Next in our series of delving into the lives of houseplant enthusiasts that live with many plants is Bryony Wesolowski AKA @bryony_in_plantland on Instagram.
Bryony has nearly 200 plants around her home making the most of the light, with the majority including her more specialist plants residing in her bedroom. As is often the way with houseplant fans, Bryony’s love of plants started at a very young age, influenced by plant-loving family to appreciate the importance of plants. Her Mother and Grandmother in particular always took the time to educate her on their practices & encouraged young Bryony to help out in the garden. Her Father was a huge lover of wild flowers & trees, as they walked her Father would teach Bryony some of the Latin names and the history behind the plants.
Sound advice for houseplant novices
If you are wanting to grow your collection considerably, Bryony has some advice which she has learnt along her journey;
“Just take your time! Don’t rush out to buy all the popular plants just because everyone else is. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself when it comes to plant care”
We asked Bryony what is her ‘wouldn’t-be-without’ bit of kit for making her plant care more successful. She swears by her mini Socker Greenhouse from Ikea. She finds her baby plants and propagations flourish in there as it keeps them warm & humid.
The positive and negative impact of living with many plants
Bryony passionately believes in the positive effects plants have on her life.
“They bring so much life & character to a space. I feel instantly relaxed when I walk into my room; I am able to channel stress or anxiety into nurturing. Also, watching them all grow beautifully gives me a sense of accomplishment & empowerment, this makes me enjoy the plants even more.”
Bryony’s favourite plant care activity is cleaning her plants’ leaves. Showering them and wiping away any dust, she finds this a wholly satisfying activity and the end result of shiny, lush leaves particularly pleasing.
When asked whether she ever feels negatively towards her plants, Bryony acknowledges that sometimes she can feel overwhelmed and enthusiasm for plant care wanes. Particularly after a long day at work, she finds it hard to muster the energy to check and water them all. She notes that this in-turn can make her feel bad for neglecting them.
Managing a large plant collection
To overcome those feelings of negativity towards the plants, Bryony finds it beneficial to plan a day for herself, purely for the plant care duties, but it acts as self-care too. This day includes listening to music whilst taking all the plants down from the shelves or surfaces and cleaning from top to bottom. She then focuses on the plant care, checking, watering, leaf-cleaning and pruning. She wraps the day up with a face mask and a cuppa!
Through her plant hobby Bryony feels particularly lucky to have met other like-minded plant parents. She loves that sharing her plant collection is connecting her with people from all over the world. The sometimes negative feelings are far out-weighed by the positivity that living with plants brings. So much so that Bryony is sure she will never not live with plants.
“I could never imagine my life without them. When I moved into my new home and hadn’t unpacked all the plants… the room felt so empty & dull.
Plants really do make a house a home!”
You can follow Bryony’s planty life via her instagram @Bryony_in_plantland