by Tracy Briseño

All my life I have had the opposite of a green thumb. I was notorious in my family for killing plants, no matter how much I strived to keep them alive. It was frustrating and disappointing and a bit embarrassing, too. I could keep my pets and my kids alive, but not plants? 

Then a few years ago my kids brought me home plants for Mother’s Day, and my youngest got a fairy tree plant from her sister, and the stakes got higher. I put the plants together in my kitchen windowsill and vowed to water them every week. That became “water me Wednesdays.” To my surprise, a year later the plants were still alive and healthy. Maybe I could learn to care for plants?

I became brave and went to a few different plant stores. I always prefaced that I was very much learning and needed easy plants that I could water once a week. I downloaded a plant app and looked for plants listed as “hardy” and “easy.” And I started to build my collection. I filled my windowsill, then started putting plants on another shelf. 

I checked out some plant books and discovered that many were too far beyond my fledgling efforts. The first two books that really worked for me were “How Not to Kill Your Houseplant” by Veronica Peerless and “You Grow, Gurl!” by Christopher Griffin. Both were funny and interesting and made me feel like I really had a chance to succeed. 

Since then, my kids have gotten interested curating their own mini collections of plants. Together we read “My First Indoor Garden” by Philippe Asseray and talked about what kind of plants they would want and how to take care of them. We’ve had some successes and some failures. I have learned some plants that I can’t seem to keep alive and will likely not get again (String of Pearls and Lithops) and some that I just adore and will keep propagating (Burro’s Tail and Purple Heart). My kids have gravitated towards terrariums and cacti, which have been interesting adventures. 

Overall, this plant journey has been a fun way to practice having a growth mindset and being okay with failure. I am continuing to learn about soil composition, light requirements, and how not to water my plants to death (RIP Zebra plant). I am learning alongside my kids and it’s been an enjoyable thing for us to do together.