I used to be a person who kills any plants. In the last two years, I gradually become a plant person. I learned a lot of tricks about growing plants and the number of plants in my house slowly increased from 1 to 30+. There are a million ways that you can save or kill a plant. But if you ask me what’s the most important thing of growing plants? I will say patience.
I remembered that had a cactus when I was around 15. It was big golden barrel cactus and I loved it. One day I found the cactus turned a little soft and yellow, I believed it was because it is dry, so I watered it. But it didn’t get better, so I got more concerned and watered it everyday. Of course it never recovered. I killed the plant fast by over-watering it.
I was probably ignorant about cactus at that time. But now that I know way better, I still kill plant by over watering them, over fertilizing them, over pruning them, switching pot too soon, moving seedlings outdoor too soon, etc. I read many skills and tricks about plants, but the knowledge didn’t stop me from making more mistakes. I feel that the more I do, the faster I kill or hurt my plants.
But when I stopped over-caring my plants and let them do their own thing, my plants started to get along with me better. I found that plants are doing fine when I accidentally skipped watering. The leaves grow even faster when they are a bit root bound. When I forget about some plants in the balcony, they started to flower. Plants taught me to be patient.
But patience is not a simple. Especially when you are struggling with recovering from a sickness, when you are suffering in a bad relationship, when you feel stuck with study and career, when you feel you are just not moving forward with your life. It just seems that you tried everything but still nothing improves. It seems impossible to keep the hope and faith that one day it will get better. But plants showed me that even they suffered from yellow leaves, break branches, even root rotting, they can slowly recover and grow new stems and leaves.
I am thankful to my plants. They are on my balcony everyday to remind me to be patient. Just give it a little more time.
