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Plant Care for our Best-Selling Houseplants

To celebrate Houseplant Appreciation Day, we’ve written a little blog on how to care for your greenery. There couldn’t be a better time to give your green beauties a bit of extra attention.  Plant care doesn’t take too much of your time and most of our fab range is easy to care for but we know it can be quite frustrating to see one of your favorite’s start going downhill, so we’ve listed some top plant care tips for all you plant lovers on our Best Sellers; Sansevieria Snakey, Hoya Heart, Peperomia Rotundifolia, Calathea and Boston Ferns.   

Houseplants need light and water and nutrients to grow, but each plants requirements are different, a bit like us humans. 

Sansevieria Snakey 

The Sansevieria Snakey is top of the list as a rough and ready houseplant. You can pretty much ignore him and he will still survive.  Great for low light positions and an all-round true survivor. Water irregularly and make sure it gets fed every couple of months during Spring/Summer months with a regular indoor houseplant feed.   

Green, spikey, leafy houseplants will cope in low light areas, perfect to add a pop of green to a darker corner of your home. However, if you want to see lots of growth, he’ll grow best in brighter spot in your home that gets indirect or bright light. Too much water is this guy’s kryptonite, don’t overwater him as the leaves can rot near the base of the plant. If you have mistakenly overwatered him and the leaves do go mushy near the base, don’t worry – all is not lost. Remove the leaf completely from the base and let the soil dry out completely before watering again. 

Water only once the soil has dried out.  If you have gone completely the other way and the tips of the leaves start to go brown and dry, this means he isn’t getting quite enough water so give him a little more.  

With such excellent air-purifying qualities and also part of the Air-Purifying Plant Gang, the Sansevieria Snakey works well both in your bedroom or on your desk as a desk buddy. 

Hoya Heart 

The Hoya Heart is actually a heart shaped succulent. Yes that’s right, he’s one of the cutest little houseplants around. One of our best sellers, as he makes such a gorgeous gift too. Part of the Gift of Love and the Gift of Green, these little cuties are easy to care for but absolutely hate to be overwatered.  Pop him in a bright spot on your windowsill (just be careful at the height of Summer that he doesn’t get too hot). He will be happiest in good light and only water this guy very infrequently. Once a month and only a little to dampen the soil, do not soak it. Overwatering too much or letting him sit in damp soil can cause him to get black spots or turn yellow. Unfortunately, once this happens, there is no turning back. Surprisingly, Hoya hearts like humidity so this guy works well in a bright bathroom too. 

Peperomia Rotundifolia

The little trailing succulent houseplant is in our Top 5 best sellers. A gorgeous addition to your plant gang with those little button-like leaves. The Peperomia Rotundifolia is one gorgeously bright green, leafy little guy. But don’t be fooled by his leafy nature, he doesn’t like too much water! He will perform best in medium light; a spot in the middle of a room near a window or on a north facing windowsill and he will be happy. He even works well under LED lights so would love the spotlights in your kitchen.  

Only water once the top of the soil is dry. Watering too much and letting him sit in damp soil will result in leaf drop or leaves going brown.  Don’t despair though, ensuring you let him dry out between watering will help him improve. Look out for wilting leaves, this is him telling you he needs a little drink. Peperomia Rotundifolia don’t like to get too cold and suffer below 12 degrees, so keep him in a warm room in your home. 

This little guy is pet-friendly too and is part of our very popular, Pet-friendly Bundle.  

Calathea 

Calathea are a group of houseplants with striking leaves and more often than not gorgeously patterned too, so they make fabulous indoor houseplants, when looking to add something striking to your urban jungle.  Calathea are known as prayer plants as their leaves move up at dusk like praying hands.  These natural movements follow Circadian rhythms, with the leaves splaying out again during the day to absorb the maximum amount of light. Calathea thrive in medium to bright indirect light but they can tolerate low light too. They like to be quite damp and their leaves will go brown at the edges and curl if they are underwatered. They do bounce back though, so don’t worry if you have underwatered your Calathea, just give it a big drink and it should recover. Trim off any brown leaves – it’s even okay to trim the leaf to remove the brown tips and keep the same shape of the leaf.  If the whole leave is brown, then trim off the leaf close to the base of the plant.  

Calathea just love a bit of extra humidity so spritzing with a mister or placing him in a well-lit bathroom will help him grow. In Spring, feed him with regular houseplant food once a month to encourage new growth and keep those leaves dust free to allow them to absorb lots and lots of light. Be careful not to feed him too often in the Winter months, limit it to once every 3-4 months when it’s not growing season.  

Yellow leaves are a sign of overwatering but don’t mix these up with the pale green leaves that are brand new leaves that have just uncurled. These little paler green leaves will grow and darken as they mature. 

We love the patterned leaves of a Calathea and although he can be a bit of a drama queen, he is worth it.

Boston Fern 

Who doesn’t love leafy houseplants, perfect for creating indoor jungles? A Boston Fern can bring real jungle vibes to your plant gang and looks fabulous in a white kitchen or bathroom.  The Boston Fern is one of the easiest of ferns to look after, but it is still a tricky little devil. With our care tips, we’ll get you off to a great start.  Boston Ferns like indirect light, think of its natural habitat on the forest where it gets dappled light through the trees. It will be happy in indirect light or even in low light environment. If you think it isn’t happy move him to a position in your home that gets indirect light as often a fern will struggle in a dark, gloomy corner. He likes high humidity so misting him once a week is a good idea. Check the soil daily, giving it a drink if it feels dry.  

Brown crispy tips are a sign it is underwatered, but yellow leaves are a sign it is overwatered so check it is not sitting in water in the ceramic. 

Dry soil is one of the main reasons Boston Ferns suffer, so this little guy needs checking a lot more frequently. Get into the habit of pushing your thumb into the soil every day or 2 to check what he needs. And don’t worry too much if you think you are losing leaves; Boston Ferns shed a lot of their old fronds as they grow. As new growth occurs and this is normal, so give them a shake to allow old leaves to come off making room for new growth. 

This Houseplant Appreciation Day, show those plants you care. Go on give those houseplants some love; check the soil, give them a drink, trim off any old leaves and dust their gorgeous leaves.  

Lots of Love, The Little Botanical Team xx

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