Green World

Hi Everyone! Today I wanted to talk about what you should do if your house plants do not look healthy, and how important it is to be flexible around looking after house plants, how changing plans can be very important in keeping your house plants healthy. By not healthy, I mean a plant that has yellowed leaves, dried leaves or is looking droopy. Recently, some of my plants haven't been doing so well either, which has been very frustrating. Here are a few things I am doing to try to change this. **Disclaimer: I am not an expert. I am just a passionate plant mum from Somerset, England and I just want to share some tips. ** 1. Research, research, research I've been collecting information on each of my house plants and trying to match the recommendations for each of the plants. I recently visited Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly, and I bought a book about how to look after house plants, which I have been using, but the ...

Hi Everyone! Today I wanted to talk to you about some easy house plants you could look after to get you started on your green pets journey. These are plants that are easy to look after and that I recommend for an introduction into caring for house plants. If you are a beginner or want to look after some plants, then this is the post for you! 1. Cacti - moon cactus I don't actually have a cactus, but they are the obvious place to start. They need little water and thrive in warm conditions; they are described as "low maintenance". I have done some research and it looks like the moon cactus (Gymnocalycium mihanovichii) is the best one in terms of not being too fussy with needing minimal water and tolerates lower light levels. I would like a cactus at some point, but if you are just starting out wanting to care for some house plants, then this is the one to start with! 2. Aloe Vera One of my first house plants, this is one that is rela...

Hi Everyone! This is a bit of a shorter post today but I have two new house plants! I love my new green pets so today I wanted to share them with you! >Neither of them have names yet so any suggestions welcome and appreciated :) Pilea: I love my new Pilea! My mum has one and managed to grow another from it and gave it to me. I also put it in a pot which originally had my Aloe Vera in it, but it grew too big! Anyway, I'm so glad my Pilea could find a home in it! I love the way this plant looks and it makes me very happy to look at!  I actually don't know the name of the second one - I will insert it when I have found it!  I got this one from my aunt in France who has one and made a cutting for me. I'm not sure if it'll survive but we'll see - it's certainly well-travelled! I'm not giving up hope yet and even if it doesn't make it she said she could cut me a new one! I will update on this ...

Hi Everyone! Welcome back to Green Pets, the house plant series on this blog where I talk about my house plants and just house plants in general too. It was my birthday recently and I (you guessed it!) got a new houseplant! Meet Agatha!! This one was gifted by a very dear friend of mine, and for my birthday we visited Agatha Christie's holiday house in Devon together, so Agatha seemed a very fitting name!! She is a hanging plant, which I love, and I've done a bit of research on how to best care for her. There are some very clear signs of when she needs water. The main one is when the "beads" shrivel up or turn yellow. I'm still working out a watering schedule that works for her. I know that I shouldn't water her until the soil is dry again and when you do water her, it has to be a good soak. Light-wise, she needs a fair amount. Luckily, my room is very brig...

Hi Everyone! I hope this post finds you all well, I'm just coming on the blog today to chat with you about how I almost killed Mr Darcy and how you should keep the faith when looking after your own plants. So...It's true. I almost killed Mr Darcy. Before you imagine my diving into Pride and Prejudice and brandishing a knife to Mr Darcy's throat, let me clarify that Mr Darcy is indeed one of my house plants. Mr Darcy looked healthy a few months back...        He is a Soleirolia, more commonly called 'mind your own business'. He requires a lot of water, as I have now learnt and I, unfortunately, let him become too dry, which caused him to shrivel up. It felt very bad and we were on the verge of chucking him out when we thought we could give him a second chance. Thank goodness we did because although he still looks a bit like like a dry, shrivelled mess, he has som...

Hi Everyone! As you can tell by the title of this post, I got a new houseplant! It was a Christmas present but I chose it in a really sweet plant shop near me. It is called a Mind Your Own Business, in more technical terms a Soleirolia. It's latin name is Soleirolia soleirolii. Introducing Mr Darcy! I named it Mr Darcy because I love Pride and Prejudice and I thought it appropriate! It needs to have constantly moist soil and has to be watered by being put in a bowl of water, rather than with a jug. This is because it will get a hole where the water has gone down as it is quite delicate and the leaves are very fine. It's important to look up how much water your house plant needs and get tips from experts to help your plant to thrive. I talked to the lady in the shop when we were buying it and she told me about how to look after it. It is joining my two other house pla...

Hi Everyone! Today I wanted to tell you about the benefits that house plants can have to your health. Enjoy :) 1. Reducing stress levels A study proved that having house plants makes you feel calmer and more natural, which in turn makes you feel less stressed and overwhelmed. I definitely agree that plants are very calming and I'm not surprised that it is scientifically proven! 2. Allergy relief Having house plants can reduce dust and mould, which could be amazing for people with those allergies. Obviously, you would want to avoid plants with a lot of pollen! 3. General Happiness Plants can boost your mental health and make you feel better about yourself. Employees who work in offices with plant life feel better about their jobs, feel less stressed and have less time off for health reasons. Some therapists even use plant therapy to help people with depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. 4. Boosting humidity If ...

Hi Everyone! Today I am writing a very exciting post as this is the first Green Pets post. Thank you so much to the person who suggested the name! Today I am showing you my house plants. I have two house plants but I hope to grow my collection! Vera, aloe vera (aloe barbadensis miller) I was actually very kindly gifted this for by birthday from a friend! It came in this beautiful pot with all these bees, that I just love! She suggested the name Vera and it's not very original but I still went with it because, why not? Our plant of the month for August ( click here to view ) was actually the Aloe Vera and it partly inspired me to start this series. I love having it in my room and I'm really trying to keep it alive, so far it's grown a lot since I got it! Bronausten, indoor fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) This plant is named after the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen, two of my favourite authors. It is an indoor fern and I l...

Hi Everyone! I am so excited to be sharing this because we are starting a new series of posts. There won't be a schedule and there is no specific format for these posts or number of posts in total, we will just be sharing lots of house plant related content! You can expect to see: -a meet and greet with my house plants -tips on how to look after them -fun and rather weird facts -house plants you probably didn't know existed & MORE! We hope you are excited to see some slightly different content on here, it won't replace any existing series or posts!  We'll be back very soon with our first house plant post!  But first we need your help. We need a name for this series so if you have any ideas then either put them in the comments or email us on contact.greenworldblog@gmail.com. Thank you! Image: This image is owned by a blog editor