Posts by Kathryn Watkins

If I had to come up with one word I associate with calatheas, it would probably be dynamic. These plants feature loud, attention-grabbing colors and patterns that you can’t miss. The spots, strokes, and stripes often have a hand-painted quality about them. The diversity between the different species in the Calathea family is really astounding, leaving you with a multitude of different looking Calatheas to choose from. In addition to their appearance, I would also say that Calatheas have a rather dynamic personality. These plants like to move and wave at fluctuations in light and temperature. Just look up “calathea time lapse” and marvel at the way they noticeably move throughout the day.

Originally from South America, these tropical plants thrive best as houseplants in an environment that is relatively warm and humid. These plants love to be kept moist, but not left soggy. They tend to get a bad rap for being fussy plants, but really if you give them enough humidity, water, and the proper lighting, they aren’t terribly difficult plants, and any extra effort is certainly worth it for the reward of such diversely vibrant foliage.

Scoop any calathea type for 20% off all this week (May 26 – June 2). You can also enter to win one this week in store, or online through our  Instagram and Facebook accounts. Winner must be able to pick up in store.

Quick Tips for Calathea:

• Water when the top inch or few inches of soil becomes dry
  • It’s important to allow this inch to dry so the plant does not feel too soggy or experience root-rot from overwatering
  • Remember: Calathea have a lot of natural leaf movement so drooping leaves may not always be the best indication that they need watering—be sure to be feeling the topsoil to gauge how dry they are. When in doubt, use a water meter.
• These plants love having lots of good humidity
  • Consider keeping a humidifier near your plants, or using a pebble tray of water to create more humidity for your calathea
• Consider using filtered or distilled water
  • These sensitive beauties will appreciate it
• These planter prefer medium to bright indirect light
  • Dry, brown tips can be a sign of too much harsh light
• Calathea are generally considered non-toxic to cats and dogs

Looking for more? Check out some of our other plant posts on our blog.

Most people have seen a pothos before. Maybe you have seen one strung in impressive swags across the walls of your favorite Mexican haunt, in the hardware store plant section, or maybe in a relative’s home growing up. Many people recognize the often brightly colored, trailing houseplant. This particular variety of pothos that we are so excited to be sharing with you all this week, the pothos “silver splash,” however, is a little less common than the often instantly recognizable green queen, or golden pothos.

And not only is this plant beautiful, it’s really relatively easy to care for. In fact, this native-to-Asia plant has been considered invasive in areas. If you want a plant to grow for you, what’s better than something with a tendency to take off and take over! Scoop up one of these beautiful, hardy plants for 20% off all this week (May 5 – May 12). You can also enter to win on this week in store, or on Instagram and Facebook accounts. Winner must be able to pick up in store.

Quick Tips for your Pothos Silver Splash:

• Bright Indirect light is definitely best for this plant!
  • It will tolerate medium-to-lower light conditions also, but may not grow as quickly
• Allow the pothos to go mostly dry before watering again
  • Too much soggy soil on a pothos can cause the roots to rot
  • When you do water your pothos, do so thoroughly before allowing it to dry again.
  • The pothos can also be grown and thrive in water.
• Use a well-draining soil for your pothos
  • These plants do not like to be soggy!
• These plants are considered toxic, so keep out of reach of any curious eaters
• Bonus tip: Pothos are very easy propagators. You can cut a leaf right at the node, stick it in water, and watch the roots begin to grow!

Looking for more? Check out some of our other plant posts on our blog.

This week we are excited to introduce you to pilea peperomioides! This plant has always been fascinating to me! Just a few years ago, the pilea peperomioides were nearly impossible to find. People were just discovering this quirky plant with vibrant green lily pad-shaped leaves, and while they wanted it, the supply was scarce. Growers had yet to start propagating these fun plants in large quantities, so the prices skyrocketed. At its peak, these were sometimes going for $70 per four-inch plant! The good news is, these plants are easy to propagate, and the prices have since stabilized since supply has caught up with demand.

These plants hail from the Yunnan Province in China, and grow on the forest floors. In the 1940s, a missionary brought a clipping of the pilea peperomioide from China to Norway, and it grew in popularity across Scandinavia. After that, this unusual plant with succulent-like tendencies was on the rise! It eventually attracted the attention of plant enthusiasts in the United States. At Retreat, we love the fun, personality packed pilea peperomioides!

Nicknames for this plant include: UFO plant, missionary plant, pancake plant, and Chinese money tree.

For this week (April 22^nd– April 29^th) we are thrilled to offer our customers 20% off the purchase of any size pilea peperomioides. You can also enter to win on this week in store, or on Instagram and Facebook accounts. Winner must be able to pick up in store.

