Shedding Light: Be the Plant

When it comes to lighting everyone is always trying to get a better understanding of what is bright, what is full, what is partial…. SO SUBJECTIVE! I remember I had a professor at UMASS who taught our plant identification classes would always make us “think about it’s natural habitat” when it comes to understanding what a particular plant requires. Now there is nothing more frustrating to a college kid walking around campus on a Friday afternoon for 3 hours, drawing pictures of leaves and stems than hearing your professor say “be the plant” for all intents and purposes. I will say watching plants grow and seeing what environments they thrive in for a “few years” now, I get it! 

Take an orchid for example…. People are very intimidated by them but when give a home that most replicates their natural environment, they are easy peasey. The orchid lives in the rainforest where it is humid, they drink small amounts of water as it lives in the crotches of tree branches and their “soil” is the chunks of bark of the tree with some composted leaves that get caught. Now what about the light? The light in the rainforest is bright, but not direct, it’s dappled, not shady. This is one of the easiest ways for me to figure out exactly what plans are looking for when it comes to lighting. Take a deep dive into lighting this week with our most recent Van Wisdom, and learn to really "Be the plant".

– Ryan Van Wilgen

As we know, plants have a few key necessities they require for survival, like water, soil, food, humidity, temperature, and sunlight. But much like people, the amounts of each of these vary greatly between plants. Because we know that plants require sunlight to perform photosynthesis, it can be difficult to understand that sometimes plants can receive excessive or insufficient sunlight. For some plants, it is as simple as placing the pot on the windowsill and moving on, but for others, it can be a more complicated mix of lighting requirements. In this guide, we will walk you through some of the specifics when it comes to keeping your houseplant healthy and well lit.

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Constructing the Perfect Terrarium

People have definitely heard the word "Terrarium" before but might not understand what exactly goes into making one. Terrariums are self-sustaining ecosystems that generate their own climate, water cycle, and environment within a self-contained container. We are here to help you construct the perfect terrarium for your home!

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