green thumb | Peppermints & Honey Bees

I’ve actually been wanting an air plant for a while after seeing them all over Pinterest. One of my friends bought some at the Renegade Craft Show in Chicago last summer and while one died she said the other one was pretty easy to care for after she got the knack for it.

According to articles I’ve read the best way to care for them is to submerge the actual plant in a glass of filtered water for a couple hours and let dry on a paper towel after that. Do this once a week or so. I’ve had mine for a couple weeks now and this seems to work so far.

If you are new to air plants they don’t need soil because they don’t have roots. They get their nutrients from the air. (hence the name) They like bright but filtered light best so as long as you keep this in mind they are extremely easy and fun to display. The possibilities. Are endless and here are some fun examples I found on Pinterest from Centrogarden, Buzzfeed, and Decoist.

I put mine in a little terrarium with some sphagnum moss and fish rocks. The glass ornament is from Joann’s. I bought it last winter after Christmas on sale. I’m going to hang it with jute and hang it up somewhere.

I thought I would share some of my garden pictures so far from my little container garden on my patios. Some of my plants are just starting to come up this year like my flowers, but I’m proud of my self because my marigolds, lily and pansies are all things I bought last year and were able to bring back from seed. (or bulb in the lily’s case) I don’t always have a green thumb but in the Summer plants just seem so much happier and I’m getting more confident in my growing abilities. After last Summer I know how much to water my outdoor plants (a lot!) and even though I can’t have a garden yet it’s exciting to be able to eat something you grew! I’m trying out some tomatoes from Home Depot this year. This breed is made to be grown in containers, they are named patio tomatoes so we’ll see! It already have about 10 green tomatoes on in so I think pretty soon we’ll be trying to eat all the tomatoes before they go bad, which in my opinion is a good problem to have. 😉

I’ll do an update later in the Summer to see how my progress is going! what are you’re favorite plants in the Summer?

Coleus

Spearmint

Basil, the start of a lily, and a little succulent called Kalanchoe that I got from Trader Joe’s. It was starting to die inside but seems to be recovering now that it’s out. Summer really is the best for my plants!