My friend Richard calls me 'The Evil Plant Lady With The Finger Of Death'. Not totally unwarranted after he left me to look after his beloved plant and returned from holiday a week later to an empty pot and my guilty looking face.
With Rebecca Pashby-Walters
Rebecca and I met when I moved into the housing development I live in back in 2013. She set up a facebook group for the residents and put handmade notes in everyone's post boxes in the building introducing herself and inviting us to the group. I remember loving the fact that we were all in the same boat, feeling uncertain and not settled yet but Rebecca had put her head above the parapet and brought us all together.
Rebecca's flat is like a little rainforest in the middle of a London apartment block. She describes herself as a 'collector of plants' and each one sits in a beautiful pot in pride of place on her living room dresser and side tables. She talked me through each one and i'll be honest I didn't know there were so many different types. Ones that 'give birth' to tiny little sprouts and then die. Ones with soft velvet leaves. Ones with flat rounded leaves that turn towards the sun. Rebecca also shared some tips on how to not kill them.
'I think learning new skills is a fundamental part of growing as a person but I don't think we take the opportunity as often as we could. We can sometimes feel selfish taking time for ourselves, perhaps that's where we're going wrong?' Rebecca
I think I can be converted into getting some houseplants. I love the idea of collecting something that gives back to its surroundings. Plus, I touched one and it didn't die immediately ... TBC.