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NYC Apartment Plant Styling Workshop at PlantShed (NYC)

Interior at the front of the store
Orchids

Several evenings ago, I have attended a lovely PlantShed Cafe workshop to learn what kind of low maintenance plants are suitable for a New York City apartment (or an indoor space).

Living in the urban jungle doesn’t necessarily provides you with any greenery unless you live in an apartment with a garden or outdoor terrace, a house outside of Manhattan, or near a park. So, to spruce up your living space and if you don’t have time to really maintain the plants there’s a couple of plants the staff at PlantShed (both gentlemen who taught us had at least thirty years of experience between them; one learned horticulture in college while the other is a floral designer) introduced to us that can deal with some neglect from us, the plant owners.

Demonstrating how to transport the calathea
Loosening the soil and roots of the succulents before planting into the box


The four plants that we were informed that is low maintenance with watering and light are ferns, calathea, succulents, and orchids. The most surprising one for me is orchids as I’ve heard casually from various people that they were hard to maintain as it’s sensitive to humidity, sunlight and water. But what we were taught that orchids need moderate indirect light and watered once a week (about the amount of a shot glass worth of water) for our mini orchids that we will be re-potting. Succulents are popular everywhere since it is like a cacti where it equally needs little water but needs several hours of direct sunlight. Ferns and calathea needs small amounts of water and can deal with indirect light.

The guests who attended this workshop with me did our own re-potting and styling our own plants (laying most of the foundation of these pots with moss for both color and texture and absorption of water) after it was demonstrated. It was fun to get your hands dirty a little and learn about the plants that I will be caring for since these plants are what I will be taking home.

My trio of apartment friendly (low maintenance) plants from the workshop - Calathea, Succulents and Mini orchids

The plants above are my living things in my home – calathea roseopicta, mini orchid and succulents – bathing in the morning light but for not a long time since most do not need such sunlight. Which makes my life easier since I know I will be bound to forget to do that with my busy schedule.

To view more photos of this visit, please view the gallery below or CLICK HERE for the photo set:

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Information:
PlantShed Cafe

Official Website
555 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10024
Phone: (212) 662-4400

Tina

I shoot, eat, and drink. My full time job is a hospital administrator. Moonlighting as a freelance photographer and food and travel writer.