gardening era14.sep.24
the other day i went to home depot and i got out of there with 3 plants and some other gardening stuff!
i think i have mentioned this before, but my apartment has a little plot with a bit of soil. ever since i moved here i've been meaning to do something with it because it would always get filled with weeds. while i figured what i wanted to do with this little plot, i cleaned it up one day and just put some rocks there so the weeds would have a bit of trouble growing in between them. and also so the stray cats don't use it as a litter box.........
i wanted to wait a tiny bit while i had a bit more of money to spare before going plant shopping, and finally that day arrived!
i bought 3 plants literally based on how cute or useful i found them. i know i should have done my research before getting them, but that was a task for future me. not at-home-depot-looking-for-pretty-plants me. i had to use plantnet so i could identify them! the pots they were in weren't very specific with the info. i made sure to pick the plants that were in the full sun section. they have partial shade where i planted them but i wanted to make sure they could handle a bit of sun! i am just now researching all of this so if you have any tips or have something wrong then do let me know!
bronze leaf wax begonia
i was scared to pick anything with a lot of flowers because i'm still learning how to take care of plants so i let myself to pick this one! there were a lot of plants with nice flowers and they were all super pretty but this one caught my attention the most! i think the colors of the leaves and just their look overall really caught my attention and set them apart from the rest of the flowers on display. i also love the texture of the leaves. it's kinda soft and it seems slimy even though it isn't??? it's a bit difficult to explain it. WAIT. it's like wax..................... it's like touching wax
...
OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
since this one was my dedicated flower plant i bought a separate pot (that plastic white one in the picture!) so i could move it around if i need to. you can tell this is my high priority plant.
as for care: i've read so far that they don't need constant water since the leaves and stems are like that of a succulent (which actually makes sense when i was trying to describe their texture LSKJF) so in really rainy days i need to remember to bring them inside to avoid over watering them.
reference links: wax begonia care, bronze leaf wax begonia
coleus
the bright colors of the leaves of this one were so striking to me! i loved this one a lot. this one is known colloquially as verguenza which translates to "embarrassment" from spanish. i asked my mom (who told me this bit of info) why it would be call that. she guessed that it might be because people tend to turn red when they get embarrassed. if that why it's called that here, then i think that's really cute.
as for care: i've seen from various sites that this plant grows best in shade but can handle (and it's also good for their growing) a bit of sun. i did see that this plant is toxic to humans and pets if consumed. they also like their soil moist most of the time so i will have to keep an eye out for them during a really sunny week.
reference links: coleus, coleus care
bougainvillea
this one is known as trinitaria in here. i don't know why. i mainly picked this one because of its thorns in the stems so i can, again, keep the cats away from shitting in my GARDEN! and i also do think they are pretty cute. while searching for them i found out they are also known as paperflower... like c'mon that's adorable. and it makes a lot of sense! i've always found their flowers a bit peculiar.
i am pretty sure that out of all these plants, this one is going to be the one that i least have to worry about. can take a lot of sun and can be watered infrequently.
reference links: bougavillea
extra
i also bought these seeds for these small flowers. my plan was to just throw them around the plot and let them grow however they want but the seeds packets didn't even have that many inside for the entire plot! anyways, i didn't expect them to grow so quickly, but you can already see the sprouts growing. next time i go to home depot i might get more seeds. maybe even put them in a separate pot, even. i'd love to just have the seeds spread around without the rocks in between them but then again... the cats!!!!
i also bought a bit of food for the plants. its a little thing i shake every 3 months or so. though i do think this soil is gonna be okay for them. given how fast weeds grow in there.
the decorations were given to me by my mom as a gift!! they are very cute. you can't see it in the picture above but i also have a little solar garden lamp hanging there. i love my little garden very much! i hope i can take good care of them.