Creating Your Urban Patio Oasis
8/20/21
This is an interview with my dear friend and diligent plant parent, Marci. She is incredibly thorough in all things, so I knew she would be the perfect source for this blog. Enjoy!
How long have you been a plant person, Marci?
Like many others, I became a plant parent during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. I’m a college professor and I’m used to the freedom and flexibility of working at home (by choice, that is) or leaving my campus office to get a long stretch of work done at a coffee shop. When my home became my 24/7 office like so many of us (a privilege), the balcony of my apartment became a coveted urban oasis that I quickly turned into my own personal coffee shop.
What were your first plants?
I started with a few plants, some of which I had inherited from my parents who moved to Colorado – they were plants that thrive in Texas—a 50 year old snake plant/mother-in-law’s tongue, which my mom claims was given to them in the 1970s, along with a pony tail palm that came shortly thereafter, putting it’s age in the late 40s (almost my age!). And a new-ish full grown rosemary plant. These potted plants sat in my front yard in McAllen, Texas when I inherited them; all they needed was the occasional watering during the summer when I watered my lawn. They didn’t take much to take care of. Honestly, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to them. They were fine with our regular watering schedule we used for our yard. When we moved to Houston in 2019 and sold our home of 12 years, these three plants’ home become the balcony of our tiny apartment we were leasing. I’d water them occasionally and often forget about them. They are resilient plants…well, mostly. The rosemary plant became ill the first few weeks as rosemary plants need at least 6 hours of full sun. It was a sad death. I knew it was coming. Then mid-march 2020, my work place shut down (as did so many of ours!), and I could no longer go to my campus office or felt comfortable there or working at a coffee shop, which was always a special place for me to get work done. This is where my passion for cultivating an urban balcony/patio oasis began.
So what really kicked the passion into high gear for you?
It all started at Whole Foods. Those succulents. Those cute little succulents staring at you when you walk in and walk out. I’d buy a few. They’d sit on the windowsill inside my home. They were easy to take care of. Just water about every two weeks, some could even go longer without watering. Here, in Texas, even in air conditioned homes (put your succulents away from the AC!) succulents can thrive. Then those cute little succulents grew, pushing up against the windows wanting to go outside. So I put them outside on my covered balcony so they could spread their succulent wings.Then with frequent trips to the grocery store (I mean where else did we go?) I bought more succulents. And, those cute succulents kept growing. Succulents are probably one of the easiest plants to care of in Texas, especially Houston with high humidity. And, with a covered balcony you don’t have to worry about them getting over-watered, which can happen (root rot is a thing; there is such thing as too much water for succulents!).And, as the succulents grew, this is the same time I began to desire a change of scenery from my home office (a tiny corner of our bedroom) to setting up my balcony office. It all began with an inexpensive chair and table set IKEA. Even though it took forever for this to be delivered during the pandemic, when that table set did arrive, my urban balcony oasis/coffee shop was now game on.As I began to spend so much time on my balcony in the afternoons and soon discovered the smoking patterns of my neighbors, this is when I REALLY started to take care of my plants. It was a meditation and ritual, these plants became my friends.And, with continued isolation at home, I wanted more plant friends.
You went on the hunt and what did you find?
Buchanan’s Native plants in the Houston Heights captured my heart. I needed succulent soil for repotting these growing plants. And, wouldn’t it also be nice to have some fancy new decorative pots? I also decided I needed even more succulents (did you know there are almost 1,0000 different type of succulents?) My urban balcony oasis continued to grow. In addition to the plants, table chairs, I began to buy cute little decorative stands that I bought at Marshall/Home goods.
So now you’re immersed and you’ve gained some knowledge about plants, where in the timeline are we and what have you learned so far?
I learned a great deal from March 2020 to April 2021 about having an urban balcony oasis:
Good quality organic soil cannot be underestimated.
Know the light and water needs of your plants. Do your research on your plants. There are also so many plant identification sites and apps these days if you are not sure what plant you bought!
Ask a plant nursery hat are low maintenance plants if that’s what you need. In fact, the snake plant/mother-in-law’s tongue is one of the easiest plants to take care of. It doesn’t need a lot of maintenance.
Start with plants such as this that will give you confidence that you can do this.
Bring your potted plants in during freezes and cold snaps. That’s why they are in pots! You can move them inside☺ Don’t cover them with blankets on your balcony/patio. Again, they are in pots. Move them indoors.
In short, potted plants outside are easy to take care of. Yet you need to pay attention to them. And you need to know what you’re capable of/be honest about your time!
But somewhere in here, you had to move all the plants, right?
Like many who were privileged enough to do so, we were able to save money during the pandemic. We had already been saving towards a home with the money we had made from selling our McAllen home, and buying a new place became the obvious next step.In April 2021 we left our tiny apartment for our new townhouse. One of the aspects that attracted me to the home we bought was it’s patio enclosed with 4 brick walls. I knew I’d be able to turn that space into my urban patio (aka Marci’s coffee shop/chill space) of my dreams! Yet I was a bit nervous moving my plant family from a covered balcony with indirect sun to an open patio with direct sun. It took me about a week or so to figure out the lighting patterns and needs of each plant in this new space.
How’d you execute the move safely?
It’s actually not that hard. I got out my compass. I figured out what was N, S, E, W sun and did research on my plants to figure out where to place them. Even still, some plants need relief from the heat, especially in July and August with 100 degree temperatures in the morning sun. My urban oasis was flourishing. In contrast to our small balcony, we had a bit more space to create a relaxing oasis and expand our outdoor furniture. I bought an outdoor love seat and table (in addition to my small table and seating) –look for wood and materials that can withstand all the outdoor elements (especially in Texas, rain, heat, etc). And Overstock. Com/Wayfair, etc. became my best friend☺ I bought a patio umbrella. Not only to shield myself and other humans from heat but to shield my plants from heat.
Everything was perfect and glorious until…
The May/June rains came for my succulents. This is where the snails came in. Snails are cute, but they are vicious and they will eat your plants. They are not your plants’ friends☺ They are not my friend either. So, I decided rather than using snail/slug bait (which I have on hand and am ready to use when the population grows again btw!), I would diversify the types of plants I have in my urban oasis. I needed more pollinators to bring in insects to eat those snails. In fact, I had no flowering plants. Did you know the snake plant and ponytail palm are succulents? So I did research on Texas native plants and watched some videos on the Buchanan’s native plants website, and bought some Texas native plants that would work well in my space: Esperanza yellowbells, Mexican firebush, red firecracker plant, and a few salvia (sage plants) salvia midnight. These plants have brought in bees, butterflies, dragonflies, etc. into my garden. But they have also brought in caterpillars (don’t’ get me started on caterpillars…) Point is, be prepared to deal with pests in your patio oasis. But also chill and know that’s part of the environment outside. As a plant parent, you want to have a combination of checking in, making sure things are okay, but letting the plants take care of themselves☺
This is my urban patio oasis. There are so many ways to approach your space! Mine is a place for relaxing, for work time when it gets cooler out, and a place to feel like I have a backyard when I really can’t afford a backyard in Houston, Texas in the neighborhoods I want to live in.Your urban patio oasis can have a few plants and seating, and be very sophisticated. You can have a ton of plants and have some seating like mine☺ You could also have decorative lights. You can put up Art work. The point is, know what you want/need to use that space for and be creative! - Marci
Thank you for reading, and may the sun shine on your face and your plants,
-Jen