Thread by @janeperrone

Your houseplant died? It may well not be your fault. That's because some houseplant sellers specifically set us up for failure.
A 🧵
Let's start with snake plants. Many are sold like this.
#planttwitter

This fan shaped snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) is not a single plant, but rather a set of individual leaf cuttings in a pot. Often, some of these cuttings will fail and die. (Even if they don't, the fan shape will disappear as the plant grows).

Other Sansevieria species are plaited; some are given a velvety brightly coloured coating on the tips of the leaves, or have designs 'engraved' into the leaves. These tough plants can survive a lot, but such unnecessary modifications reduce your chances of success.

Then there's the young houseplants that are sold as a bunch of seedlings in a pot: this is often the case with parlour palms (Chamaedorea elegans). Parlour palms are single-stemmed plants, but you wouldn't know that from the way they are sold.

The young seedlings struggle to compete and inevitably some die - sometimes none of them make it, unless you know to separate them out at an early stage.

Sometimes if you delve under the surface you will find that the seedlings have been kept together using a rubber band, which ultimately constricts their growth and can kill them.

Even if your plant comes without being squished in with too many of its fellow seedlings, houseplants often come with another nasty surprise under the surface: a plastic netting that encloses the rootball and stops the roots from developing properly.

If you buy a cactus or succulent from a supermarket or many non-specialist growers, they will be planted in a substrate that will not set your plant up for success: it contains too much organic material to allow succulents the very free drainage they need, especially over winter.

If you don't know to repot your succulent in a sharply draining substrate, there is a good chance they will resolve into mush.

Sometimes the problem lies with the label - or lack of. 'Foliage plant' tells you nothing, and without an accurate label, you may not be able to find out what conditions your plants need. Not to mention, the labels are often made of virgin plastic, and end up straight in the bin.

This causes problems, because most people can't tell the difference between a plant that, with a little care, can survive many years as a houseplant, eg Dracaena, many cacti, Monstera deliciosa - and plants that will never last more than a couple of years in the average house.

And finally, many of the plants we buy still contain peat, despite the documented destruction of the world's peat bogs, and peat's incredible carbon capturing qualities when left in the ground. More on that in this podcast ep janeperrone.com/on-the-ledge/p…

What can we do about this? Education is key. Buying from specialist growers & plant society sales, holding plant swaps & growing from seed can give you plants that are both durable & more sustainable. I talk about this on my podcast On The Ledge janeperrone.com/on-the-ledge

Thanks to @nickyknivesout for reminding me of a point I had forgotten - plants sold in DIY sheds and supermarkets get ZERO care and attention in store. Many die or get extremely stressed before being bought. This is not the best way to start off a new houseplant in your home.

@nickyknivesout Well this has blown up! If you want to learn about houseplants & how to care for them, On The Ledge my podcast is a great starting point.
My book Legends of the Leaf, out April 27, takes a deep dive into the stories of 25 iconic houseplants.
All the links: linktr.ee/legendsofthele…