all about plants – where to buy them, how to care for them, & cute planters finds

Plants are the news craze amongst millennials. Except, spoiler! We didn’t make them popular guys. Don’t you remember your mom having a house plant or two that she always forgot to water? My mom even had a hanging macrame planter. Can you say goals? Oddly enough, the older I get the more I realize I am becoming exactly like her! Taking care of plants didn’t come naturally for me though. I had plenty of trial & error, & plant deaths before I found the perfect watering routine that worked for me to keep them alive. So today I’m sharing what I’ve learned so far in caring for house plants, succulents, & air plants in Northern Nevada during all seasons.

First off, you do know that there is a difference between a succulent & a house plant, right? A plant has to be watered more often & with more water in order to grow, whereas a succulent is a part of the cactus family & therefore needs less watering because it stores it’s water in it’s leaves. If your succulents are dying, you’re probably over watering them, & if your plants are dying you’re likely under watering them. I would suggest pinning down a watering day that works for you & set a reminder on your phone so that you don’t forget to water your plants. Some people pick midweek & drench their plants on Water Wednesday, like my friend Caroline of Luella who even created a graphic  that she posts as a weekly reminder to water your plants on Instagram. For me, Sundays work best so that’s when I water my plants.

Let’s talk plants first. Now, I’m really not an expert on plants at all. Like, I only know the name of like two of my plants featured above. So I’m just here to share watering tips & what has worked for me, & things I have noticed to look for when watering these babies. They need to be watered weekly, & their leaves need to be misted & dusted. Yes, dust your plant’s leaves! They should be gently wiped down, the top & the bottom side of the leaves, so that they can breathe properly. If your plant leaves start to droop downwards stick them near a window so they can soak in the sun quickly & the leaves should perk right up! And misting the leaves in between watering days will help to give them a boost of love & life! We’ll talk about the clues of growth here in a bit.

Now let’s chat succulents, baby! We all love these cutie pies, but so many of us swear we can’t keep them alive. I too have had my fair share of killing succulents & it’s all due to over watering my friends. Some people swear by giving them an ice cube once a month, it’s the exact amount of water they need. For me, I take my trusty mister & spray them three-five times once a week. The dirt should be completely dry before watering them again because remember they are technically cacti! Cacti live in the desert naturally with barely any watering, so remember the least amount of water is best!

Air plants are plants that don’t need dirt to grow & stay alive! They should be fully dunked in water for anywhere between 10-30 minutes weekly & misted every so often in between waterings. They are seriously such easy plants to take care of, but remember, set those weekly reminders in your phone to help you be the best plant mom you can be!

How do you know if your plant is growing & not dying? Simple. It’s budding new leaves. Succulents will bud new leaves in the very center of the plant where plants with normal leaves will bud new leaves on the stems next to other leaves. Some grow new stems entirely too though. Air plants will grow from the center of the plant as well as grow entirely new plants off of themselves like above. You can pluck the new plant off once they are 1/3 the size of their parent plant & then they can live on their own. Pretty neat, huh?

Here’s where I have bought my succulents & plants from starting with the local shops first. The plants/succulents in the first photo are all from Sierra Water Gardens located on Dickerson Road here in Reno. It’s a plant shop in a warehouse district & it has the best lighting! The owners have anything from small succulents to large cacti & a variety of house plants. The plants in the bottom photo are all from a Reno shop called Natural Selection located on St. Lawrence. This shop is in the smaller side, but offers different plants, & the owner of this shop also carries a ton of taxidermy items. Plants from both locations have been healthy & have thrived in my home.

The other places I have bought plants from are from a local grocery store Winco (middle) & Home Depot (top). Plants from these places tend to be cheaper than the local shops, but in my opinion they don’t seem to be as healthy as the ones you can purchase from the local shops. These plants have still done well in my home though. And the plants from the bottom photo I got as a party favor from a wedding I went to last year. Such a cute idea, huh? They are alive & well too! 

I usually just water my plants with this amber glass spray bottle that I got off of Amazon & it has worked perfectly. I store it right next to my plants so that I remember to mist their leaves throughout the week. It was super cheap & just as cute in my opinion as the “cooler” plant misters that cost like a million dollars online. It came in a two-pack for $11. 

I have bought my planters from all over town. Both local shops carry super cute ones. I have found the terra cotta planters at Hobby Lobby (large one) & Home Depot (smaller one) for less than $3. Michaels has a variety of white planters & it’s where I got the colored blocked grey & white planter from above. The planters with the wooden plant stands are frm Hobby Lobby too. All of the small white or grey containers are from Natural Selection & the small white planters with the wooden bottoms are on Amazon. My woven basket isfrom the Target dollar section. I will also sometimes thrift planters to find the perfect ones too.

I hope these few tips have helped you & your plant woes. Comment below if you have other questions & check out this blog post where I did an outfit shoot wearing my Plant Mom shirt a few weeks ago!

Always know that you can do anything you set your mind to, even keeping plants alive!

– abbey kay

*brought to you by a girl who loves plants because they don’t succ