Why the journal?
What’s the TL;DR?
Hi, I’m Eric. It's nice to meet you!
Plants make me happy and I can’t help but get lost looking at their intricate designs and details. The first time I saw a Calathea ornata I was in awe, my brain was telling me that it couldn’t be real..it looked hand painted! I spend most of my time behind a computer screen as a designer so the tactile hands-on aspects of gardening outdoors and in is something I find myself craving.
I'm starting the Sprouting Botanist as a plant care journal because I find that I often can’t tell if a plant has grown or changed since I first brought it home. Then I look back at pictures and realize how much a plant has grown (or not sometimes!).
Here’s the long version…
I’ve loved gardening for as long as I can remember. But I’m pretty new to the world of houseplants. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to keep them but more because my two cats wouldn’t let me..every time I would bring a new plant home it would either get chewed on or the soil would get everywhere (trust me my Dracena was not impressed). So I just gave up and focused on outdoor gardening, which I also enjoy.
But one day I decided that I wanted a Fiddle Leaf Fig (I must have fallen into the trap of seeing them on social media and in every interior decorating magazine). The plan was to get one and keep it behind closed doors in the bedroom. Not the greatest plan since the cats always end up getting in anyway...but to my surprise they didn’t seem bothered or attracted to it. I figured it was a stroke of luck and stuck to my one and only fiddle leaf fig.
About 4 years in and my Ficus lyrata (Fiddle Leaf Fig) is doing great.
One day I got a few more plants and didn’t keep them behind closed doors and the cats (JD and Jackson) no longer seemed to care as long as the plants didn’t resemble grass. This is when I started building my collection of plants and haven’t turned back since. Houseplants are a slippery slope, before I knew it I had over 80 plants around the house.
Some may say it’s too many plants but why does it matter. Taking care of them and watching them grow makes me happy. When I’m stressed I walk over to my plants and I feel stress melt away. There’s always room for one more anyway!
Feel free to join me on my journey. Ask me questions, give me advice, or reach out to just talk about plants! I’ll post about the successes and failures, in addition to progress updates and any new plants I bring home. All the plant things.
— Eric