5 Tips for Taking Care of Your Patio Plants

Heads up, plant uncles and aunts (or pluncles and plaunts)! Apart from knowing the best patio plants for southern California, we’re going the extra mile to learn more about the right amount of TLC to keep your indoor plants thriving.

1. Know Thyself

In order for you to become a better carer for another life, it is important that you first get to know yourself. What is your environment? What kind of climate and seasons does your house go through? What does your schedule look like? How much space do you have at home?

At first, these may seem quite unrelated, but plants require your time to adapt and then thrive, so checking on these concerns might help you decide which kind of indoor plants are most suitable for your home. When you’ve understood your environment–which your plant will also be exposed to–you can then decide just how much time you are willing to spend to care for them.

Note that not all plants are the same, not just in terms of sun, shade, and water needs but also in terms of lifespan. If you’re not quite sure yet, it is best to go with annuals. These plants have a lifespan of only a single season so that you can work your way to choosing a different one to take care of in the next.

2. From Centerpieces to a Gallery

If you’re planning on having patio plants at home, it is suggested to start with a single one that stands out. For the calming nature that plants bring to a space, you can choose to get one that can be a statement piece: big leaves create the mood in the room and set the contrast with the furniture that you have.

When you’ve managed to successfully give your statement plant the tending it needs, you can then grow out the family by adding a couple of new patio plants into your home. Knowing which plants can grow together is as important as knowing which go together visually and with your room’s design.

Knowing which plants can grow together is as important as knowing which go together visually and with your room’s design.

If you want to transition towards plants on shelves or hanging ones, you can also take into consideration the sweet spot you’ll be placing them. Once you’ve got the hang of it (pun intended!), your room will also breathe life back into you.

3.  Be Purposeful Yet Creative

Now, let’s talk about pots. Your patio plant’s containers matter, and generally, you can definitely repot them into a new one that fits the visual theme of your home. The best way to work with the design of the pots you’ll choose from is to see where your plants are placed. If you’ve managed to grow a cluster of them in a specific area, you can choose differently designed pots for each of them for contrast. If they’re on the bigger floor scale, you can select a more minimal, classy pot that can elevate a nearby rug or your floor design. Lastly, don’t forget to check if the pot fits the plant. This means both for its size (don’t forget to leave room for growth) and also for its water needs.

4.  Follow Through

When plants are properly cared for, they inevitably give you room to breathe. They’re capable of loving you back by showing you that they thrive under your thumb. Plant care can be therapeutic, as well. In isolation, being able to grow a plant is a reminder that there’s another life in the room.

Additionally, a growing community of fellow plant lovers online is more than willing to share their own best practices. If you stick to the routine of checking up on your plant–and more so, to ensure that they’re well taken care of if you do need to be away for some time–the feeling is more than just satisfaction. It is a warm, welcoming achievement that makes you feel better, too.

5.  More Than Just the Aesthetics

Remember that even the most low maintenance of plants will still require your attention every now and then, so you must be able to commit to its care. Plants are primarily alive. Signing up to take care of one–or of many–means that you’re investing in another’s life. Take your time to get to know what plant you want to take care of and that you can truly do it. Spend time getting to know your plants as they adjust to your home.

Do they like the sunlight in a particular spot? Do you need to move them from time to time so that they’re in the right shade? Is your watering schedule just right for them? More so, have they outgrown their initial pots and have finally needed a repotting? It is but an added bonus that they do great wonders to make your house look like home.

Photo by Tom Podmore on Unsplash