c/botany-lovers

Was poking around moss on my walk and found out it's older than trees

I was looking at this patch of moss on a rock near my creek last Saturday, got curious, and looked it up when I got home. Turns out moss has been around for like 450 million years, way before trees even existed on land. Has anyone else stumbled onto a plant fact that made you feel small?

Visited a community garden in Portland and had a realization about plant spacing

I dropped by the community garden down on 32nd and Division last Saturday, the one run by the city. I noticed this one bed where someone had crammed like 20 tomato plants into a 4x8 plot. They were all leggy and pale, with yellow leaves at the bottom. Compare that to the bed next to it with only 6 plants, each one thick and dark green. It hit me how we often try to squeeze in more than we should, thinking it gives us a bigger harvest. But really, plants need room to breathe and stretch out roots. Has anyone else seen this happen in their own garden beds?

My monstera finally pushed out a fenestrated leaf after 8 months of waiting

I got this cutting from a friend back in February and it just grew tiny solid leaves with no holes. I figured it just needed more light so I moved it right next to my east window in April. Yesterday I noticed this new leaf unfurling with actual slits in it. It's not huge but it's the first sign of maturity and I'm honestly pumped. Anyone else have a plant that took forever to show its adult form?

That one week my backyard nursery got wiped out by a freak frost in May

I had 200 seedlings ready for sale on that Saturday, but a cold snap hit the Kansas City area on Monday night and killed half of them overnight. Even with tarps and a space heater running, the temperature dropped to 28 degrees and my tomatoes and peppers just couldn't handle it. Has anyone else dealt with a sudden late frost ruining a whole batch of plants?

Had a chat with a retired florist who said she never uses those fancy fertilizers

She told me she just uses compost tea from her own kitchen scraps for 40 years. Made me wonder if I'm overcomplicating my indoor plants for no reason. Has anyone else heard of professional growers keeping it that simple?

PSA: That rare orchid I found turned out to be a trap

Last Tuesday at the Seattle plant swap, this guy handed me a gorgeous blue orchid for free. Said it was a rare hybrid he couldn't keep alive. Got it home and the roots were packed in wet styrofoam, not soil. By Friday the leaves were yellow and slimy, and I found tiny bugs crawling out of the drainage holes. Anybody else get burned by a "rare" plant that was just a dying mess?

Saw a rare corpse flower bloom at the Denver Botanic Gardens last week

Tried propagating a fiddle leaf fig in water for 3 months, got roots but no growth above soil

I thought I was being clever last winter when I snipped a healthy leaf off my fiddle leaf fig and stuck it in a jar of water on my kitchen counter. The thing grew roots like crazy, like 6 inches of long white roots after 12 weeks. I was so proud I even showed it off to my neighbor who runs a small greenhouse. But when I potted it up in actual soil, the leaf just sat there for another month doing nothing. No new leaves, no stem growth, just that one sad leaf. My neighbor finally told me that single leaf cuttings from figs almost never grow into a full plant because they lack a node with dormant buds. So I basically grew a science experiment with roots that will never make a tree. Has anyone else fell for this trick and ended up with a root ball attached to a single leaf?

Why do so many people prune hydrangeas at the wrong time?

Honestly, I keep seeing neighbors in my area cutting back their hydrangeas in late fall, and then they wonder why they don't bloom come June. In zone 6b where I live, bigleaf hydrangeas set their buds on old wood, so pruning them after August just kills next year's flowers. I learned this the hard way after losing blooms for two seasons straight. Has anyone else dealt with this and figured out a foolproof way to tell people without sounding like a know-it-all?

Found a trick to stop my jade plant dropping leaves in winter

After losing half the leaves on my jade plant last December, I tried watering it with room temp water instead of cold tap water and it didn't drop a single leaf this winter - has anyone else found water temp makes that big a difference?

Swapped my grow lights for south-facing windows and never looked back

I used to run two 300W LED panels for my indoor succulents, but after moving to a new apartment in Portland with huge south windows, I switched to natural light about 6 months ago. The color on my echeverias got way deeper, and I stopped dealing with leggy growth. Anyone else ditch artificial lights for natural sun on their plants?

Took a decade before I appreciated bonsai as more than little trees

I always thought bonsai people were just into cutting leaves for fun, no real point to it. Then I visited a workshop in Portland last spring and saw this 30 year old juniper that started as a scraggly nursery plant. The owner showed me photos from year 1 to now, how every branch was chosen and shaped over time. Now I get why someone would spend 15 years just thickening up a trunk before the first cut. Anyone else have that moment where a plant hobby clicked way later than it should have?

Appreciation post for the guy who corrected my fern watering

I kept seeing people online say ferns love moisture so I was misting mine like crazy. An old gardener at the local nursery last Saturday told me that constant wet leaves cause rot and fungal spots. He showed me how to water the soil directly instead and keep the fronds dry. My Boston fern went from crispy edges to lush green in about 3 weeks. Has anyone else had to unlearn a common plant myth like this?

