Journal Entry No. 9

A house made warm with plants.

My Maranta leuconeura, commonly known as the Prayer Plant, in my ensuite.

I often say that if a house plant is happy in a space, us humans will be too. House plants thrive under some of the same fundamental conditions we consider comfortable: adequate ventilation and access to fresh air, a certain degree of moisture and indirect natural light. Add to this a beautiful linen drape and a soft place to sit and I am as happy as fern on a north-facing window.

I’ve lived a life with plants - mostly garden-variety ones - but in the last ten years or so I have started to incorporate more and more house plants so that every spot in the home appropriate to them is now occupied. I’ll listen intently to James Wong speak of his London flat filled with hundreds of plants in coffee terrariums, hanging air plants, purpose-built cacti trough on the window ledge and, though I admire his dedication, I know there’s a limit to the fascination before things would get out of control.

Seems strange to say it but I find there’s a warmth to a home when plants are about. Having healthy plants around indicate that there’s care in the house and if a plant is well cared for I feel I will be cared for as well over a cup of tea.

I recently paid a visit to Bloedel Conservatory, a tropical oasis only a twenty minute walk from my home. I realized how much I was missing colour as soon as I walked in. I rejoiced in the tropical warmth and the cacophony of parrots all about - forgetting the winter cold just outside the dome. Lush greens, bright yellows, pinks and reds. It’s a splendid thing to be reminded how thirsty you are when you are at last drinking again. It was also wonderful to see so many familiar plants - plants I have in my home - like the Asparagus Fern, Maranta, Elephant Ear, Blue Star fern and Anthurium. I have a little conservatory in my bathroom, promoted by a skylight and a sheltered window, my plants seem to thrive in the moist air of the room and I thrive in turn by their greenness, their viriditas.

As winter wanes to spring, I’ll make a thorough review of how my house plants are doing. They’ll need soil added or re-potting in some cases, clipping back of dead material and, the Monstera in particular, needs some wrangling as it’s clear to the ceiling…what was that about things getting out of hand? I’ll talk to my house plants, I don’t pretend they’ll respond but it’s part of the ritual of care that I provide and perhaps it is also part meditation.

Nature never did betray the heart that loved her, wrote Wordsworth. Nature exists all around us - large or small - from tropical forests to potted house ferns, every plant is part of the same web that we are entrusted to care for and in caring for them we care for ourselves.