Sunday, February 24, 2008
Plant Therapy



A few months ago I went to Orchard Supply to make a copy of my car key for Chris and I walked out of the store with three houseplants. Having no prior (indoor or outdoor) gardening experience, one can imagine how they are surviving under my care: Not well.

At first I thought I might be over-watering them, since most of their water drained through the soil and ended up in the clay saucer. So I cut back from daily watering to twice weekly. They have since turned brown on the edges and look very sad. The two that are doing the worst are ferns of some sort (one is a maiden hair fern, the other unidentifiable to the best of my Internet search efforts).

So from here on out I am trying my best to revive them. After reading up on ferns, I think the problem might be not enough humidity. In most climates, the average amount of moisture in the air would be fine but apparently not in the bone dry Bay Area. Martha Stewart suggests propping the pots up on small stones and leaving some water in the saucer to help stimulate the humidity. I think I will also try lightly spritzing them with a spray bottle. Fascinating stuff I know, but if any of our friends and family have prior fern knowledge, bring it on. As you can see below, they could use all the help they can get.






Posted by Kelley at 10:19 PM | 3 comments