Seasonal Plant Care - Keeping Plants Alive Throughout Winter

The temperature has dropped and trees are officially bare of their leaves. This means most of us now have turned the heat on in our place. Simultaneously, we begin to see a lot of our tropical plants - healthy and thriving in the summer - fading and browning. As you touch the leaves, you notice they are crispy with blackened edges... So what can be done to help our precious plants survive the winter to come?

The first thing we can do is change how often we water our plants. The hours of daylight drops and the position of the sun changes as we enter winter. Our once sun-filled room can now be a dim room requiring supplemental light. Especially in a place like Vancouver where the sun may not come out for months at a time, it can be hard on your plants to receive sufficient amount of light. This means not a lot of evaporation is happening. Therefore, the plants take longer to uptake the water and the soil takes longer to dry. Changing your watering schedule according to the seasons can set your plants up for success all year round.

Another thing that can be done is to invest in a humidifier. A great bonus about investing in a humidifier is that it is not only great for plants but for people and pets (a topic of discussion for another day)! Turning the heat on in our place generally dries out the air significantly - you personally may notice waking up with a dry throat or drier eyes. This negatively affects our tropical plants too. Tropical plants are native to hot, humid, tropical regions of the world. Recreating that environment will ensure their survival and reduce the number of crispy, brown leaves.

Finally, the placement of plants in a specific space plays a role. Would it be better to place a maidenhair fern closest to the heating vent or a snake plant? A rubber plant or a calathea variety? Understanding each plants’s needs and placing them around a space in relation to heating vents can dramatically change the health and growth of plants. I even go as far as placing my euphorbia closest to the vent in the winter and then switching it with a philodendron in the summer because I understand that a euphorbia is native to dry desert climates whereas a philodendron is native to humid tropical climates.

A few small changes like these can have big impacts! As always, plants take time to acclimate. Be patient and give your plants a couple weeks to adjust to its new setting and you will see positive growth throughout the year.