The Rough Plant Catalogue

Audience: General

Messy Archive: This is part of a rough series where I’m logging what I learn about the plants I own. These aren’t polished care guides — they’re notes to myself. Accuracy over aesthetics. Mistakes allowed. Learning in progress.

Right now there are no photos here but I plan to update this to include photos.

I love plants! I have several houseplants and have inherited a few over the last few months. I don’t know much about all of them, so I want to learn about them and see if I can take better care of them.

Introducing…

The Monstera

This Monstera came from a shoot from another plant. It’s one of my favourite plants because I grew it from a baby with two wilted leaves.

• What I know: Big leaves; sometimes gets holes; has aerial roots, needs a moss pole(?).
• What I want to learn: How do I tell what kind of Monstera it is? When does it start developing holes? What type of soil does it need? How much water does it need? Does it prefer to be pot-bound or to have space?
• Current status: Doing OK? It has one leaf with a (normal) hole in it.

The Spider Plants

I have at least two different types of these. They look different from each other. One grew from a spiderette that I put into some soil, and I inherited the other. The first one grows outward a lot, and the other is very bushy.

• What I know: Very robust; goes grey when thirsty; an asexual icon (reproduces via spiderettes); green and white lengthway bands.
• What I want to learn: What species are my plants (there are at least two)? One has leaves that are green-white-green, and the other has white-green-white leaves. What kind of soil do they like? How to stop the tips of the leaves from going brown and crispy.
• Current status: SO MANY BABIES. So I suppose they are happy. The one that usually lives in the office was in a pot with no drainage holes, so the soil stank when I repotted it, and some of the roots were slimy (root rot?). The other one seems fine, but has been nommed by something (snail?).

Tradescantia Zebrina

One of these is in the office, and the other is here. These plants are fascinating.  

• What I know: Beautiful foliage: green and purple with a silvery iridescent sheen to them, hence the common name Silver Inchplant, I suppose; Ground cover plants; sap is irritating to the skin; can form roots at the nodes.
• What I want to learn: Why are they purple? Why the iridescent sheen? How do I make it bushy? What conditions does it like? How do I prevent it from getting leggy?
• Current status: It’s alive, but I feel scared to move it because the branches tend to fall off, but I think that’s normal for them (?); the branches that fall off look healthy, just detached from the plant. I took the ones that fell off and put them in some water to use as cuttings. It’s leggy.

Pothos

This one is in the office at the moment and is one of the inherited plants in my care.

• What I know: Heart-shaped leaves, a climber(?) – it has the same spikes that ivy does, ground cover plant(?), trailing vines, robust and very tolerant of neglect, variegated but mostly green.
• What I want to learn: How it likes to grow. Does it need a moss pole? How much light does it like?
• Current status: Beautiful and doing well.

Ivy

I bought this one at the annual houseplant sale on campus. It was really tiny when I first bought it, and now it is very not tiny.

• What I know: Grows very fast, deep green leaves, has the characteristic ‘ivy’ leaf shape, not a variegated variety, climber.
• What I want to learn: How to grow it indoors and let it climb without damaging walls or furniture; how to manage issues with aphids.
• Current status: Hand-squashed a recent aphid infestation and sprayed with soapy water; doing fine now. The leaves have a gorgeous deep green colour and are growing very fast.

Calathea

URGH. I have a history with this plant. It was the first one to come home with me from the office because it had a nasty infection. It is a pain to take care of.

• What I know: It prefers to be dead.
• What I want to learn: Which species do I have? Why do the leaves have yellow blotches? Why is the one small dark green leaf curled up? What does it want from me? Is it rescuable?
• Current status: Preparing its next list of demands.

The ‘Taters

Potatoes are so amazing. A versatile vegetable and will grow in anything. I found some really old ones in the back of my cupboard and decided to throw them in some soil in a grow bag. They grow SO FAST. The foliage is now at least a metre tall and shows no signs of slowing down.

• What I know: Easy plant; will grow in basically any dirt; grows very fast; leaves are fuzzy and are a vibrant green.
• What I want to learn: When should I harvest them? What species of potato is it? How long will they keep once harvested? Is there anything I need to know to make sure that they are safe to eat? Are there any pests that I need to be concerned about? Have I happened upon the infinite potato glitch?
• Current status: Thriving except for the thing that keeps nomming the leaves! (snails?)

The Unidentified plants

I have two other plants, and I don’t know what they are. One is a cutting that I was given to try and save. I have no idea what it is. It looks like a plant that has petioles(?), but it’s too difficult to identify. It is having a hard time with the one leaf it has (it is black on the edges, then yellow and then green, moving from the edges to the centre of the leaf). The stem is green but does not appear to be convinced whether it wishes to remain so. I have changed the soil to one that allows for better drainage, as the original soil became too damp, allowing moss to start growing.

The other plant is some kind of a shrub, I think. I brought it home from the office because it spent a long time in time out in front of a wall. The result was a rather commical-looking plant that was thriving on one side and just sticks on the other (incidentally, the side facing the wall). It’s doing well and started to sprout leaves from the part that looked like just sticks. It’s truly remarkable how life can emerge from something that appears dead. It should be ready to go back to the office soon.

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Wrapping Up For Now

So those are my plants. I am very happy with how they are doing and love how beautiful they look outside. I’m looking forward to learning about each of them and taking the best care of them that I can :D.