After a year of deliberation, I finally bought easy-care potted plants from shopleaf—a Sansevieria (Hybrid) and Fittonia (White Anne).
I’m not new to taking care of plants because I gained the confidence in 2021: planting the seeds of money tree plants and repotting them once they’ve matured, repotting jade plants until no more pots are left. And letting them grow outdoors—under the sun or under the shade—felt easy and manageable.
I brought the same enthusiasm when we returned to the metro (in an apartment building), hoping that taking care of plants indoors would be as easy as my experience with taking care of plants outdoors.
My mom gifted me three small pots of sansevierias and for quite some time, things were okay. Thinking that I finally got the groove, I bought a bonsai money tree plant hoping that I could continue decorating our humble home with greens.
I didn’t know that too much love kills.
Or I thought I was showing them love whenever I religiously watered them once a week (or once every two weeks) and let them bask under the sweet sun before it got too hot.
And because I can’t tell anymore if it’s the water or the sunlight, or I should’ve repotted them with better soil because pot after pot they died. They left me guessing what to do and so I just let them die. Yes I did. Two of them (both Sansevieria) are barely holding on to dear life now.
Okay, you can now tell me how horrible I am because that’s what we’re good at, right? Always telling other people how bad they are while we remain gracious with ourselves, unforgiving with others?
Okay, so what about the new plants I bought?
To ensure that I don’t repeat the same mistake again—the keep-on-guessing part—I bought a SUSTEE aquameter for each of them. What does it do? SUSTEE tells me by changing its color from blue to white when it’s time to water the plants!
This time, whenever I gaze at their supple leaves, I won’t be guilty of not showering them with presents like I would a cat or a dog. Words of adoration are enough until the SUSTEE turns white.
jessa 