I live in Canada, the province I’m in is more on the humid side but nothing crazy. The humidity in my house is usually around 45-50%. My one ping was around a heat pump and has been doing fine, no issues with the bottled water yet 🤷‍♀️

The top one, the sundew! The ones I have aren’t too bad honestly, I only have 4. Pinguiculas are the 3 I started with and the main thing to remember is they need low/no-mineral water (I honestly have just been using bottled since I had a case handy). They need neutral soil (plain sphagnum moss has been my go-to), and as long as they’re kept relatively damp since they’re naturally found in a swamp you’re good to go!

They’ve been easy to take care of and I definitely appreciate them picking up the stray fungus gnats. If you’re interested, definitely read up on them but they’re honestly super easy to look after and have been a great starter carnivorous for me. I’ve heard sundews are even easier so I’ll see how that goes!

I don’t want to tell you how to live your life, but that sounds like a bit much…

Right?? I actually had one before that was getting pretty large but had to toss it because it became infested with thrips, so I thought I’d try again 🤞

My thinking would be why risk not getting checked out? Unfortunately worst case scenario happened this time :(

I found a pic of a succulent or something that hadn’t been opened yet on the internet. The taller plants are longer packages to accomodate the vines and folliage but this is essentially it (looks like this is actually one of theirs):

I can try! So they were wrapped in brown packing paper, kind of coned around it. the inner paper was reinforced under the pot with tape, all soil and sphagnum moss arrives dry by the time it gets to my place (unsure if they water before packing it or not). Most succulents arrive with tissue (like kleenex) on the soil and tucked under the leaves and then taped down on the corners of the pot. The pinguiculas had tissue completely over top to prevent damage to their delicate leaves. the brown wrapping paper is folded down so it all sits kind of scooped (kinda like how bouquets are wrapped some times). Some of the more fragile hoyas and succulents also had that like plastic stuffing that you’d find in a pillow or stuffed animal over top of it for padding. All the larger hoyas came with the wire trellises which, aside from being for the plant, helps prevent squishing.

All the packages were tucked in basically feet to head with each other. and then the empty space had more brown wrapping paper loosely in it to prevent any movement.

Crystal Star Nursery, it’s my 4th time ordering from them. It’s hard to find hoyas where I’m at and even just in Canada in general and they’ve got a really great selection. I highly recommend them if you’re in Canada.

The plants are always healthy and mostly pest free aside from the occasional fungus gnat. The gnats aren’t a big issue for me anymore though since almost anything that isn’t a succulent or cactus gets potted into semi-hydro.

**I should mention that I bring up pests because the nursery that’s near me is notorious for all kinds of bugs so it’s nice when I find one with healthy plants haha.

Not too big honestly, maybe 9"x18"? I recently lost a bunch of plants to thrips so I had the space and some birthday cash :P

Whoops! How silly of me, here you go:

They’re so pretty! The Cuprea is a stunner 😍

I enjoyed it but I wish I didn’t pay full price. The game is very linear and I think I beat it in about 6 hours. Also not a lot of replay value in my opinion.

I will!

Not hard at all! I got some of those seedling trays that come with the lid that allows for easy bottom watering and basically just watered once every week or two. Kept it under a grow light for 12 hours a day and had a heating pad under it set to 22° C (it was in the basement so I didn’t want it getting too cold). Now I just water it once a week and let it do its thing! It seems to really like the bonsai mix.

This will be my struggle in a year or two. I’m planning on moving a couple provinces over so I’ll need to come up with a way to move them. Probably end up taking a bunch of cuttings instead.

I’m just hoping it’s not another 12 years for the next one.

I ran the pic through Planta which says it could be a common fig, or ficus carica. I think it looks pretty similar, could be that.

They stopped issuing cards and just print it on a full 8.5"x11" piece of paper now actually lol.

Definitely spider mites, I’ve gotten rid of them by giving them a good spray down with my shower head, wiping all the leaves with damp paper towel, and then dousing the plant in miticide (i used safer’s end all, it comes in a yellow bottle). I did 3 separate treatments 3 days apart. and then kept them quarantined for a month to make sure i got em all. I managed to get rid of the mites on most of my infested plants except for my parlor palm which i ended up throwing out. There’s other, more environmentally friendly options you can google but that’s what worked for me.

Make sure you get all the nooks and crannies, including the underside of the leaves, stems, and the top of the soil. Those buggers are prolific and if you miss some then they come back quickly.

Here’s my suggestions:

dance pop: Virginia to Vegas - Casamigos

indie rock: Good Kid - From the Start

Edit: Are covers allowed? Didn’t realize the Good Kid song was one haha