Harvesting the Season's Botanical Lessons

Fall is harvest season, a time to take stock of the lessons you've learned and the ways you've grown throughout the year. This year, I truly became a plant mom. As of right now, I have three full-grown Aloe Veras and six pups, a Monstera Thai Constellation, a Golden Pothos, a Golden Sedum, and a Dwarf Jade Bonsai. I'm still pretty new to the plant world, but I've found an appreciation for the botanical and for the lessons that these ancient creatures (Plants have been around for at least 500 million years) can teach us.

1. Your Environment Matters

I have killed so many different plants over the years, and for a long time, I thought I just didn't have a green thumb. When I moved to a new house earlier this year, all I had left were a couple of Aloe Veras that were hanging on by a thread. I had bought these Aloes six years ago, and they'd always been so close to death.

However, much to my surprise, within a couple months of moving into their new home, both of them were thriving and reproducing, which I didn't even know was possible! Between the two of them, they sprouted seven pups, and one of those pups is now a full-grown adult.

Whether it's a new pot, a different window, or a new home, my Aloes have taught me that if I'm just surviving and not thriving, the problem might be that my environment isn't meeting my needs, or is draining the life out of me.

2. Listen to Your Body

My Monstera never fails to blow my mind with the things it can do as a plant. The day I bought it, I left it in on my dashboard for a little too long on a hot, sunny day, and when I came back to the car, one of its leaves looked like it was wilting, and I thought for sure I'd killed it. But within a couple of days, the leaf was green, smooth, and healthy again. It was like nothing had happened.

Since then, this plant has surprised me by "sweating" at night, moving throughout the day to catch the sunlight, and "crawling" across its pot. What really got me were its fenestrations. This plant has sprouted two new leaves so far, each with the right amount, size, and location of holes in it to let the sun shine through to the leaves underneath. This plant really knows how to take care of itself.

I always wonder how my Monstera knows where to put its fenestrations and how many it'll need, before the leaf even unflurls, and how its able to release excess moisture when it needs to. It's fascinating how nature just knows what it's doing. Just like a plant, my body also knows what to do and when, if I just take a moment to listen to it and trust my intuition.

3. You Need Goals and Guidance in Order to Grow

Bonsai trees are a lot of work, so I'm dipping my toes in the water with a Dwarf Jade. This is essentially a succulent that looks like a tree, so it's easier to keep alive than a true bonsai. However, while my Jade grows fairly quickly and is resilient and easy to care for, I'm still having trouble making it look like a tree. I have only a vague idea of what I want it to eventually look like, and I have no idea what to do when it starts growing new branches and leaves. I've trimmed it a few times, but I don't know how to get it to grow the way I want it to grow yet. This is something I'm working on, and in the meantime, my bonsai is directionless.

On the other hand, when I learned that Pothos vines like to climb and not hang, I bought a stake for my Pothos, and I thought that since it was already sprouting aerial roots, it would automatically take to the stake and climb up it. Turns out, you have to train a Pothos to grow where you want it to grow. As the vine grows longer, I've been wrapping it around the pot and tying it to the stake. Now, it's looking bushier and starting to naturally move up towards the stake. It looks really happy.

It's not enough to just want to grow. I often feel like I'm wandering through life, aimlessly putting out roots and leaves. It's important for me to take the time to think about and plan out where I'm going, what I want to do, and what I want my life to look like. It's also important to have the right guidance and support system in place to help me get where I want to go.

4. Take Your Time

Each of my plants has different needs and grows at a different pace. My succulents grow slowly and don't require as much care, while my vines grow at a much faster rate and require more frequent check-ins and adjustments.

Everyone is unique, and I'm open to my needs being different than others', especially as someone with a neurodiverse mind and a mildly chronically ill body, and I'm open to my needs changing with the seasons. I also know that I’m growing, even when it doesn’t feel like I am.

5. Stay Grounded

I love taking time out of my day to just stop and look at my plants. The absolute best gift they've given me is the ability to be grounded in nature when I can't be outside. Watching the Aloe pups grow and seeing the adults stand tall and not droop or fall over feels like a miracle. Seeing my Pothos grow a new leaf every few days and climb up its stake is exciting. It's very grounding to just look at my plants and watch their growth and progress over time. They remind me to appreciate the little things in life.

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

- Lao Tzu