If you’re like me and most plant newbies, you’ve likely killed a plant or two… or maybe even every plant you have ever attempted to raise. Luckily, 30-plus-year greenery connoisseur, Taurus-born earth-lover, and shopkeeper and creative director at Green Fresh Florals + Plants Carlos Franco has lovingly offered his beginner-friendly plant knowledge to help those poor, lost souls (myself included) who have committed plantslaughter. Here’s his advice.

What Plants Should I Get?

Franco says every plant-shopping sesh should begin with the same question: What kind of lighting does your space have? If you’re working with a low-light situation, he recommends a Zanzibar gem (better known as a ZZ plant) or snake plant because they are hardy and don’t require a lot of maintenance. Near-impossible to kill, pothos plants are also a great choice, especially if you want to add vertical dimension to a room by hanging them near the ceiling and letting their long, viny tendrils hang down. 

What Are Low-Maintenance Plants?

In plant lingo, low-maintenance does not mean you can set it and forget it. Instead, it indicates that a plant doesn’t require a ton of watering, doesn’t need to be repotted often, and is not super susceptible to changes in its environment. “Let’s say you moved,” Franco says. “If you took your ZZ plant with you, it would be just fine—whereas if you brought your calathea, it would be finicky and freak out and take weeks to come back.” 

Where to Purchase Your Plants in San Diego?

Shop local and be cautious of big box stores, Franco advises. When a plant sprouts on the other side of the country in a greenhouse, then hops between trucks and loading docks to get to the nearest Home Depot, it’s already experienced a stressful cross-country roadtrip and is more prone to shock (and death). Just like with the produce you eat, look for organic pant pals untouched by pesticides.

How to Maintain Your Plants

Tips for Watering Plants

While every plant has its own unique care routine that you must know, owners of beginner-friendly plants like those mentioned above can follow the same general advice: Give your leafy friend’s soil some H2O only when it’s completely dry. 

How to Fertilize Plants

The best way to love up on a plant is to mimic its native, wild environment. Franco recommends fertilizing plants once a month to give them all the nutrients they’d receive in a jungle setting from dead plants, flowing water, and new soil.

How to Repot Your Plants

In order to thrive, plants need an ideal soil-to-root ratio, and when their roots outgrow the original pot, it’s imperative to give your plant baby some more room to grow. On average, plants need a new vessel every one to two years, Franco says, but again, every sprout is different. 

How to Expand Your Plant Family

Find what works for you and grow from there. If a ZZ plant thrives in your living room, perfect! Fill the space with several varieties of the plant to expand your collection. “I have about 25 different types of monsteras, 40 different philodendrons, and about 30 different types of alocasias because I know those do good in my space,” Franco explains. 

Mother Nature is fickle, and some plants are far more finicky than others, so don’t get discouraged if your green thumb doesn’t show itself right away. Franco insists that anyone yearning for plant parenthood should give it a try. “You and I are not horticulturists,” he says. “We’re not biologists—we’re just trying to get that good look on Instagram.”

The post 7 Tips & Tricks to Decorating Your Home With Plants appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Five Most Common Tree Problems in San Diego

Drought and lack of water

Look for a sparse canopy. Leaves might be discolored, undersized, scorched, or falling off. Kump also recommends watching for woodpecker activity, as heat damage encourages pests. Water trees slowly once a week, saturating all the soil beneath each tree’s foliage to a depth of one foot. The best time to water is in the morning— it reduces evaporation and allows the trees to uptake water during the hottest time of the day.

Invasive species and pests

Common in San Diego, invasive species like red sesbania, pampas grass, yellow starthistle, South American palm weevils, Asian citrus psyllid, and brown marmorated stink bugs are the most significant threat to native ecosystems. Become familiar with these species so you can destroy and report them to local authorities when you spot them, and combat their spread by cultivating diverse and native plants.

Improper pruning

Before heading toward a tree with saws blazing, know why, when, and what to prune—and how to do it safely, Kump says. Removing dead, broken, and diseased branches is crucial, but be careful: Focus on clipping crossing or competing branches and follow the tree’s natural shape. Maintain precision with sharp and clean pruning shears or loppers. And don’t be shy about calling in the pros.

Fire risk and brush clearance

Protect your home from wildfires by surrounding it with fire-resistant shrubs. Kump also suggests pruning off trees’ lower branches and uprooting highly flammable plants, like coniferous trees, within 100 feet of your house.

Tree root damage

Be careful not to plant saplings too close to hardscaping—as they grow, their roots often spread well beyond the edge of their canopy, and wandering roots can cause damage to sidewalks, driveways, and foundations. Kump says to ensure you feed trees as necessary so their roots don’t hunt for nutrients. Remove girdling roots, which grow in a spiral around the base of a tree’s trunk, eventually “strangling” it.

The post An Arborist’s Tips for Tackling 5 Common Tree Problems appeared first on San Diego Magazine.