Clean up with the Crazy Plant Lady

The first warm rays of sunlight blast through the windows of the sun room to reveal a winter’s worth of dust on the books, shelves and plant leaves.

The sunshine brings forth the wells of energy in everything -- seed to Swallow. Without knowing what is spurring on the urge to clean, I put on my go-to good mood get-to-work “Guardians of the Galaxy” playlist. I know the words to every song and have ridiculous alone-time dance moves that would embarrass anyone. Even the dog a little bit.

I spaz-seizure around the living room to “Cherry Bomb” as I dust the old fashioned red popcorn machine and the spider plant that lives on top. The leaves are dull and dusty and there are no less than 11 baby spider plants sprouting off. Spider plants are one of my favorite houseplants. They’re easy, thrive in indirect light, only need water once or twice a week and they make cute babies! They look the same kind of sad if you over or under water.

A magical trick a good plant-loving friend taught me is to give those dull leaves a polished sheen with Mayo! A teeny bit on a soft cloth or paper towel goes a long way. Too much and you will damage the plant. I recommend using a water damp cloth before the mayonnaise polish.

One of my favorite things to do is snip off those baby spider plants and get them rooted by putting them in a small cup of water. There are dozens of rooting plants all over my house. I give my unwanted spider babies to all my friends who never asked for one.

I prance on my tiptoes to “Bohemian Rhapsody” into the bathroom, broom in hand, ready to bring down some cobwebs. But first, the succulent families and aloe that thrive in that window needs some attention. Mrs. Higgins started the succulent kick. Occasionally, they need to be cleared out of dead growth. These are super easy to care for. Most like direct light. Aloe looks sad when it needs water, which is an excellent time to give the others a drink, too. You can skip a week or so of watering succulents and they will be okay.

I haven’t fully cleaned an entire room, or even made reasonable progress in the nearly two hours since I started and I still have a dozen plants in need of pruning, transplanting, and polishing in the sunroom. Spring is my jam.

Not a single pruned Begonia branch will go unrooted, simply to be tossed aside like trash! Why would I discard the potential start to another of these beauties!? My collection of Small and Large Leaf Wandering Jew expands. The Hoya Bellas flower and scent the air.

My friends good naturedly accept their gifts when I swing by to deliver their next future dead houseplants. I emphatically tell them all the time how to avoid killing their plants. Most only need water once or twice a week. It seems easy for me to bring plants back from certain death off the hardware store clearance rack. Some have called it a green thumb, I just like being among plants.

Everything wants to grow. I need to make everything grow. During this time of year the window sills, shelves and tables struggle to hold the number of plants. It isn’t too early to get some vegetable seeds started. Four hours after I started to dust near the popcorn machine, I’m getting some onion and lettuce seeds sown in small black nursery containers. I’ve created my own veritable home jungle.

Now, all this mess from playing in the dirt with my plant friends needs tidied up.

Sorry, cleaning. Spring is for seedlings.

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