A few weeks ago I was cramming for my classes and forgot to water my plants on a few of the hottest days. A few of them became super brittle and had all the leaves dried out. My boyfriend said it was a lost cause and opted to throw them away, I refused.

After a few weeks of intense love, watering and sun, my tiny babies have sprouted! (AKA- Lilac Bush) haha




Every time I'm able to nurture a plant back to health I get so excited and proud. I'm pretty new at gardening so my accomplishements feel bigger than they are. xD Does anyone else get this way?

Definitely! Although I suspect that's more because I get excited/feel a sense of accomplishment anytime I overcome a challenge or get something to work (or keep it alive, in the case of a plant!) when my expectations were for a poor outcome. Of course, that has the flip side of getting rather frustrated when things don't go as expected despite the amount of effort to ensure that they do!

I buy many rescue plants and some have looked like on death's door. So I do this all the time I bought 5 today for 7 $ that look like crap!!

One thing I do that helps a lot is as soon as I get plant home I clean it up. Then I soak overnight in a container filled with Plant Starter/UpStart.

In a few weeks I usually have a nice looking plant. Best one this year so far was a hanging basket of Calibrachoa. Most peeps would have tossed it in the compost heap. I paid 3 $ for a 19 $ plant. Now it is one of my loveliest on my deck. And from experience I know I can over-winter in my garage so get to enjoy next year too.

Oooh- that's a good idea!! I'll have to make sure the next time I save a plant to soak it. I need to invest in more buckets xD

I've saved a few plants but in the same week I purchased a new butterfly bush and it completely died on me. The frustration of not knowing how to save it can be so stressful sometimes

When you forget to water or miss a plant and the leaves turn brown and/or fall off. Don't toss it. If you keep watering regularly - don't overdue it - you have (in my experience) a > than 50 % chance it will revive and throw out new leaves. Been there and done that.

These 3 Christmas cactus (?) plants where given to me yesterday.

The largest is in very poor condition. They have been soaked overnight in plain water.

There is an improvement to one section on the right side.

Today I plan on watering in a 1/4 cup of Azomite, a type of rock dust.

At what point should I trim and transplant?

The 2 smaller pots have done well with the overnight and I will pot them up with fresh soil with some Azomite in it.

Another question; my main focus of plants are caudiciforms which I use a very fast draining, gritty soil mix, what soil mix is best for these plants?

After that overnight jolt in water, you want to be careful. These plants HATE water! Literally.
That soil mix would probably be great.