing my house.

The purpose of this isn’t to talk about fiddle figs in great detail but, to give one example of buying a plant that is an Instagram favorite when your chances of being successful aren’t very good.  When you buy a houseplant that is appropriate and take care of it in the right ways it could outlive you!

I have houseplants that range in age, with the oldest being over 30 years old.  It likes being a houseplant in Colorado!

The CSU extension has a lot of information to help you successfully chose and grow houseplants in the links below.

https://planttalk.colostate.edu/topics/houseplants/

https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/managing-houseplant-pests-5-595/

https://planttalk.colostate.edu/topics/houseplants/1352-interior-plants-light/

https://planttalk.colostate.edu/topics/houseplants/1315-houseplants-containers/

Postscript

So… I decided after writing this to read even more about the fiddle fig which has prompted me to keep trying with the dead one as they go dormant in the winter and since it still has those dead leaves hanging off of it there’s a slight possibility that come Spring new growth will come from under those.  (I’m ignoring the fact that the other one IS sprouting leaves in the dead of winter) I don’t know about you but I have a really hard time with plants that die - it’s hard to throw them away.

And, if you just have to have that plant that isn’t going to do well - go ahead and get it!  It’s already here in Colorado and you’re probably helping a small business!