Cool Plants - Indoor Plant Guide

Discover how to keep your indoor plants alive with these tips from Lara at Cool Plants. 

Cool Plants offer beautiful indoor plants online, plus a wider range of plants, planters and accessories from their Tauranga showroom. They also provide plant consultations, expert advice and individualised plant care to ensure customers get the best from their greenery.

Our love for indoor plants came about after experiencing infertility. We found gardening and growing indoor plants healing as we navigated what life would look like without kids. As our interest and skills developed, requests for our interior plant styling services grew. Cool Plants has evolved as a way to combine our two favourite things, people and plants. We now get the opportunity to grow life in a different way.

As all our lives get busier, we look for ways to feel a connection with nature. Indoor plants offer calm, texture, colour and cleanse the air in our homes and workspaces. They provide the ‘bridge to nature’ and help us live better.

Here are some handy tips to ensure your ‘bridges to nature’ last the distance. Firstly, choosing the right plant for the right place is central to whether a plant lives or dies, limps along or thrives. Things to consider before buying are light, watering, time commitment, and placement.

1. Watering: Plants don’t operate on a “it’s Saturday therefore I get watered” regime. Before watering, check the moisture levels by either using the tips of your fingers to get down deep in the soil or use a moisture meter. Don’t water if the soil is moist - over watering kills more than underwatering, especially in the cooler months. Ensure your plant is never left standing in a pool of water as this can result in root rot. All plants require excellent drainage.
2. Position/Light: Nothing erodes confidence in plant parenting like a sad or sunburnt plant so be sure to choose the right plant for your individual light conditions. There are options for direct sun (i.e succulents, crotons) through to low light (i.e. Sansevieria, Zamioculcas), with most preferring bright indirect/filtered light.
3. Feeding: Most plants go into dormancy in winter and the key growing period is spring to summer. Feeding your plants promotes new growth and replaces nutrients; making them stronger and resistant to pests. Choose a ready to use liquid option from the Tui Enrich Pour & Feed range or a six month controlled release fertiliser like Tui Enrich Pots & Containers and be sure to follow the instructions for the size of your pot.
4. Caring: Take time to nurture your plants - remove any dead or unhealthy leaves and check for evidence of pests. Do they need repotting, dusting, or does the soil need topping up?
5. Commitment: Is watering your plants low on your to-do list? Plants like Sansieviera, Zamioculcas and succulents are dry tolerant and less likely to curl up their toes from occasional neglect.

CHOOSING THE PERFECT PLANT

For those starting their plant parent journey, some easycare options are Sansieviera, Zamioculcas, succulents, Syngoniums, Asapargus Myerii, Dracaena, Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily), air plants and ivy.

Consider what you are trying to achieve in your home or workspace. Stunning large leaved plants like Ficus Lyrata, Strelitzia, Philodendron Selloum and Monstera Deliciosa offer a warm tropical appeal to interiors. Ever popular trailing options are Philodendron Scandens, Aeschynanthus, Pothos (marble, golden, satin), String of Pearls and Chain of Hearts. Some air cleansing super stars are Dracaena, Devils Ivy, Spathiphyllum, and Sansevieria. There really is a plant for all situations. We wish you and your plants a long and happy green life together!

For more indoor plant inspiration check out Cool Plants at coolplants.co.nz