You’ve probably seen the term “plant mom” or “plant mama” on Pinterest or Etsy. Cute shirts, signs or other swag donning the phrase this phrase. For the longest time, I did not think of myself as a plant mom. To me, a plant mom was like a cat mom. No kids, just plants. However, that was a naive thought because DUH, I’m a straight-up plant mom y’all. I have house plants, outdoor plants, and I eat only plants. Both me, my husband, and my kids LOVE plants. It is without question that I am a plant mom. (And proud of it!) Which brings me here, to share with you 3 ways to be an awesome plant mom!
This post is probably going to seem a little silly but bear with me. I want to talk about the many ways one can be deemed a “plant mom” or “plant mama” and then I want to share with you something special I’ve been working on!
Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.
3 Ways To Be An Awesome Plant Mom
House Plants
If you haven’t ventured into living house plants, I highly recommend it. There are so many health benefits to having indoor plants from purifying the air to boosting your mood.
There is a houseplant for all homes which I don’t think every realizes.
See, we don’t have a super sunny home. And in the summer, we have to leave our blinds closed because we don’t have AC and our windows let in all the heat. Therefore, low light plants work best for us.
That said, in the summer we also have a very warm and sunny indoor patio and a warm upstairs window that has proven perfect for our new fiddle leaf fig tree. In the winter, our upstairs window has somehow even kept our lemon tree alive AND produced a lemon! (which is still growing now, 7 months later)
Now I am by no means a houseplant or vegetable garden pro BUT I have learned a bit about them over the years and feel like I can confidently suggest some things for beginners.
My 5 Favorite Indoor Plants
ZZ Plant
I love the ZZ plant (scientifically called: Zamioculcas zamiifolia) because it is incredibly easy to care for. We bought ours at IKEA a few years back and it has absolutely thrived in our home.
The best thing about a ZZ Plant is it can handle being neglected (lack of water and light) and low light conditions.
Learn more about the ZZ plant.
Snake Plant
This is probably one of the most common house plants (next to the pothos) and I absolutely love it. The snake plant (Sansevieria) is a beautiful indoor plant that really brings some great style to a room.
Over the last few years our snake plant has grown tremendously.
Learn more about snake plants.
Pothos
I love growing pothos although they aren’t quite as easy as the first two plants I mentioned. They do require a little more care and are a little more picky.
However, they are super easy to propagate (grow from clippings) which is fun! I actually recently found a piece of a Pothos on the ground at Lowes and brought it home to propagate. It now has baby roots and should be able to be planted in a few weeks.
Curly Ivy
Perhaps I should not include this one because to be honest, mine just died. BUT I know exactly what I did wrong… and I blame the superheat for this error.
We had our Curly Ivy in a south facing window which is LOVED all fall and winter but this summer it had been so hot (and we don’t have A/C) so I left the blinds shut more than usual. Well, they don’t like no sun…obviously.
It dried up BUT i’m trying to revive it. Who knows if it will work or not.
Aloe
Aloe is a beginner house plant that I feel like most people have tried at some point in their life. The nice thing about aloe is that you can basically leave it alone and it will be fine!
I recently forgot about mine for basically all of this pandemic, and when I checked it yesterday it was plump and beautiful! Seemed happier than ever!
Baby Rubber Plant
This is a plant that I have had for quite some time but had NO idea what it was called. The scientific name is Peperomia Obtusifolia and it is a surprisingly simple plant to grow.
I love this plant because of its thick leaves and waxy oversized leaves. In a perfect world, I would put this plant maybe in a bathroom window, as close to the window as possible. But since I don’t have that as an option in our home, ours sits in our kids’ playroom. Truthfully, it’s likely lacking sun BUT after pruning it back (and propagating it) a few weeks ago, it already has the cutest baby leaves!
Outdoor Plants
To be totally honest, I don’t do much with outdoor flowers. I love to grow plants I can eat, aka everything in our vegetable and herb gardens, but am just getting into more basic flowering plants. Some of the flowering plants I have are hydrangeas, marigolds, wildflowers, and lilacs. Next year I hope to grow some new things but stay tuned for that!
5 Favorite Outdoor {edible} Plants
Cucumbers
If you are new to gardening and have any space for a sprawling or vertical grown plant, cucumber is a great one to try! I LOVE growing cucumbers because, well, we just love cucumbers, and to be honest, they are pretty easy to grow.
We tried growing a little more vertically this year and plan to go even bigger with our trellis next year.
Tomatoes
Can’t go wrong here, especially if you enjoy eating tomatoes. There is nothing better than a warm cherry tomato right off the vine. SERIOUSLY. So good.
The problem for us right now is that our plants are FULL of green tomatoes but not ripening very fast. (This is likely because of the super hot start to summer we had)
However, once they start ripening, we’re going to be in tomato heaven for easily 4-8 weeks.
