guest post: how do you houseplant?

 {image from weheartit}

Hi, my name is Emilie. I like to read and go on adventures. Read more at flareandglare.com

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Recent life changes have given me some free time. Finishing up school and trying to figure out a way to leave the country have left me most of the time without much to do but dream and scheme. Of course, to accompany me is the nurturing nature of my biological clock, which, although always ticking, has yet to convince me it’s time to bring home a baby to join my other children (the ones who are books).

Still, I have an unrelenting desire to give life, to which I’ve given in the form of houseplants.

These plants, complete with names and personalities, provide me with comfort and companionship in these days of unknown future plans and definitively boiling temperatures.

Now, I don’t have the best history with plant babies. I’ve killed a good many, and still more have refused to grow after a certain point. But I think I’m getting the hang of it.

I started with a few succulents, who are notoriously difficult to kill. There were first Elinor and Marianne, named after “Sense and Sensibility,” and then came Eponine from “Les Miserables.” I’ve added Tyger from the eponymous poem by William Blake and Genvieve, who’s name I just like (she’s actually an African violet -- easier to kill, but so far, so good). Hermione (peppermint) and Piper (basil) live in the garden, but I get out to see them pretty often.

I’ve found it’s good to have things to nurture; besides providing an avenue for love and care, it reminds one to take care of oneself, noticing the little things along with the big, like the need for sun and shade, food and water, and even positive pep talks on wilty days.

So, readers, my question to you is: who keeps you company when you don’t have babies who cry or meow or bark? Who do you wake up for, if only to make sure there isn’t a harmful frost on the horizon? How do you houseplant?