a thrifting, reading, and gardening diary
After years of wishlisting it, I finally treated myself to a scindapsus pictus plant from Hirt’s Gardens. I’m pleased to report that she’s even more beautiful in person! I love an easy-care vining plant, which is why pothos plants are some of my favorite plants to have around the house. Colloquially, scindapsus plants are often … Read more
As I was growing up, my mom would take us to a massive Dollar Tree in our East Side San Jose neighborhood every Friday afternoon. When we were feeling a little ritzy, we’d hit up the Ross Dress For Less or Target across the street. But Dollar Tree was really our main spot. I’d get … Read more
Should you use terra cotta or plastic pots for your plants? This was definitely one of my main questions when I started buying proper pots for my plant. The answer is, of course, it depends! In general, a plant that prefers to stay on the dry side will appreciate a clay pot that absorbs excess … Read more
Flowers are ephemeral. This Valentine’s Day, why not treat your significant other to a potted plant? Cut flowers, as we all know, eventually die. With a little tender loving care, potted plants (and perhaps even cuttings) have a great chance of surviving for years to come — or at least past that one or two-week … Read more
My very first plant was a bird’s nest fern, which is supposedly one of the easier houseplants out there. I beg to differ, however, after killing two in my day! Beautiful yet so incorrigibly finicky, ferns and calatheas are my sworn frenemies. As I’ve started collecting more plants, I realized that I didn’t have to … Read more
Ivy is the definitive cottagecore trailing plant, even if it’s generally underrated in a world where tropical plants get most of the fanfare. After giving “ivy” a few listens (yes, I’m that Swiftie friend), I ended up picking two ivy plants as my first plant purchases of the year, a run-of-the-mill green hedera helix from … Read more
As a plant collector, I hadn’t quite noticed cacti until recently. Not until The Good Place made a Janet joke about them or until Taylor Swift casually posed with one. I previously prided myself on collecting plants that flirted with death should I forget to water them — calatheas, fittonias, ferns, and so on. Many dead plants later, … Read more
Cacti and succulents never impressed me much, just like Brad Pitt to Shania Twain, you know? But during wintertime, these hardy babies are the only plants that fare well between the cold weather and my space heater. My collection consists mostly of succulent and cacti cuttings my mom’s garden and baby plants from my local … Read more
