Avoid these Plant Buying MISTAKES

If you ask me for one piece of advice I wish Tanner and I had known when we first really got into houseplants, it’s this:

Buy plants that fit your space and conditions, not just your taste.

Which is very easy advice to give now but, apparently, was impossible for us to follow as beginners.

When Tanner and I first fell in love with plants, our shopping strategy was pretty basic: Oh, that’s pretty. We need it!

Did we consider the lighting in our house? Maybe a little, but not really. We had windows, right?!

Did we think about our lifestyle, our habits, or where this plant was actually going to live? Also no. But that's not a today problem, today I just want this plant!

Did we have a long-term plan for what would happen when winter came?

Absolutely not.

We bought plants because we loved them and it was SO much fun. Spring and summer were wonderful. Everything was growing well, the days were long, and if something needed more light, we had options. We could move plants closer to windows or even put some outside in full shade.

We thought we were doing great.

Then Fall showed up.

And Suddenly, We Had a Window-Space Crisis

One thing I don't think beginners hear enough about is how dramatically the changing seasons can affect the light inside your home.

In the summer, it might not get dark until 9:00 at night. Then winter rolls around, and suddenly it's dark at 5:30.

That is a big difference for a plant. A huge difference.

An aglaonema or a peace lily sitting on your coffee table might have been perfectly happy there during spring and summer. It's tolerant of lower light, and those long days were helping, but we didn't realize that yet.

But that same coffee table spot in December? It is now receiving significantly fewer hours of usable light per day.

And we learned this the hard way.

Plants started struggling, so we moved them toward the windows. Then we moved more plants toward the windows.

And more plants.

Eventually it was basically:

EVERYBODY TO THE WINDOWS.

Except...there weren't enough windows.

Suddenly we had all these gorgeous plants we'd collected during the warm months competing for the same few good spots in the house.

And when you love your plants, that can take something that's supposed to be fun and make it surprisingly stressful. Winter already feels long enough. It feels really long when you're spending the whole season staring at your plants thinking, Please just hang on until spring.

But What About Grow Lights?

Of course, grow lights can solve a lot of these problems.

But I also think there's a point in almost every new plant person's journey where grow lights feel like crossing a line.

You bought a hoya. Then another hoya. And if you're me, then you got another hoya!

And now someone is suggesting that you install supplemental lighting in your home.

You start thinking, Is this who I am now? What will my family say?

And while Tanner and I eventually became perfectly comfortable prioritizing plants in our home, I don't think everyone wants grow lights in their first fall and winter season.

And many of us also think we shouldn't need an elaborate setup to enjoy houseplants.

We Saw the Same Thing in Our Plant Store

When we had our store, I watched new plant lovers do exactly what Tanner and I had done.

They were excited!

They'd walk around picking out everything they loved. And sometimes, without realizing it, everything they loved was heavily variegated, bright-light-loving, and ready to demand the very best real estate in their house.

Meanwhile, they might have one good window or maybe not even that.

This can be especially challenging where we live in Texas, and I'd imagine it's similar in many places throughout the South.

Our homes are often designed to protect us from the sun, which is wonderful for humans and air-conditioning bills but I'm pretty sure plants did not get a vote in this matter.

Covered patios, deep porches, and other features that keep direct sunlight out of the house can also dramatically limit a plant's view of the sky. So even though you may technically have lots of windows, you may have far fewer great plant windows than you think.

That's why, before bringing home another plant, I think it's worth asking:

Where is this plant going to live in January?

Not just where it's going to live today.

And We Still Do This Now

And here's the thing: this isn't advice Tanner and I eventually outgrew.

At this point, we've been doing this for a long time. We've become experts in the field, we're surrounded by plants every day, and because of what we do, we have access to just about any plant we could ever want.

And we still run plants through this same filter before we bring them into our home.

Sometimes an incredible plant comes through and we have the opportunity to keep it. Sometimes someone in the industry offers us a plant as a gift. And as much as the plant-loving part of our brains wants to immediately say, YES, THANK YOU, we stop and ask ourselves:

Do we have the right conditions for this plant year-round?

If we don't, can we reasonably create them?

And just as importantly:

Does this plant fit our lifestyle?

That last one matters more than I think people realize.

Tanner and I are busy, and we travel a lot. Sometimes we're gone for a week at a time. We're getting ready to be gone for almost three weeks in September. So even though we have grow lights and can create pretty much whatever lighting conditions a plant needs, we still tend to gravitate toward plants that can tolerate a little drought.

Could we fill our house with ferns? Sure. Tanner would LOVE that!

Would I do that without someone coming over to take care of them while we're gone?

Absolutely not.

And sometimes that means saying no to a plant we really, really want.

There's a particular anthurium Tanner would love to have. It's gorgeous. We have access to it. But it also wants high humidity and more consistent watering than fits comfortably into our life right now.

So when it's offered to us, we say, Thank you, but not for this stage of life.

Maybe it's a plant for a different season of our lives.

One day, when we're traveling less or our routine looks different, we may get one and it may become our favorite plant in the house. But right now, we know something that beginner Tanner and I probably wouldn't have admitted:

We're not the right people for that plant right now.

And that's okay! That's being smart!

Being experienced with plants doesn't mean you can or should grow everything. If anything, experience has made us more willing to say no, because we know how much more enjoyable it is to own plants that can actually thrive in the life and the home we have.

That's really the filter: Can we give this plant what it needs, not just today, but year-round?

Protect the Joy

I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't buy the plants you love.

Sometimes you see a plant and all common sense leaves your body. I understand. I've been there.

But before you build a collection entirely around what catches your eye, take a look at your space.

Where are your windows? How big are they? Do you have covered patios blocking some of that sky? What about big trees? How many genuinely bright spots do you have? Use your light meters! And what happens to those spots when the days get shorter?

Then find plants you love within those conditions.

Because looking back, I think Tanner and I would have saved more plants, experienced a lot less wintertime plant panic, and protected the joy of this hobby if we'd learned that lesson earlier.

So if you're just starting your plant collection, here's my advice:

Don't only buy plants that fit your taste. Buy plants that fit your space.

And when you find one that does both?

That's the sweet spot.

Erika M. Mitchell AKA Mrs. Tanner The Planter