Plant Care
We love to help people get excited about plants! Our focus at Flourish is to help you find plants that you'll be able to care for successfully. Many of the houseplants and succulents we stock are both beautiful and easy to care for. And we always provide plant care information on request (and often without you even asking!).
Below, you'll find care information for succulents, air plants, and houseplants, as well as information on how houseplants are helping us by purifying the air we breathe in our homes and offices.
This page is a work in progress right now. Thanks for your patience while we do our research to make sure we're giving you the best information for all the plants we stock!
Succulent Care
Succulents come from a wide variety of plant families, so the information here is general care information; there are absolutely exceptions to this rule. When in doubt, google your plant's name to get specific care information.
Water: Allow the soil to dry completely before you water. If your succulent is in a pot without drainage, make sure to measure how much you water so that you don't accidentally overwater. If a succulent's roots stay wet for more than a few days, the plant may start to rot. Pull off any rotting material and often your plant will continue to grow in healthy.
Light: The majority of succulents require a few hours of direct sunlight each day. They prefer to be grown outdoors, but may can thrive in a window. Exceptions to this are Haworthia, some Aloe species, and Senecio succulents (like the popular String of Pearls) which prefer very bright but mostly indirect sunlight. If your succulent isn't getting enough light it can lose its color and turn green (if it started out any of the many non-green colors that succulents come in), and it will often begin to stretch out in search of brighter light.
Temperature: Succulents are relatively tolerant of a wide range of temperatures, but most succulents are not frost tolerant. Cover succulents or bring them inside during frosts. If it's extremely hot, you should check your succulents daily to ensure they are watered as soon as the soil is dry, otherwise they may whither.
Tillandsia (Air Plant) Care
Most Tillandsias are epiphytes, meaning they grow on trees in nature. Unlike terrestrial plants which absorb water through their roots, Tillandsias absorb water through tiny pores on their leaves. They love bright, indirect light, fresh air, and most enjoy humidity. Do not plant your Tillandsia in soil. You can glue your Tillandsia to something like a shell, piece of cork, or a piece of driftwood to make a beautiful display, or you can just set it on a shelf to be lovely on its own.
Light: Most Tillandsias prefer bright indirect light. Some will tolerate direct sun. They are happiest if kept within a few feet of a window, out of direct sun.
Water: Since Tillandsias absorb water through pores on their leaves, it's essential to get the entire plant wet when watering. We recommend watering your Tillandsias by running them under the
faucet or dunking them in water once a week; you can soak them for up to 15 minutes, but unlike some online resources, we do not recommend you soak them for hours at a time, as they are prone to rotting if kept wet for too long. After watering, shake off the excess water to ensure water doesn't get trapped between the leaves at the base of the plant, and allow the plant to dry in an area with lots of air circulation. If you're keeping your Tillandsia in a terrarium or other semi-enclosed container, make sure it's completely dry before putting it back in its container. Mist lightly every few days to increase humidity.
We recommend looking up your particular species of Tillandsia online to find out if it has special care instructions, as not all Tillandsias want exactly the same care.
Air Purifying Plants
Did you know that our indoor air is generally of much lower quality and contains many more toxins that outdoor air? Many people are surprised to learn this, as we assume that air pollution from cars and other sources is predominately an outdoor concern. Unfortunately, many of the products we buy, like furniture, contain toxic chemicals that leach into the air we breathe inside.
The good news? Many houseplants work well to remove the very same indoor air toxins that we bring into our homes! And at Flourish, we carry quite a few of the best air purifying plants around. Here's a helpful list of some of the plants that work the hardest for us, and which toxins they remove from our air. We don't always have each of these in stock at all times, but if you're looking for one in particular and we don't have it, let us know and we'll do our best to get it for you!
Spider Plants (removes formaldehyde & xylene)
Dracaena (removes benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and xylene)
Peace Lily (removes ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene)
Sansevieria (removes benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and xylene)
Boston Fern (removes formaldehyde and xylene)
Aloe Vera (removes formaldehyde)
Golden Pothos (removes formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, benzene, carbon monoxide)
Areca Palms (removes benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene)
English Ivy (removes benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene)
Rubber Plants (Ficus Elastica) (removes carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene)
Aglaonema (removes benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene)
Houseplant Care
Plants that are the easiest to care for are noted with (easy) after the plant name.
Dracaena (easy): Keep soil moist but not soggy. Bright, indirect light is preferable but many Dracaena species can tolerate lower light. No direct sun. If leaves are droopy or yellowing, it is likely due to over-watering or poorly drained soil. Feed every 2 weeks with an indoor plant fertilizer during spring and summer, once a month during fall, and not at all during the winter.
Philodendron (easy): Indirect bright light is preferable but they will tolerate lower light. In hanging Philodendrons, if the stems grow very long with a lot of space between leaves, it may be a sign the plant needs to be moved to a brighter location, as it's stretching to find a light source. Plants with variegated foliage may lose their variegation and turn completely green in low light. Allow the soil to dry out slightly before watering, and do not allow soil to remain saturated; philodendrons will tolerate drier soil better than they will tolerate constantly saturated soil. Fertilize with a balanced houseplant fertilizer every 6-8 weeks during fall and winter and monthly in the spring and summer; plants not receiving enough nutrients will grow much slower.
Pothos (easy): Pothos are one of the easiest houseplants to care for. They can tolerate bright, indirect light to low light, but not direct sunlight. They can be grown in soil, kept damp but not soggy, or in vases of water. It's simple to take cuttings from Pothos plants, by cutting off the longer tendrils of the plant and placing the cut stems in water; roots will generally begin to grow from the cut stem within weeks.
Sansevieria (a.k.a. Mother In Law's Tongue, or Snake Plant) (easy): Sanseveieria plants are a type of succulent, but require somewhat different care than your average succulent. They prefer medium to low light and will burn if placed in direct sun. Water sparingly, and allow soil to dry completely between waterings. They are one of the easiest houseplants due to their ability to handle any amount of indirect to low light and their need for very little water.
Spider Plants (Cholophytum comosum) (easy): Indirect bright light is preferable but these plants will tolerate lower light. Allow the soil to dry out slightly before watering, and do not allow soil to become soggy. Do not repot until there are many visible roots at the top of the soil; Spider Plants will only reproduce if they are root-bound. Flowers will turn into "spiderettes," or small offshoots, which can be cut from the parent plant once they produce their own roots. Leaves often turn brown, which is generally not a sign of a problem, but is often due to flouride in their water.
