get in touch with your true nature

Plant Care Tips

Please note: After bringing home a plant that has been living indoors for awhile, it’s important to avoid putting them in too much sun too quickly or else they can burn. If you want to keep your plants outside, start by offering them a few hours of bright indirect light for a week or more while avoiding any direct sunlight.

Succulent care - Creó offers a variety of succulents including highly-sought cacti in regular forms and monstrose, Euphorbias, Jades (Crassula), Aeoniums, Hoyas, Echeverias, with more to come.

For succulents to thrive they need fast draining soil and pots with ample drainage holes, several hours of bright indirect light, and to be watered only after the soil has been allowed to dry for a couple of days, especially in humid Houston.

Make a note of where the plants are growing when you purchase them - indoors or outdoors - and the type of light they’re receiving. While a lot of succulents can tolerate full sun or even love it, it is important to gradually increase their time in full exposure, especially during the hottest months, or else they can get sunburned.

To increase drainage in your soil, you can add locally sourced drainage materials like pumice, turface, and expanded shale - ideally a combination of 2 or more. The higher the ratio of non-organic (drainage) materials to organic materials (brown stuff - soil), the faster your pots will dry out.

All succulents flower and some are fragrant!

For more on succulent care and propagation by fellow Houstonian Andrea Afra, check out SucsForYou.com.

Air Plant care - Tillandsias are called ‘Air Plants’ because they don’t rely on soil to put their roots down. They are epiphytes, and in the wild they grow on tree branches, cacti, rocks, buildings, power lines and other surfaces that dry quickly and allow them to cling on to with anchoring roots.

Water and nutrient uptake is accomplished through their covering of specialized cells called trichomes.

Xeric vs Mesic Tillandsias - Xeric air plants are native to more arid regions with sunnier exposure. They tend to be lighter in color and fuzzier as they feature a thicker covering of trichomes to help them collect moisture from the air.

Mesic air plants are native to more humid, tropical regions with more shade and tend to be darker green and smoother since they require fewer trichomes due to the consistent humidity in their habitat.

Xeric Tillandsias like T. tectorum, T. xerographica, and T. ionantha enjoy regular misting weekly or so with a monthly soaking.

Mesic species such as T. bulbosa, T. caput-medusae, and T. andreana require more thorough watering so soaking weekly is more to their liking. Most of the Tillandsias currently for sale at Creó are mesic varieties.

After watering, allow them to dry upside down on a towel so no water remains trapped down inside the leaves, much like we avoid allowing water to rest in the ‘crown’ of orchid leaves. With both methods of watering, you can add a diluted balanced liquid fertilizer monthly or so.

They’ll be happy to live tucked into a piece of grapevine wood or driftwood in bright indirect light, or even just placed on a window sill. Avoid terrariums as they don’t provide good air circulation and can trap moisture between the leaves.

And yes, Tillandsias do flower!

Tropicals and Ivy care - Creó has several varieties of lovely ‘house plants’ including Philodendron, Monstera, Pothos, Marantas and Ivy. Each prefers bright indirect light, high humidity, and for their soil to be kept moist but not soaking wet. Tropicals thrive in warmer temperatures while ivies are going to be happier in cooler environments.

A balanced diluted fertilizer can be applied during the warmer growing seasons but cut back during fall and winter since they’re not expending energy into putting out new growth.

Staghorn Fern care - Staghorn ferns (Platycerium bifurcatum) are epiphytes, attaching to tree trunks and branches with their anchoring roots. Provide them with filtered sunlight near a window or dappled shade outdoors, and protect them from direct sun.

They like a lot of the same care as air plants - soak their moss baskets for 15-20 minutes twice a month or so and mist the leaves between deeper waterings. They will appreciate a misting with diluted fertilizer once a month during the warmer months.

Sarracenia care - These carnivorous ‘Pitcher plants’ are native to sunny, boggy wetlands. They thrive in bright outdoor light with consistently moist soil. The easiest way to keep them happy is to provide a shallow tray of water (1/2 inch deep) for their pots to sit in. They do require tastier waters like rain, distilled, reverse-osmosis.

Fill their pitchers 1/4 full of water to help them digest any bugs that are trapped inside. This is how Sarracenias obtain their food so it will save you the task of fertilizing. Remove dead leaves and pitchers to prevent mold and diseases.

Keep them cool (35–50°F) in winter to allow proper dormancy, which is essential for healthy growth and flowering the following season. A cool period of 6-8 weeks should be long enough to keep their growth cycle on track.

Dracaena/Sansevieria care - These are great indoor plants, requiring less light and water than most tropicals. While the ‘Snake plants’ are the most well known type, Dracaena is a highly collectible genus with dozens of species to choose from.

Water 2-3 times a month allowing the soil to dry for a couple of days between waterings. Fertilizer can be offered monthly via waterings or you can use a time released version that is mixed into the soil.