A homely flower swap

Ok. Buying lavender for my living room windows wasn’t one of my biggest successes, I must confess. Admittedly, it wasn’t a very conscious choice, either. It was merely due to the fact that they didn’t have much else in terms of what I wanted in plants when I was at the florist. And, I was quite eager to swap out my drab, lifeless pair of green plants that I had managed to put through a slow and certain death during the winter, as it were. Most of my plants are doomed to head in that direction sooner or later, I’m afraid.* But these last greens that got replaced by the lavender… Well, I seemed to just stop watering them altogether. No wonder they did not make it. The ones I had before those, though, I managed to keep for a couple of years, believe it or not. If you choose not to believe me, I can’t say I blame you. I can hardly believe it myself.

*(I even bought a group of small succulents this summer, but they all suffered a rather quick death too, I am afraid…)

In theory, I wanted to buy the same kind of plants again. The ones that lasted two seasons, I mean. It worked once, so it might work again, right? Sadly, my local florist does not have the china doll in stock, so I decided to go with two lavish spider plants instead. Who knows when they’ll restock, and I am just too impatient having to wait to put up fresh plants in my windows. There is, however, one reason I dread parting with my withered and gone lavenders. I’ve heard good things about their magic powers to keep bugs away. And, quite frankly, this summer I have not seen too many bugs in our apartment at all. I’d like to imagine that it’s fewer than it has been previous years. And this, my friends, I credit to the lavenders. It did serve as a great excuse to keep withered flowers in my windows, though. “Withered flowers, you say? Uhm, but they have a purpose you see…”That’s why, as much as this plant exchange is way overdue, I’m kind of dreading the letting go of the lavenders. Will the absence of the lavenders make the return of the flies and mosquitos? I hope not. And, I will try my best to keep it from happening altogether. That is why – I am replacing the potted plants, but I am keeping the lavender. I am cutting the lavender flowers from their stems and putting them in small, airy bags that I will keep hanging above the new plants.

A win-win arrangement, I should say; the windows will be adorned by fresh, new plants, and the subtle bags of lavender will keep exerting their powers to keep the insects away. ♥︎