Quick Tips for your Pilea Peperomioides:

• Bright Indirect light is best!
  • You can get away with less, but your plant will not grow as full or as fast as it would with bright-indirect
  • Remember, no direct sunlight for this plant
• Water your plant like you would a succulent
  • Keep lightly moist watering when your plant feels a quarter to half dry down the soil
  • These plants prefer distilled water. Leaving a jug of tap water out on your counter for about 24 hours should be sufficient (this removes enough of the chlorine from the water—which the pilea dislikes).
  • These plants prefer a more arid environment
  • Water more frequently in the summer months, and less in winter
• Well-draining soil is best for these plants, as they don’t like to be in soggy soil!
  • Consider using a succulent-friendly mix, or adding perlite to your regular potting soil for more aeration
• Turning your plant is especially important when it comes to the pilea peperomioides
  • These plants tend to lean heavily toward the sun—we recommend turning your plant at least a couple times per week to keep it standing tall.

Looking for more? Check out some of our other plant posts on our blog.

A few weeks ago, we posted a picture of a little orange spring cactus in bloom, and you guys loved it! We quickly sold most of our small spring cactus that we had in stock. This week, when there were several more available at our grower, we had to get them and make the spring cactus our plant of the week! For this week (April 14^th– April 20^th) we are thrilled to offer our customers 20% off the purchase of any size spring cactus. You can also enter to win on this week in store, or on Instagram and Facebook accounts. Winner must be able to pick up in store.

The spring cactus (also called the Easter cactus) has smooth, round-tipped leaves, and blooms star shaped flowers between March and May. This plant is also epiphytic (like air plants, or stag horn ferns that !we have talked about on the blog before), meaning that it grows on other structures or plants in nature. In this case, these beautiful plants grow up high in the trees of the Brazilian forests—amazing right?!

Quick Tips on the Spring Cactus:

• These plants love bright-indirect sunlight best
  • Despite the name cactus, avoiding directly sunlight for these plants is important
• Allow the plant to dry out in-between watering
  • Be careful to not over-water your Easter cactus
  • Use a well draining soil, like a cactus or succulent mix with plenty of perlite to help with not over watering
• Interestingly, these plants enjoy a little humidity—they often come from the humid forests of Brazil
  • If your home is dry, consider misting your cactus, or occasionally using a pebble tray to boost humidity for the plant
• Fertilizing your plant is welcome, but timing is important
  • In order to not interrupt your plants lovely blooming, wait 1-2 months after blooms have died off to fertilize
• This plant is considered to be non-toxic to cats and dogs just like it’s cousin the Christmas cactus.
  • Ingestion of this plant can, however, cause stomach upset in pets.

Want to read more? Check out our post on the Christmas cactus here.

That’s right! We would love to chat with you about any of your office or event plant needs. Ask us about our discount for bulk purchasing with us.

Recently, we were delighted to work with a local business in creating a plant package perfect for their moral-boosting plant day project. Their company was moving, and they gifted each of their employees a 2” plant and a small pot that they could plant themselves. They took some time allowing each employee to pick out a pot and plant they liked, and let them get their hands dirty potting it.

The employees could then keep the plants on their desk for a little cheery presence during the workweek. We just loved this idea, and thought other businesses might, too! What a great way to reward your employees and community build at the same time.

(See the pictures below of some of their fun choices.)

These small pots and plants would also make adorable wedding favors which you could have your guests pot, or we could pot for you.

In addition to doing small plants and pots, we can also help you out with any of your arrangement needs. Are you getting married or hosting an event? We love doing arrangements for centerpieces and special occasions! Bring us your inspiration pictures and we will help you create the right arrangements to fit your needs and budget. We can help with arrangement orders both big and small. Succulent arrangements are great because they last quite a bit longer than flowers, and brighten up any space!

Arrangements are great for:

• Wedding Centerpieces
• Office Decor
• Special Occasions ( i.e. birthdays, mother’s day, anniversaries)
• Get-well soon gifts
• Housewarming
• Graduation
• Or, any other occasion you would usually send flowers.

Send us an e-mail at retreatinteriors@gmail.com for more information, or to get a quote on any arrangements or plant package!

One of the most frequent questions we receive at Retreat is what plants we have in store that are considered pet safe. The truth is, most of the plants we carry are toxic to your furry friends. To help, we’ve come up with a guide to help you determine what plants are non-toxic to cats and dogs. We hope that this guide can be a starting point to finding out what plants might work best in your home!

Please remember that while these plants are considered safe for pets by the ASPCA, these plants should never be part of a pet’s diet. The ingestion of any of these plants may still cause your furry friend stomach discomfort, vomiting, or diarrhea. However, these plants are not considered life threatening if ingested. We always recommend keeping all plants safely out of reach of curious eaters, even non-toxic plants. Remember we are not experts, and this guide is to be used as a starting point. Please consult your vet, and do your own research on any plants you purchase.

