Chinese Evergreen

What started off as a successful transplant experiment … didn’t end well. I said I’d update over a year ago and never did bc well… Life happens.

Unfortunately, life is not what happened to my transplanted Chinese Evergreens.

Indoor plants have never grown well for me. It’s possible that the air quality in our old base-housing was just too poor … or it was too cold in our ice box house with the A/C running at 68 degrees (chill)… the plants probably need 70 plus to thrive… Or a combination of those things plus lack of sunshine and constant movement bc I could never find a decent place to put them!

Our old house was so dark that I couldn’t find a spot that got decent sun and was away from air vents! All the vents were directly above our windows. So if the plants got warm sunlight they also got freezing cold air flow! Not an ideal environment. I tried moving them out of the cold spots but then it seemed they were in a very dark corner. They didn’t like it and I just couldn’t win, so I put them outside in the pots in the front yard and let nature run its course.

One pot started perking up but then finally bit the dust after the move to our new house in January. I clung to these plants and it was so hard to let go … For good reason I suppose, but the why didn’t occur to me until I started writing this post. It’s clear to me now that these plants served a purpose in my grieving process.

As of today the soil is still in all three pots, but it’s time to finally say goodbye and give the soil back to the earth. (Which is symbolic since grandpa was farmer.)

A new chapter has begun, in life and gardening.

This quote seems fitting to end on:

Once something has outlived its usefulness in one area of life, its purpose for being in existence is no longer the same. The leaf that captures a stream of sunlight, and then transfers its energy to the tree, serves one purpose in the spring and summer, and another completely different one through the fall and winter.

Guy Finley

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In October we brought home this very special plant from my grandfathers funeral service. Gifted to us by grandma, I read the tag and was pleased to see it was a “Low Light” variety! We buckled it in the car and carefully drove hours home in the cold winter weather. It’s the first indoor houseplant I’ve managed not to kill. It’s important to me to keep this plant thriving for obvious reasons.

Not only because it serves as a beautiful reminder of my grandpa but also it provides clean air and should improve the health of our family (unless someone eats it …)

Warning the Chinese Evergeen is NOT edible and is poisonous if ingested! This poor evergreen has endured a 2-day car trip from Kansas to Florida and then nearly a week sitting in the backseat of my Honda! Oops. Needless to say it has had a rough start. By the time we moved into our house, it had yellow leaves curling under with black cracked tips.

Based on what I know from my outdoor garden experience it’s typically good practice to get rid of leaves that are too far gone. If they’re already dying, the best thing to do is clip and rid of them, since we want to make sure the new forming leaves stay healthy by getting the necessary nutrients from water and plant food.

Many sites online said over-watering was likely the cause of yellow leaves that were curling under but I had been cautious so I doubted that was the problem.

First, I removed all the discolored leaves and any that looked like they may have been diseased. Then, using a damp cloth at room temperature I wiped the dust off the good leaves. Put the pot near a window that gets a decent amount of morning sunlight and kept the soil moist to the touch.

Within 2 weeks, three different room changes and very little improvement, I figured it was time to upgrade to a new pot.

A few YouTube instructional gardening videos later, I felt confident in my attempt to turn one potted plant into three potted plants. Bought the self watering, plastic flower pots that aren’t fancy but are inexpensive and simple enough to blend in with any decor. Supposedly, they have good draining and ventilation that mimics a natural outdoor environment, which I hope will give the best chance of survival.

Went up about 2-inches in pot size. I didn’t go too much bigger than the original pot but I wanted to leave enough room to place 4-5 stems in each pot and have room to develop a new root system.

Here’s what I used… Hope I’m not overdoing it by using fertilizer sticks and potting mix that includes food! We shall see.The pots were moved into direct sun only for the sake of one picture of all three plants, but it’s recommended not to put Aglaonema in direct sun. My first attempt at transplanting an indoor plant, hopefully I’ll have a good update post in a few weeks!

Goldie's Garden

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