Let's Take a Moment to Breath, Shall We?

Was it just a few weeks ago that I was complaining about the snow? Well, that's all done and over with for the season and, baby, it's been hot outside! It was a humid 83 degrees today (81 at 8pm just before I started this post...) But I asked for the sun and got what I wanted.

In celebration of feeling a little better today than I have for several days, let's get into Summer mode with the blog.

If any of you are houseplant enthusiasts, check out my plant blog that I so cleverly (I think) named The Plant It Earth. For you FreeBeing readers, I'm giving you (and myself) a break from product reviews and sharing some of my plant photos and stories today.

I started out just trying to dress up my barely furnished apartment. It's just a 1-bedroom and I'm not a social person so my living room was not a huge priority. I have a great bed and that was the thing. I'm thrift-shopping for a chair and some more shelves but plants are cheaper than furniture so...

This is what the place looked like not too long ago:

I had the Cordyline/Ti plant & Echo for sound effects

And this is what it looks like now:

The apartment belongs to the plants

Plants are amazing, right?

Not only do plants beautify spaces, but they also make great air-cleaners. Some are better than others - like the Spider plant and the Snake plant. I used to use wax warmers and citrus air spritzes whenever the air got stale, but I haven't had to use any of that stuff for the past few months.

Lately, I started collecting kitchen herb plants. I've been clipping the mints for my green tea and I cooked with some of the fresh Basil the other night. Now I know what my sister-in-law means when she says she will only get plants that she can use for eating and/or medicinal purposes.

Before now, I had all the little 4- and 5-inch pots lined up on the bar counter to the kitchen. It was a little haphazard looking. Today, I noticed that someone had put a whole mess of artificial flowers and a couple of wicker baskets out on our community table. That's where we all put stuff we don't want so that someone else can maybe put it to use. This is what I did with the one basket:

lined the bottom with a trash bag, old cotton tee, and some rocks from outside

And this is what I did with the flowers and a vase, shells, and stones I already had to dress up the bathroom a bit. The blue around the Peace Lily is very calming and I spray the flowers with some Geranium and Grapefruit essential oils to combat summer insects and bathroom odors.

Those artificial flowers...

The other basket is sitting aside until I can collect some more flowers or stones or something to display.

I think my favorite of all the plants is the Monstera. She's beautiful and so easy to take care of.

Here is what I always say about plants and why I collect them now. They are not just pretty, but they really help relieve my depression and anxiety. When I get really down in the dumps, I go sit in the living room among the flowers. I will sometimes use Echo to play nature sounds to add to the sense of being in a garden. I swear that there was an awful day last week when that little setup saved my sanity. Now it's up to me not to kill the Geranium plant I was warned could be finicky!

This one is a little heffa-ish!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the pictures and I hope that you check out The Plant It Earth sometime.

Peace
--Free