Plants considered non-toxic to pets that we frequently carry, in alphabetical order:

• Aluminum Plant
• Baby’s Tears
• Bamboo
• Banana Plant
• Calatheas
o Calathea Lancifolia, Calathea Madallion, Calathea Ornata
• Candycorn Plant
• Christmas Cactus
• (Most) Ferns
o Bird’s Nest Crispy Wave, Lemon Button Fern, Maidenhair Fern, Rabbit’s foot fern, Staghorn Fern
o AVOID Plumosa and Sprengeri Fern
• Haworthia
• Kentia Palm
• Little Fantasy Pep
• Money Tree
• Neanthe Bella Palm
• Nerve Plant
• Old Man Cactus
• Peperomia
• Pepper Face
• Pink Polka Dot Plant
• Prayer Plant
• Rose Bush
• Spider Plant
• Swedish Ivy
• Purple Waffle Plant
• Wax Plant

Almost all information from this blog post is provided by ASPCA, please visit their website for more information on pet-safe plants.

This week we are so excited to feature another philodendron. If you’ve walked into Retreat, I’m sure you noticed we just love philodendrons! They are wonderful, easy-to-care for, leafy green plants! Just getting started on your plant journey? Philodendron is a great plant for novices and experts alike. And this week’s philodendron is the adorable heartleaf philodendron (also called the sweetheart philodendron). The leaves of this incredible plant resemble hearts. What’s not to love about a plant that mimics hearts?

What makes these plants so wonderful is that they thrive in medium-to-bright light conditions, but will tolerate even lower light actually quite well. They also need less water than other tropical plants we have in-store, meaning they won’t die at the first hint of neglect. This is a very non-finicky plant that won’t demand a lot of fussing.

These philodendrons are also great in their versatility. You can have them in a container on a table, in a hanging pot, and they also can trail. For this week (March 17, 2019-March 23, 2019), we will be offering 20% off of any heartleaf philodendron purchase. Take advantage of this sale while it lasts, or enter to win a heartleaf philodendron on our Instagram and Facebook accounts. Read more about our past plant features by browsing the Meet our Plants series on the blog!

Quick Facts on the Heartleaf Philodendron:

• This plant is lighting flexible
  • If you let the heartleaf philodendron choose its own lighting conditions, it would pick something with bright-indirect light, or medium-light
  • However, philodendrons tolerate low-light conditions quite well. They may not grow quite as much with lower light
  • What they cannot tolerate is too much direct sunlight—this can burn their leaves
• Water once the first-half of soil has dried out
  • When you water your Philodendron, do so thoroughly
  • You may notice your philodendron looking a little wilted. If this happens, water, and your plant should perk right back up
  • Because this plant needs less water than some of our other tropical plants, and bounces back after some water-neglect, it is a great plant for beginners just starting their houseplant collection
• When potting, use a soil with a lot of drainage
• Feel free to spritz the leaves in addition to your regular watering routine
• This plant is considered TOXIC by the ASPCA, so keep out of reach of any curious eaters

We’ve all heard the age-old idiom: Money doesn’t grow on trees. So how did this bright-green, braided plant earn the nickname money tree? Well, it goes back to an ancient Chinese legend of a poor man who, in desperation, prays for money. Instead of receiving a direct benefaction, he happens upon an odd tree. He then uses the tree seeds to grow more trees, and eventually he becomes rich from the propagation. To this day, the money tree is gifted for good luck, or prosperity. It’s also why you will also find them in offices and places of business.

Also called Pachira Aquatica, this tropical plant makes for an easy houseplant choice. We would even recommend them to those just starting out with houseplants. There are a couple conditions the money tree needs to have in order to thrive. Yet, overall, they are pretty hardy, and tend to bounce back after occasional neglect. The Money Tree enjoys quite a bit of humidity. In nature, these trees are often found near rivers and swamplands in South America. If you cannot put your money tree in a steamy bathroom, or other high-humidity area, using a pebble tray of water can be a good alternative.

The money tree will be our plant of the week for March 10, 2019 – March 16, 2019. Enter to win a money plant during this week on our Instagram and Facebook accounts. For this week only, we will also be giving discounts for 20% off any money tree purchase. Read more about our past plant features by browsing the Meet our Plants series on the blog!

Quick Facts about the Money Tree:

• These trees enjoy bright, indirect light
  • However, they can tolerate some direct sun exposure, and even some medium-light conditions
• Keep the Money Tree moist, but never soggy
  • Like most of our tropical plants, water your tree once the first layer of soil has dried (about 1-2” down)
  • These plants love moderate-to-high humidity
• Remember to rotate your plant, especially if you have it against a wall
  • Rotating your plant allows it to get equal access to the sun, and grow evenly
• These plants don’t like drafts
  • Keep away from opening doors, drafty windows, and air vents whenever possible
• Fertilize once a month during growing season
• Occasionally, gently wipe the leaves of your plant with a wet cloth to keep leaves shiny and looking their best!
• Good Drainage is very important for these plants
• ASPCA considers the Money Tree non-toxic to pets