Having a green thumb is a myth! 🌿

Having a green thumb can be learned! Without knowing a plant's needs, it's impossible to make it happy! Have you learned to read without knowing your letters? Of course not, that would be way too difficult. It's the same for plants! But don't worry, I'll teach you the plant alphabet. 🌿

A plant needs three things to stay beautiful and healthy!

1- The light

Light is the foundation of all plant function. Therefore, it's essential to find the right type of light for your plants. My foolproof tactic... Know the orientation of your windows!

First, I'll teach you the basics of the sun's movement and the propagation of its light. The sun always rises in the East and always sets in the West. The southern orientation receives the longest amount of sunlight during the day and the strongest rays. Finally, the northern orientation never receives direct sunlight, but only reflected rays from other orientations.

We conclude that an east-facing window will receive the gentle morning sun. A west-facing window will receive the energy-rich late afternoon sun. A south-facing window will receive the powerful midday sun, and a north-facing window will receive only ambient light. With this in mind, we can now associate certain types of plants with certain orientations based on the light received by the window where they will be established.

East Windows: Absolutely all tropical plants! Note, tropical plants with colorful foliage might prefer a west-facing window to keep their beautiful colors vibrant.

West Windows: Tropical plants with colorful, leathery foliage, as well as absolutely all varieties of succulents. Note that succulent varieties with colors like red, blue, purple, orange, or white will retain their beautiful colors much more vibrant in a south-facing window.

South Windows: Absolutely all cacti and succulents! Tropical plants can also be found here, but always at a minimum of 3 feet. In summer, the sun's rays become stronger and could cause foliage burns on your tropical plants if they are closer than 3 feet.

North windows: Plants that tolerate only ambient light, such as sansevierias, zamioculcas, aglaonemas, dracaenas, pothos, philodendrons, syngoniums, and ferns. Note: avoid colorful foliage, as your plants may simply lose their beautiful colors.

Important!

Without light, a plant simply does not survive! The famous miracle plants that live without light are a myth. Some plants can survive for a very long time in a room without light thanks to their very slow metabolism, but in reality they are slowly dying. The majority of plants have a very fast metabolism, so it takes very little time to realize that they are not happy in a room without light. It will only be a matter of time for those with a slow metabolism. If you insist on putting a plant in a room without windows, you will need to equip yourself with artificial lights.

2- Water 💧

Water is also the basis for the functioning of all plants. It is therefore essential for you to define yourself as a gardener.

If you tend to overwater your plants, then ferns, calathea, anthurium, fittonia, syngonium, palm, spathiphyllum, begonia, alocasia, and colocasia are the perfect plants for you! These are plants that tolerate or prefer too much water to too little.

Option 2: Very busy gardener...

If you tend to forget to water your plants or simply don't always have time to do so, then cacti, succulents, yuccas, dracaenas, pothos, monsteras, philodendrons, ficus, aglaonemas, sansevierias, and zamioculcas are the perfect plants for you! These are plants that prefer to dry out completely between waterings.

Option 3: Observant gardener...

My favorite option! Our plants talk to us and we have several ways to listen to them. We can simply observe our plants and deduce their needs. The leaves of most tropical plants lose tone or curl up when they lack water. The leaves of succulents will shrivel slightly when the water reserve they contain starts to dwindle. Cacti will lose volume when they start to exhaust the water stored in their tissues. If you observe these phenomena on your plants then it's time to water them! In addition, we have an incredible tool to test if our plants need water... Our fingers! You can dip one of your fingers into the soil of your plants and if you no longer feel moisture in the soil... We water! Lifting our plants can also be a very good way to know when to water them. Soil saturated with water will always be very heavy and soil without water will be much lighter. This technique takes a little practice, but don't worry, your plants will forgive you!

Important!

A pot without a drainage hole... It's called a planter. So, we place our plant in it with its plastic growing pot, which is perforated. A planter is purely aesthetic; you should never plant a plant directly in it. Without a drainage hole, you'll never be able to let excess water escape when watering. Excess water in the bottom of a pot is the easiest way to rot a plant's roots.

How do I know if I've watered my plant enough? It's quite simple, when you water you want to saturate the soil with water. If the soil is completely dry, two or three drops of water won't be enough, so don't hesitate! Water well until you feel that the pot seems heavier, since waterlogged soil is heavy. You can never overwater a plant when watering, because thanks to the drainage holes, the excess water that the soil hasn't been able to absorb will flow out. Now all that's left to do is wait until your plant seems to need water again!

3- Nutrients

Nutrients are also the basis for the functioning of all plants. Just like us, a plant needs nutrients to maintain its development. It is therefore essential to provide your plants with fertilizer support to ensure that they never lack the elements essential to their survival. The nutrients found in fertilizers are mainly nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Nitrogen is mainly used for plant growth, phosphorus for reproduction (flowering), and potassium for maintaining its natural functions. When a plant lacks one of these nutrients, its health will be at risk... I recommend using 20-20-20 fertilizers that are diluted in the watering water, every other time during the summer (active growth period) and every fourth time during the winter (rest period).

We also need to repot our plants, generally every 2 to 3 years for tropical plants and generally every 4 to 5 years for succulents and cacti. It all depends on the growth rate of your plant, however, we always try to maintain a ratio of 2/3 (foliage, stems and trunk) to 1/3 (volume of potting soil). This ratio ensures that the plant will not lack material during its growth, since fertilizer is not responsible for everything.

I hope you find this knowledge base useful! Please feel free to write to us and until then, happy gardening!

- Nicholas from Végétal Design