Lettuce
If you want to grow in a container or are trying to grow in a cooler climate (or Spring/Fall) lettuce is a great option. We grew “caesar lettuce” this year and it was perfect. No issues with bugs like we had had previous years and the lettuce is delicious.
Green Beans
If you don’t have much of a green thumb and you want something that will produce over and over and over ALL season long, green beans are the way to go! But saying that, I highly recommend a pole bean variety (one that will climb) as they tend to produce more in my experience.
The best thing about green beans in our garden is that the boys can grab them any time they want and I don’t have to worry about them being “not ripe” or it being the “only good one”. Because to be honest, we’ve had HUNDREDS of beans and don’t see a shortage at all.
Another really great thing about beans is that you can freeze them easily to use throughout the year. I am beyond excited to use my garden green beans in my favorite Thanksgiving dish of all time: green bean casserole!
Related: Thanksgiving Recipes You Will Love
Herbs
Any herbs can go here; basil, thyme, rosemary, sage. They are all very simple to grow and smell amazing. If you are new to growing things, herbs are a great place to start. There are VERY few pests that will bother your plants and for the most part they are a set it and forget it type thing. If anything, you’ll need to prune it as many of these will grow WILD. Especially mint. (Mint is highly invasive and spreads like crazy so proceed with caution)
To be totally honest, a lot of our herbs don’t get eaten but rather dried, shared, or this year (for an adoption fundraiser) turned into sage sticks!
To elaborate on this section I thought I would share a few of my favorite plants to eat that anyone can (and should) consider eating more of in their diet.
Eating Plants
Of course, the last section in the post is all about being a plant mom by EATING plants. It’s kind of interesting that a lot of people I know in any of these communities (house plants, vegetable garden, or plant-based eating) tend to fall into a combination of the three. And for me, well, I’m all three! Does that make me a super plant mom?!
My 5 Favorite Plants to Eat
Chickpeas
If you haven’t jumped onto the chickpea wagon, it’s time you do so. But not just as hummus. Chickpeas in their non-mashed form are a great protein option to add to salads, tacos, wraps, eat raw, and more. You can make them in any flavor profile you like and they are packed with protein.
Chickpeas make a great snack for kids, a great topping to avocado toast, and the tastiest of croutons.
Related: Best Plant-Based Protein Sources
Spinach
You can’t go wrong with spinach. Adding it to anything and everything you can will help you to increase your natural vitamin and mineral intake exponentially!
We love to add spinach into soup, tacos, lasagna, pasta sauce, smoothies and more.
Bananas
I share a lot about bananas I feel like but with good reason. Bananas are an incredible source of potassium and being that they are calorie-dense, become a great option for plant-based families!
They are inexpensive, versatile, and delicious.
Mushrooms
These are definitely not a crowd-pleaser but our family LOVES them. Mushrooms can be used in a variety of ways and really provides a lovely flavor to many dishes. Unfortunately, though, mushrooms aren’t high in calories so they can’t really be a meal of their own BUT they are delicious, to me, regardless.
Broccoli
My kids favorite food is broccoli. One of my favorite foods is broccoli. It’s so funny to think about all the years where broccoli was used as a bribe! Can you relate? I remember as a kid being told to “eat just a few bites of broccoli” and then I could be done with vegetables. Oh how the tables have turned as I’ve grown.
Related: 6 Foods To Help You Transition To A Plant Based Lifestyle
Now for my special and exciting announcement.
As many of you know, my husband and I are in the process of adopting a little girl with Down syndrome. You can read more about our adoption here. As you can imagine, adopting is not cheap, especially if you are adopting internationally like we are. So throughout this long adoption process, we are doing a handful of fundraisers to help offset the cost of our adoption, in addition to applying for grants, saving money, and picking up side jobs.
This summer I created a “plant mama” shirt that celebrates more of the plant-BASED mama’s in the room – and I bought one for myself. Now, these are so anyone and everyone who identifies as a plant mama but I was excited to design something that had a vegetable on it instead of a house plant. (again, totally nerdy but that’s who I am…lol)
You may have seen me wear this shirt in photos on Instagram because I absolutely LOVE it. I created it so I could buy it and then realized it would be the perfect way to combine my blog and our adoption!
I am excited to share that I have launched this shirt as a fundraiser for our adoption which means a percentage of the cost goes directly to bringing our daughter home! We would be truly honored for you to take a look at these plant mama shirts and share the link with your friends.
My goal is to sell 25 “Plant Mama” shirts to support our adoption! If you want to see what other shirts we have for our fundraiser, check these out.
Thanks for stopping by to read this fun post! I hope you enjoyed it and learned something. If you are a plant mama like me, I invite you to grab a shirt and when you do, be sure to tag me on Instagram @realisticplantbasedmama! Use #lovealittleextra or #BeKindLoveExtra to be attached to our whole adoption journey! <3 I would love to send you some love.
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