Like many of you I cannot help but notice office, waiting area, and commercial plants. Some are luckier than others! They do not all have WillC to help them. I have a couple to show and invite others to add.

Schefflera actinophylla I think this cultivar is named ' Needs resuscitation'

This Ficus in a huge clay pot surely has not been repotted or anything for all the time I have come to this office 10 or 12 years or more I can't even remember. They do amputate to keep it from attacking people. Can you see the ickly puddle in the pot? Ficus ' Let me outta Here'

Thanks for the compliment, Sally! I often go to offices where I don't work and grimace when I see the condition of the plants. I have to resist the impulse to get out my pruners and trim and make some care suggestions. My gf often says do you ever not notice plants wherever we go?!

The overgrown Rubber Tree makes me itchy to spend 15 minutes straightening it in its pot, rotating it 180 degrees and pruning it back by about a third. 15 minutes and it would look so much better! Oh, well. (Can you send me the address of the Rubber Tree?! Maybe I'll stop by.)

This, tho, I am happy with. It's one of mine. One of those florist planters about three years on.

I can hear Clint Eastwood whistling now LOL wasn;t he in that movie?

yes, I liked that movie, once. and Lee Marvin? and.. Thanks for 'getting' the reference ha

Great job with the dish garden, Sally! An excellent demonstration that the individual plants do not have to be separated to survive and thrive.

Do you work in a library or in a bookstore?

Thanks! It lost a sprig of Maranta - not a great surprise.

Library. Very dry air, inappropriate unseasonal temperature swings, but lots of bright artificial light and sometimes brief sunlight from a skylight or window. The dry air makes it hard to overwater. We may be closed more weeks now, I am hoping my management will throw them outside and let me just bring them home. But considering everything, if they don't , and the plants don't survive, that's minor.

A local hospital has some really enormous and healthy looking things in a waiting area. Philodendron? Huge spathiphyllum? I forget what all. I hope I have no reason to go there for a long time, too.

I always worry about what kind of care I'm getting at a health care facility that can't keep a plant in good shape!
I've been volunteering to care for office and lobby plants in a local facility. I finally have them looking good, but now they're not letting volunteers in at all. Totally appropriate, I hope all the people are fine, and I'll be looking forward to getting the plants tuned up again eventually.

Yes we are all stressed by this totally unexpected far reaching turn of events, no? May it roll like water off the back of ducks and thunder off the ears of man

agreed, Gina.

Are you a librarian, Sally? My gf is and her library closed last week.

I have hundreds of plants that I care for in a variety of NYC locations, some of them for nearly 30 years. But we are all now homebound and thousands of plants in commercial spaces will soon die. Sad to think about, but absolutely essential in these unprecedented and critical times.

I wish everyone good health and safety! Stay home if you can.

Ah, Will, I am sorry I hadn't thought about you being cut off from your clients. It will add another element of sadness to the recovery.

I'm officially a 'library associate ' in this state. I don't have a master of library science, just an unrelated bachelor. So I get to do much of what the Librarians do, but don't supervise and am not the first line management when the public restroom is a mess. I'm sure your GF has stories about public libraries.

Dang it, now I realize this thread is poorly timed. Most people will have nothing to post but sad plants.
Sorry!!!

But we can talk about experiences. Or anything. Or nothing. I'm not going anywhere.

Found this is a waiting room today. It looked pitiful a few months ago. I am glad to see it looking a bit better.

That is what is crazy here....we are now under a mandatory 'stay at home' order starting at midnight. But the places like Home Depot, Lowes and Ace Hardware are considered 'essential infrastructure' and will remain open. SO I can go there and get garden stuff?? Doesn;t actually make sense.

Will you need to do a video chat with your folks and help them pull the plants through. Offices and stuff are remaining open to the workers to come in and do essential work, but they can;t have customers come in.

@sallyg - Librarians are the best! Well read and educated and always helpful. I don't think there are any bad librarians. Lots of not so good library patrons, however!

The famous lions outside the entrance to the NYPL are sadly sitting with bright red signs around their necks that read CLOSED.

It has been an interesting week figuring out how to reorganize our lives from home. Getting food and essential supplies (like toilet paper!) and exercise and staying in touch with other humans are all new challenges. Masks and disposable gloves are the only attire that matter. Deserted city streets. Keeping 6 feet from everyone else. And constant had washing. I expect dermatologists will be overwhelmed with raw skin treatments after this is all over!

But there are still lots of folks caring for their houseplants and that is keeping me busy. I just had a call from Toronto about a White Bird. We chatted some and he said the good thing about the quarantine is that he has been spending more time with his family and really enjoying it.

Pluses and minuses. Will we ever be the same?

@Gina1960 - I have been back and forth about continuing my business. For office and residential plants that I service for them to survive, my service is essential. But my service is certainly not essential in the way that medical and emergency personnel are. Being in the high-risk category due to my age, I am not eager to expose myself unnecessarily. More importantly, I certainly don't want to increase anyone else's risk. My son warns me that I need to stay out of the hospital because of the already shortage of beds. On the other hand, I have access to many of my client locations even though no one is working there so the exposure would be minimal. I have suspended my service for this week but I am considering starting up again next week while the plants are still salvageable.

I have done some FaceTime plant consultations but most of my office clients don't have anyone on-site to follow instructions. But thanks for the suggestion.

Are you staying home now? If so, how are you coping?

@WillC you don;t look old enough to be in the high risk age group. I have been staying home since it started, but I am actually quite reclusive anyway. We have a small group of friends that we see, but I have a lot of free time to myself to work in the greenhouse, hard, hang at the pool etc. The hardest thing right now is that everything except essential services are closed. Can;t get my hair cut. My dentist cancelled me. My GP cancelled me for my annual check up. Restaurants are only take out. We do like to go out on the weekends, but we are hanging by the pool until further notice, which is ok I guess its 90 F here today

Thanks for the compliment, Gina. That photo is a few years old now, but even then I was in the vulnerable category. What matters is that I don't feel old because I stay very active. Usually the gym 3 times per week, but I am now having to do make do at home with bands and tubes, etc.

It's really great that you have such a good hobby and friends to occupy yourself with. So many folks depend on bars and clubs and other social environments and have trouble with isolation. As long as you don't have any immediate medical or dental issues, I'm sure your docs will be there when we get the all-clear. I now have such little direct contact with people that I don't have to concern myself with shaving, haircuts, and other appearance concerns. If this goes on too long I will look like a homeless person!

Stay well!