How I Stopped Killing My Plants

Five steps to live by if you don’t have a green thumb

Jamie Golob
5 min readJul 2, 2020
Photo by the author (an assortment of her favorite window plants)

We’ve all had a little green thumb envy. I’m the first to confess. As a child, visiting my aunt's house on weekends I’d like to say it’s the stimulating conversation and summer BBQ antics I remember the most… but it’s not. No, most summer evenings you could find me snuggled up in her reading room nestled in amongst the perky potted trees and willowy ivy daintily hanging in their macrame hammocks. Even as a child I instinctively felt the power and subtle majesty of plants. They made the atmosphere feel fresh and comforting.

Fast-forward to thirty-five-year-old me. Now I’m the one inviting weekend guests over in the summer. Unfortunately, I did not inherit my aunt's seemingly Buddha-like green thumb. Not even close. In fact at one point, and I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, I was literally buying new house plants monthly to replace the sadly departed that hadn’t survived my efforts. The guilt of my murderous spree led me to finally take a stand one sobering Saturday. I dove headfirst into houseplants 101… and this is what I learned.

Five steps to live by if you don’t have a green thumb

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Jamie Golob
Jamie Golob

Written by Jamie Golob

Writer, artist, creative, Reiki practitioner and author of the Crystal Manifesting Journal. Follow me at www.mystic-encounter.com