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Until a couple of weeks ago, Hubby and I had only two houseplants in the house, plus a couple of donkey tail cuttings, but they’re not in dirt, so I’m not counting them yet. I decided I wanted to get an aloe vera plant, which made me think of my childhood. My mom kept boatloads of houseplants, including a number of aloe vera. Whenever we wanted to have a new plant, we just took a cutting, stuck it in water until the roots grew, then planted it in a new pot.
Maybe it was my child-like interpretation of the world at the time, but I feel like everyone had houseplants, lots and lots of them, and they were all trading cuttings. This would have been in the 1970s. Were houseplants a trend at the time, or was I extrapolating from the experience in my home and assuming that everyone had houseplants? If you were alive in the ’70s, what were your experiences with houseplants?
Hubby and I managed to find an aloe vera plant at Wal-Mart of all places. Here’s our bouncing baby succulent:
The Warner household's newest houseplant - aloe vera. December 2011.
For the past 12 years I have lived in homes with entirely TOO MANY house plants. Every windowsill, every bay window, every table in my home has indoor plants growing there.
My parents always had houseplants. When I was living at home in the 60′s I remember my Dad’s first task upon arriving home from work was to water the plants. After he retired he had his own greenhouse. I haven’t been able to keep up with him, but we have several houseplants, including one that is about to crowd us out of our bedroom. I love the idea of mutuality with houseplants. We provide them with carbon dioxide and they replenish the oxygen.
Yakshii – Apparently, if having houseplants is a trend, it’s a long-lasting one.
My mom had acres of houseplants when I was growing up.
Judy – I’m glad you brought up the mutual benefits humans and houseplants share with each other. That’s one of the reasons I like having some plants around and I think about that every time I’m watering the few we have. I’m not sure I could have so many plants that watering them became a daily chore. I’d be afraid I’d forget one.
☼ …..Mid 1970′s, Lots & Lots of houseplants, a cutting from everyone’s plant that you could get a cutting from! Hundreds of houseplants, 2 dozen Avocados! All the windows filled, and in fact shelves put up so that every plant had sun! I watered them{roots} every other day {Colorado, dry}, and sprayed them on alternate days! After 2 years, I realized that I had a great View, but I couldn’t see out the windows, SO I found homes for all of them, and Friends were very Happy to get such Vibrant Healthy Flourishing Plants! I haven’t had One since! …Well, except I can’t resist sticking an Avocado Seed in some soil, watering it 3 times a day, let it get 3-6 ft tall, and then give it away! Much as I like the Sharing & Caring with Plants, they won’t Dominate my life ever again! That goes for Pets as well! ….And, your little Dog, Toto, Too!
I’m JUST Sure that you were dying to KNOW that, but Not in the Biblical Sense?!
Jerry – You’re confirming my childhood notion that houseplants were a trend in the ’70s. Hard to believe that something that doesn’t say a word can be so needy.
Did other people have as many plants as you at that time?
☼ … Well, they wouldn’t be so Dependent, if WE hadn’t uprooted them from their Natural Environment where they either Lived, or Died, Survived, or NOT, or simply didn’t Grow there at all! Adaptation only works so Far in a Genetically Unfriendly Environment, and most plants or animals don’t have a Million Years to Test the Waters!
I believe that Humans sometimes run into the same problem, something about the Spanish Conquistadors in VERY HIGH Peru, found that they were dying out, they couldn’t Reproduce, unless they mated with the “Native” “Indians” who had adapted genetically to the Rarefied Air!
► And, some other people had alot of Houseplants, but Not as many as me! And, it wasn’t Competition for me, I’m just more of an Obsessive Person, and can’t wait like them to Methodically Acquire things over the Years! I’m just overall a Very Improper Individual! ….Tsssk, Tsssk! I overdose on things, and then lose Primary Interest, and move on to the next thing to Obsess About! It works for me, since Plodding appears to be my Nemesis! …NEXT!!!
♪ Ps, the Real Plant People were more than Happy to Rescue those poor plants from the Clutches of such an Improper Environment! The Plants only Thought that they were Happy & Flourishing! I’d Brainwashed & Deluded the Poor Things!