Well, here it is - this blog is the culmination of a plant obsession that's gradually overtaken my life recently!
I thought I'd start with a bit of a hello from me about who I am, and why the heck I've felt the need to start up a blog on indoor plants!
I grew up in the tropics, where the plants we see every day on our Insta feeds were growing like weeds everywhere, and did I appreciate them? Hell no, I did not! My mother and grandmother were both semi-keen gardeners, so we always had a reasonable garden, as well as the prerequisite hanging spider plants and ferns a la everyone else in the 70s. That's also when my incredibly creative grandmother first taught me how to make a macrame plant hanger - yeah, in the 70s - who'd a thunk it?
I moved to Australia just before the turn of the century (and how old does THAT make me feel?) and have had to adapt to an entirely different climate. Seasons, for one - they're kind of weird, but cool. Also dry heat. I'm talking desert dry, bye-bye natural curly hair heat in summer. Melt the tarmac on the roads, fry and egg on your car type heat. With flies. Winters are awesome here on the west coast of Aus - not too cold, but just nicely cold enough to justify having 2 different wardrobes.
Anyway, I digress (I do that a lot, sorry in advance).
For the last 20-something-ish years I've mostly worked in the wedding and events industry, so have always kind of kept myself up to date on styling trends, popular looks, that kind of thing. In the last decade we've definitely seen a huge lean towards the use of greenery / foliage etc. at weddings and events, either instead of, or to complement the traditional floral arrangements that have been used forever.
I approve. I approve a lot! I LOVE me some good greenery, and I found that the more popular this trend has become, the more I've wanted to incorporate that look into my own home, because green indoor plants are just so fresh, and alive (usually, anyway) and all nature-ey and stuff.
I've dabbled in gardening in the past - usually attempting some sort of survivalist home veggie garden, but let's just say that while I've survived, the gardens haven't. I blame my dogs for this. They're gorgeous, and I love them dearly, but they like nothing better than to dig up plants faster than I can plant them.
This left me basically with the option of container gardening, and I have taken to it like the proverbial duck to water. I do it on the cheap, because, well, I'm currently unemployed and flat broke, but I think this is even more fun than having unlimited funds to go buy anything you want, when you want it.
I'm a bit crafty, too, so have done swaps of my handmade macrame plant hangers for cuttings and baby plants, straight plant swaps, have been gifted a few, and have reciprocated in giving away cuttings and babies of my own.
The #crazyplantpeople community is absolutely amazing - so generous with their time, advice, support, cuttings and swaps. It does suck a bit that Western Australia, where I live, has very strict quarantine rules, so I can't bring in anything at all from outside of this state, but we get by here.
Anyway, that's enough for a brief introduction, I really don't want to bore you on your very first time here, that would be really rude of me.
There will be a Welcome to Indoor Garden Love Part 2 coming up shortly, where I'll tell you all about the other side of my plant passion - plants and crafts as therapy for mental illness.
Thanks again for dropping by, do check out IGL on social media - links are at the top and bottom of the page.
Txx