Do you have a graveyard of houseplants you just couldn’t keep alive? I do. There are the dozens of succulents I thought would thrive on my kitchen windowsill, only to wilt, brown and crumple into a heap of dust a few weeks later. Then there are the two beautiful palms that I impulse-bought online from The Home Depot and had delivered right to my doorstep the next afternoon.
They stood in all of their beautiful, leafy glory for approximately 2.5 weeks until the leaves turned yellow, drooped, and dropped off one by one.
But it turns out I’m not cursed with a black thumb. I was simply making some very common, rookie mistakes when it comes to plant care.
“There’s no such thing as green thumb or a black thumb, it’s more about how much you pay attention to your plant,” says Christopher Satch, plant scientist, instructor at the New York Botanical Garden and board member of the Manhattan Orchid Society. Satch says we all have the ability to grow healthy indoor plants,
it’s just about understanding the basics of plant care and listening to your plants when they tell you (er, show you) what they need.
