#ActuallyAutistic #TeamADHD
What if I told you that you aren’t bad with plants?
Because there is a really good chance you might be great at taking care of a wee green creature, you have just been set up for failure.
Houseplants are showing up in stores here, getting

ready for Mother’s Day, and every year I see the same things and know that people are going to think they have failed.
You haven’t failed.
You have been set up.

Many plants you find in the grocery store, Walmart, flowers shops that come out for Mother’s Day, aren’t intended to live on as plants.
Like these flowering Kalanchoes.
Picture is of plant with small bright red flowers and thick leaves.

Frequently seen in basket or dish arrangements.
Picture is a small dish garden containing a Kalanchoe with pink flowers, a small palm plant and a trailing peperomia, I think.

These are a type of succulent and they will not flower again like that unless you have specific conditions.
They need lots of light, and a well draining soils, which I can almost guarantee you is not what they are planted in.
Plants do not arrive at the store in their optimal

growing medium. They are in a moisture holding soil to keep them from drying out between the green house and your house. Don’t depend on store employees to remember to water.
Those mini rose plants? Almost impossible to keep alive indoors, they like high humidity and being

outside. A hard thing to recreate inside.
Grocery store hydrangeas are also hard to keep alive inside, even in the flower shop we had a hard time keeping up with their watering needs.
Picture is of a pink mini rose plant.

Picture is of a pink hydrangea plant.
In order to look big a fluffy, these guys have been under optimal light, getting juiced up with fertilizers and things and are incredibly root bound in their pots. There isn’t enough soil to hold moisture long enough for them to drink.

So, if you have been gifted one of these and it died, it was the intended plan, not you.
Think of these plants more like a cut flower arrangement that lasts a little longer.
If you are going to gift it to someone, let them know, don’t let someone else think they failed.

There are all sort of sites offering care tips on these, and make it sound like it can be done easily.
They aren’t telling the whole truth and I question how many have been successful and how many are copying info from other sites.

You didn’t fail, the system needs you to fail so you will keep buying more plants.

If you made it this far, and you’re interested in more posts on plants, let me know!
Possible future post: Depression tolerant plants.