The Plant Collector

I have over 50 plants in my house but apparently that’s not enough.

According to studies, you need 10 plants per 5 x 4 room to get optimum wellness benefits from them. These benefits include:

  • Lower blood pressure
  • Improvement in mood
  • Cleaning the air of cancer causing compounds
  • According to research from Harvard University, women who live in plant-filled homes have a longer life expectancy and are happier than their foliage-free friends.
  • They help people heal faster.
  • And they connect you to nature which is calming and a reminder that there is something bigger than you.

    • Becoming a plant collector was an accident. I started with one, then another and then I learned how to propagate them and now I am starting an indoor jungle.

    This morning, while the house slept, I pottered about, watering plants, moving pots that needed some of the delicious morning light, and checked on some new growth on a few plants that haven’t realised it’s winter.

    It was calming, and productive, almost like a meditation.

    All of my plant stands are from hard rubbish or from second hand and charity stores. The pots are from marketplace or from Kmart and garden centres.

    I have plants that remind me of my childhood, such as an African Violet, which my grandmother used to grow on a windowsill facing the morning sun. And new plants such as a Pilea that grows well but refuses to give me babies, which I am hoping for but yet to be fulfilled.

    So I need more plants. After looking at my house and calculating the space and plant ratio, I am looking at at least another 50 plants to ensure I have the benefits level set at HIGH.

    But the thrill for me is the collecting. Finding the plant, the pot, nurturing it, watching it flourish or fail, and try and work out what I did wrong. These are the joys of the collection process. I don’t think anyone gets to the goal and says – That’s it! I’m done. As the collection grows, so do our aims and pleasure.

    So I look forward to the next 50 plants. And I tell you, when I get them, I will be floating with wellness and smelling of seaweed tonic and with dirty under my nails and I will probably push a plant into your hands and tell you, ‘You need more plants in your life!”.