Plants in your listing

[Katie]

Having greenery in your home is very on-trend, but does it work within an STR?

I have quite a few plants at home, and they definitely help to give the place a green feel and enhance the mood. However, if you have an entire home listing then it might be harder to ensure you keep your plants looking healthy and watered without disturbing your guests.

It would be great to hear from you guys on your own experience: is it practical to have plants in your listing, or is it too much hard work? 

If you do have plants, what are your tips for caring for them from a distance?

[Colleen253]

Oh my word @Cathie19 , that's a tropical oasis I glimpse right there. I'm so envious! We just had the first frost after the unofficial end of our (super short) summer season here. At least I have the pleasure of now watching the glorious fall colors take hold, while I lament the loss of all the beautiful plants in my gardens. I keep my house full of plants so I have something to get me through the long winters here. Thankfully we have many hours of sunshine year round where I live!

[Katie]

@Cathie19 these pics are inspirational! @Colleen253 said it exactly right - a tropical oasis, it looks beautiful 🌿 

I'm just virtually transporting myself to that deck in the sunshine, coffee in hand....

I have a bamboo outside, but might have to try an indoor species too.

[Cathie19]

😚

[Colleen253]

@Katie  Is that photo your place?? I die. 

I am a total plant nerd and cannot, I repeat, cannot, imagine my listing without plants. Fortunately, we don't typically have stays longer than a week so my plants don't suffer. My favorite guests are the ones who ask if they can water the plants for me. Kindred spirits, those ones. I actually have had a few guests specifically mention the plants and how much they add to the ambiance. 

If we had stays that were longer, I would simply choose plants that thrive on and appreciate a little neglect. Easy peasy.

[Katie]

@Colleen253 sadly this is not my place, but I would love a little mini jungle like this in my front room! @Liv was also admiring the pic too. 

I love that your guests ask to help care for the plants! They definitely create ambience within a space. 

I have recently expanded my houseplant collection (pics of a few of them below), and I was surprised to learn that many plants only need watering once a week, and you're right that some are super resilient so could probably still work well in a listing.

My fave is the Calathea as it's got such a great pattern to it 🌱 If you have pics of your plants I'd love to see them too!

[Colleen253]

@Katie Your plants are lovely and healthy looking. You would like this Black Pagoda lipstick plant, as it has very interesting foliage, plus beautiful blooms! Top side of the leaves are beautiful deep green and the underside are purplish with prominent veining. One of my favorites!

[Katie]

@Colleen253 what a great name, and it looks beautiful too - I've never heard of it so need to see if I can get one to add to my collection 😃

[Cathie19]

I LOVE this!

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Katie 

No plants at home...... Henry and I weren't able to keep a potted cactus  alive. 😲

But there are plenty of public spaces nearby - the roof garden is just a flight of stairs up and there is a park adjacent to our apartment complex so we are blessed to have plenty of flowers, bushes, and trees around us even though we are in a very central location 😃

[Katie]

Haha no judgement here @Jessica-and-Henry0, I think Cactus/succulents can be a bit tricky, as I'm sure @Ann783 would agree.

The roof garden sounds great! So nice to have that space easily accessible - it's so important in a city to have access to a bit of greenery. You'll have to share some pictures of it if you can 😄

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Katie 

Here are some photos 😁

Our apartment complex has about 280 apartments (different sizes and layouts but all 3bd 2 bth homes) spread over 3 buildings, and each building has 2~3 separate roof garden "zones" so while it's all a shared space, the zones are located strategically so residents are usually able to enjoy some privacy and quiet time up there. 

Then at the ground floor level most of the paths are paved and stroller/bike friendly. We have lots of trees, bushes, 2 playgrounds, benches here and there, as well as a large gazebo at one end of the complex. 

We share a fence with the adjacent park and there are a few pedestrian gates that allow direct entry from our apartment complex to the park which is actually a huge selling point for homes in our complex 😁

Adjacent ParkApartment groundsApartment groundsAdjacent ParkRoof garden

When you consider the view from our living room, many or our friends are surprised about all the greenery around us. 

apartment groundsview looking straight DOWN from our living roomview looking straight towards the horizon from our living room

[Katie]

So many green spaces @Jessica-and-Henry0, it looks really well-designed! I bet your guests enjoy the views and the garden space too, like a peaceful little space within the city 🌸

[Robin4]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 

Jess you talk about not being able to keep  a cactus alive, my eldest daughter Sarah shared a flat in Bondi in NSW for a couple of years with a lovely guy from Bangladesh.

He decided to become an Australian citizen and, for some obscure reason, every person who is inducted through the citizenship ceremony gets a........ pot plant!

It is fair to say, Kalid was not a great green- thumb and the citizenship plant hung on for a year or so but, in the end...... died, so Kalid left it in the pot and they both decided to call it.....'Rusty' 

Cheers........Rob 

[Ian_Janice0]

Your pictures are gorgeous  honestly I had to remove my half dead mini cactus yesterday, so not the best expert on the subject

[Katie]

Aw @Ian_Janice0 don't despair, cacti are quite hard to look after I think as I'm never sure if I'm over-watering 🤔

If you're interested I know that a company called Patch here in the UK has a whole series of short, simple and free videos on Youtube which tell you how to care for your houseplants - it helped me feel like I knew what I was doing a bit better.