Better Dorms and Gardens

Welcome to Better Dorms and Gardens, my name is Emily, and I live on trad diggings. This is my little greenhouse of a dorm room. 

Yes, I am one of those crazy plant ladies who names her plants, so let me introduce you to my indoor garden. 

My first plants are my treasured Monsteras – meet Mim and Marcel

Monsteras are most identified by the split in their leaves; this is a natural occurrence so the leaves don’t rip in the wind. They’re a tropical plant and love sunlight and heat. Living in dorms, especially in an upstairs room with lots of sunlight and a bangin’ heater, the Monsteras have been thriving. 

My very first plant, a Pothos, also known as a Devils Ivy, was given to me as a cutting, with three leaves. When I got my cutting in early spring 2019, I had high hopes, then it got sick, and I was forced to cut the leaf with the new shoot, and then growth was stagnant for a long [read: looooong] while. I was just about ready to give up on it when out of nowhere it finally popped out a new leaf – so I made the decision to bring it with me on the move to university, and look at it now. 

This little devil, which is now growing like a weed, and named appropriately, Lucy (short for Lucifer, if that wasn’t obvious). 

Next up, is my Raphidophra Tetrasperma – AKA Vegas.

These often get mistaken for juvenile monsteras, but they’re not even related, it’s simply because this plant also has splits in the leaves. Like the Monstera and Devils Ivy, these plants are tropical, and Vegas also loves the growing conditions of the dorm rooms. 

This, however, is not all the plants I have in my indoor jungle. More chronicles of my green thumb (or sheer dumb luck) can be found in next month’s edition.