House&Home
Plan Lif Donna from Pretty Cactus talks plants to enhance your conservatory.
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ith the summertime finally returning, many of us are opening the windows and propping open the doors to let the warmth and sunshine inside while we try to get ourselves outside. With all the sunlight we missed over the winter, many of us are spending more time in our conservatories, taking in the fresh
ABOUT PRETTY CACTUS
Pretty Cactus is run by Donna and her lovely team from the shop in Brooke, South Norfolk. Donna started the business in 2018, growing a passion into a business. Donna had always been a plant lover, spending hours in the garden centre and DIY stores picking up sad and reduced plants – nursing them back to health. The homegrown plants were sold at country fayres and craft markets. Before long, Donna was so busy she decided to give up her corporate job and run Pretty Cactus as a full-time venture, opening her very first shop and website to sell online. Donna now works with a team or growers and distributors in the UK and Holland to source plants, trying, where possible, to get hold of more unusual cacti, succulents, and houseplants. Donna and the Pretty Cactus team are always looking for new ways to style plants. Displaying these ideas in the shop and on social media. The Pretty Cactus shop has become an inspirational hub for plant lovers near and far who love to visit the store for ideas, plants, pots, and a bit of friendly plant chat too. www.prettycactus.co.uk Pretty Cactus Plants, Unit A, 23 High Green, Brooke, NR15 1HR
air, and dusting the cobwebs out of the corners while we prepare to start the season’s garden. However, one struggle many of us face is how to spruce up our conservatory after leaving it empty for so long. Do we introduce more décor, do we renovate, or do we change the look of it entirely? Before you pick up that hammer, let us talk about a much easier fix: houseplants. Here are some tips and suggestions on the plants that would love to live your conservatory. If you spent any time on social media during lockdown (how could you not?), then you probably saw your friends, your family members, and the friends of your friends’ family members start to collect plants. While this may have seemed like one of those faddy trends that everyone will love for just few months, I can assure you that this one is here to stay. This is because plants have been cared for and kept in the home, especially in conservatories, around the world for hundreds of years. No matter where you place a plant in your home, it automatically adds decorative touches or acts as the design centerpiece of your space without the hassle of any renovation or installation like your other home improvement projects would. Now, if you already hopped on this bandwagon… good for you – you’re halfway there. But if not, that’s okay; introducing plants into your conservatory to give more of the indoor/outdoor feel you desperately need after a cold winter is easier than you might think. There is a variety of certain plants that will love your conservatory space much more than others; you can pick and choose from these to fit your style and the size of your space without worrying if they’re fit to live in so much sunlight. If you’re just getting started with plants, the easy-to-care-for cactus will come to be your best friend. This resilient family of plants evolved in deserts, so they are already in love
with sunlight. Each species of cacti is also drought resistant, allowing you to go extended periods of time without watering them. You could even leave on holiday for a few weeks and come back to a happy cactus. Cacti are much more than the tall, prickly towers you see in western films; they come in hundreds of species, ranging from the small Baseball Cactus, all the way to the alien-like Orchid Cactus. Even if you have a small conservatory, a cactus can be placed outside in the summertime, adding a decorative touch to any garden. On the other hand, if you’re going for the more dramatic look in your conservatory space, the tall Ficus is going to be more your style. This family of plants is known for the famous Rubber Tree, a plant kept in homes around the world for its stunningly smooth and shiny leaves and commanding presence. And yes, this is the actual plant used to make rubber. While most Ficus species require regular, hands-on care, they can reward you with consistent new growth during the growing season that can reach to heights of multiple meters tall. Depending upon your aesthetic, you can find a Ficus of any size, shape, color, or pattern to fit your conservatory or any other space in your home. In the end, the plants you bring into your home is completely up to you. Keep in mind the level of care and dedication some require and always take advice from the professionals because it could save the lives of your plants and save you the money you may otherwise spend replacing dead plants. Your conservatory will thank you for it.
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