A slightly, retouched picture of a shrivelled up Sophora Prostrata. A shrub native to New Zealand and a plant which had recently become one of my favourite, small, decorative plants, due to its delicate branches, growing zigzag. Sadly, it only made it a couple of months in our house. We’d put it in our entranceway or genkan – the traditional, Japanese area of a house where you put off your shoes before entering. It was a beautiful, welcoming sight, I thought, and a great object to keep the shoe cabinet top clutter-free and tidy.
Quite quickly after purchasing it, I noticed that it wasn’t feeling that great though. The instructions read water once or twice a week which I did. So, without looking into it much further, I gave the plant some fertiliser, which didn’t help it to recover.
After discarding it, I looked into it a bit further. I read a lot that this plant is very low maintenance, which didn’t make me feel better. I also found out that it seems to prefer being kept outside, in the indirect sunlight, as it needs to be in a fairly bright place. So that is what killed it; our dimly lit entrance area!
As the plant really helped with keeping our entrance welcoming and tidy, we had better get a new plant in. I sent my partner to the plant shop. I asked him to try and find something that could deal with little light. He suggested a cactus (low maintenance) but I’ve got a strong feeling that a plant native to the desert would appreciate lots of direct sunlight, so I didn’t approve that idea. Instead he brought back a cute, little schefflera back. I just translated its care instructions from Japanese. The first line says keep in a place as bright as possible – d’oh!
PS: Any indoor-plant enthusiast reading this, please advise on a small, decorative plant that thrives in the dark, if there is such a thing…
katazukete 