My Indoor Jungle

Have you ever wanted to fill your home with beautiful plants but have no idea of where? to buy them?   Well, I’ve got the solution… my all-time favorite place to plant shop… MIDTOWN GARDEN CENTER in the heart of Midtown, in Miami. This place really is an escape in the busy city. Right when you step out of your car, you’ll see nothing but green plants as far as you can see.

Another plus, MTGC has two amazing restaurants so you can fill your belly before you start plant shopping. My husband and I had a date night a few weeks ago at their main restaurant NOMADE, which has food such as American, Caribbean, Cafe, Fusion, Healthy and Cuban. Even better it is BYOB. We brought our own bottle of white wine and enjoyed a great dinner among the garden. Let me just say that MTGC is beautiful during the day, but at night the garden comes alive with their white string lights. If you are in the mood for tacos, the garden has got you covered with their cute taco truck.

Here you will find indoor plants as well as outdoor, with succulents and cactus’s. I bought three that live in bright light in our living room, but my favorite part of this garden in their Indoor plant green house. It’s a plant lover’s dream walking along all the green, picking out which lucky plant gets to come home with you. They have everything from Fiddle Figs, Bird of Paradise, to Palm Trees. Oh, and before you ask… yes, those three plants I just mentioned are now in my living room. There are so many things I could say about this place, but it is my option that it is the perfect place to spend an afternoon, either alone or with friends and family. My husband knows all too well whenever I go that I’ll come home with either a big, tall plant or a few small ones.

The hardest part of the Garden Center is leaving and getting your big plants into an Uber and home safely.

.

HAPPY PLANT SHOPPING!

10 Reasons You Should Start a Plant Family

Let me ask you a question do you love Plants and leafy things?

Two of my newest and latest obsessions.  Ever since I was a kid, there has always been a part of me.  There has always been a urge to turn my home into an indoor jungle. So a few weeks ago I started just that went down to my local garden center and bought the biggest plants they had and brought them home. Now I am well on my way to creating my dream indoor jungle.

So here are my – Top ten reasons you absolutely need to start a plant family…
They are as follows.  

• 

10 Reasons You Need to Start a Plant Family 

1. It’s therapeutic.

There is something so satisfying about picking out a leafy green friend, bringing him or her home, finding a spot he or she likes to grow in and then start a watering schedule that keeps him or her bright and happy.  It sounds so simple – because it is.  It’s a little bit of simplicity in what can sometimes feel like a very complicated world.  

2. It’s fun 

I will warn you up – plants are like tattoos.  You get one and then suddenly you’re hooked, looking for new spots and cute designs that would go nice in the corners and areas of your life untouched.    

3. It cures the puppy fever. 

This is the most important point on this list in terms of my mental sanity.  Shadow (OUR DOG) would not be impressed if I came home with a new four legged creature to which he would suddenly expected to share half of his toys and three quarters of my bed with , he takes up about as much bed space as an elephant). That said, whenever I come home with a new plant, Shadow is seemingly unshaped so long as he gets a welcome-home belly rub. 

4. It helps you feel connected to your roots. 

Like the earlier metaphoric statements about green jean stains and toes in the grass – planting a garden and starting a green family rekindles that eternal flame with Mother Nature.  Our world has become so manufactured that just the other day as I looked down at the carrot I was chopping up for a stir-fry, it hit me with sudden astonishment that the thing was once a seed. It was planted, watered, sun bathed and grown to create the decadent piece of crunchy goodness I was about to add to my dish.  It was a perfect piece of food, packed with nutrients, made from the earth herself.  No ingredient list, no packaging – just bright, orange, plentiful goodness.  I was eating something straight from the fricken ground. This obvious yet somehow new realization left me feeling oddly satisfied and strangely urging to google how to grow carrots. 

5. It brings life to your home.

Walk into a room without a plant. Walk into a room with a plant. Subtle change, huge energy difference.  Try it out – notice the plants in every room you walk in and trust me, you’ll start seeking the green everywhere you go.  

6. You can reap your rewards.
OK picture this – you’re chopping up a blood red tomato to top off the veggie burgers you just made the first BBQ of the summer season.
Guess who grew said, juicy, tomato?
You did. Satisfaction level – 12/10

7.  It’s a perfect new hobby for Spring.
Spring is the best time to get elbow deep in some plants and gardens.  Not only is it a season of renewal, it’s the perfect ritual to officially close the casket on winter and walk fresh faced and preppy into a new season of lavenders, lilacs and lilies. 

8. It gives you a break from technology.
The other day I was walking up a flight of stairs and the person coming down at the same time literally stopped dead – mid step – to stare blankly at their phone and puzzle out a response to whomever was on the other end.  I swear, the 15 seconds I spent standing there felt like 15 minutes as I felt myself go from shocked to amused to suddenly wondering how many times, I had done this myself.  The physical people around us have become ghosts to the virtual ones waiting on the other end of our screens.  We’re constantly opening and shutting the exact same apps, scrolling through the same images and having multi-dimensional conversations in seven different applications with coworkers, friends, followers, family members and that old neighbor you used to hang out with when you were kids. Listen, I’m not bitter about technology.  In fact, I fricken love it!  But taking 20 minutes out of the day to tend to something that doesn’t have buttons, signals, cameras or keyboards feels damn good. 

9.  It’s cheap & easy!
Honestly, you don’t have to spend much.  Start with a plant or two in the window, maybe a fresh bunch of flowers for your kitchen.  Plant some seeds in a jar, look up some cute and easy DIY’s.  Let your green thumb expose itself to you and have fun with it.  You don’t have to be an expert, though in a way you already are.  Being that we are all exactly that – beings – we ourselves are made from nature too. We are all living things inhabiting this planet, connected in ways we will never begin to understand. In a way, we’re all born green-thumbs.  We just may have lost our green touch along the way. 

10. It will teach you a lot about yourself.
For instance, planting a green family has made me realize how much my patience could use some shine and polish.  Like seriously, I planted that seed four days ago, shouldn’t I see a sprout by now? And what about you Billy? I’m sorry I watered you a little too much last week, but you don’t need to be so dramatic.  Turn those yellow leaves green again so I know you’re alright… please? Okay I’ll check back this afternoon.

If you want to find a little bit of stillness in a world that’s constantly moving or a quiet corner in your mind painted in green shades of Zen, I recommend walking down the gardened path in life and seeing what blooms!

Happy Planting!
– Sara

Are You a lover of anything Green? If the answer to that was yes then you are my new best friend.

I will confess I’m not the perfect house plant lover I have KILLED a few plants every beginner has. Weather you do the worst over water your plants or. Don’t give them enough sun light also VERY BAD we all unknowingly do the wrong thing sometimes.

But guest what that is all alright every time we learn from our mistakes. The main reason I started MY INDOOR JUNGLE, was to teach fellow plant lovers the right way to care for our plants. Here you will learn from basic from picking up the right plant from the nursery to re-potting your plant to watering and what type of light your plants need.

So, if you’re Ready to get your hands dirty with some soil grab a glass of wine and let’s get planting.