My neighbor swore that coffee grounds would fix my yellowing ferns, so I tried it for 2 months

I have this fern on my front porch in Nashville that just would not stay green no matter what I did. My neighbor Bob, who grows prize-winning orchids, told me to dump my used coffee grounds around the base every week. Said the nitrogen would perk it right up. Well, after 8 weeks the fern looked even worse, like it was dying faster. Finally I looked it up and turns out ferns are sensitive to caffeine and too much nitrogen can burn their roots. Bob meant well but his advice was way off for ferns. Has anyone else gotten plant advice from a "pro" that backfired?

Overheard a guy at the nursery say he mulches his entire garden with cardboard

I was at a local nursery last Saturday picking up soil and heard this older guy telling a worker he lays down flattened cardboard boxes over his whole garden every spring. Said it keeps the weeds down and adds organic matter as it breaks down. He claimed he hasn't used plastic weed barrier in 15 years. Has anyone here tried this method with decent results or does it just turn into a soggy mess?

Tried to save a dying fern by putting it in my bathroom for humidity and it grew 6 new fronds in 3 weeks

I honestly thought it was a goner after I left it in the dry living room for two months, then one hot shower cycle later it perked up like crazy - has anyone else had a plant bounce back from a weird spot change like that?

Hit 50 different fern species in my backyard last week

I've been cataloging ferns on my property for 3 years. Got to 49 and thought that was it. Then a tiny maidenhair showed up under the deck. Anyone else keep a count going or just me?

Found a weird mushroom cluster in my backyard last Wednesday

I was pulling weeds near the compost pile and spotted this bright orange mushroom growing in a perfect circle about 2 feet wide. My plant app said it's some kind of jack-o'-lantern mushroom but I'm not sure since it didn't glow at night. Has anyone else seen funky fungi patterns like this in their garden beds?

Visited the arboretum in Des Moines last weekend and something felt off

I went to the Des Moines Botanical Center on Saturday to see the tropical collection. The palm house was warm and humid like always but I noticed a bunch of the smaller ferns had brown tips all over. Anyone else see that happening at public gardens? Is this a sign of bad watering schedules or maybe something else in the air?

Hot take: Bottom watering is overhyped for most houseplants

I spent 18 months bottom watering every single plant in my collection. Trays, wicks, the whole setup. Then I noticed my pothos roots were rotting near the surface while the bottom looked fine. A friend who runs a greenhouse in Winston-Salem told me flat out that top watering mimics rain and most common houseplants want that. Switched to top watering with a fan drying the soil surface and everything perked up in 3 weeks. Anyone else find that bottom watering creates more problems than it solves?

Had to repot a ficus and it took me 4 hours longer than it should have

I brought home a fiddle leaf fig from a nursery in Portland last weekend and the roots were so tangled in the pot that I spent 3 hours just teasing them apart. Turns out the soil was super compacted and I had to soak the whole thing twice before it loosened up. Has anyone else had a plant take way more time than you thought just to get it settled in a new home?

I was totally wrong about those 'invasive' Japanese knotweed claims

For years I rolled my eyes at neighbors panicking about Japanese knotweed in their yards. I figured it was just another plant people hated because it grew fast (like, seriously fast). Then last spring I noticed this patch spreading under my lilac bush in Portland, and by August it was cracking the edge of my concrete walkway. I tried digging it up twice and it just came back thicker within three weeks. Finally hired a guy who showed me roots going 6 feet down under my fence line. Now I get it, that stuff is no joke. Has anyone else had knotweed show up in a place you never expected?

Had to pick between a $30 fern and a $60 fern at the nursery last weekend

I stood there for a good 10 minutes comparing a Boston fern and a Kimberly queen fern at Lowe's in Austin. The Boston was half the price but I knew the Kimberly queen would handle the dry air in my apartment better since my A/C runs all day. I went with the cheaper one and now three fronds are already turning brown. Should I have just coughed up the extra cash or am I being too impatient?

A coworker told me I was watering my pothos wrong and she was right

I had this big pothos plant at my desk for about a year and it was always looking droopy and yellow. My coworker Sarah walked by and said I was watering it on a schedule instead of checking the soil first. She showed me to stick my finger about an inch deep and only water when it feels dry. I used to just pour a cup every Monday without thinking. Now I wait until the soil is actually dry and my pothos perked up in like two weeks. Has anyone else had a simple tip like that change how you care for a plant?

I finally chose between a variegated and a solid green Monstera for my north-facing window

I went with the solid green after reading it tolerates lower light better, and it's put out two new leaves in the last month. Has anyone had success with a variegated type in similar conditions?