How to be the ultimate Plant Parent

Ever since she was a little girl, Dr Nora Mutalima knew she had a passion for plants.

"I've always loved plants," she says. "One of my earliest memories with indoor plants was propagating an African violet.

"I remember cutting off the little leaf, putting it in an empty spice bottle and getting some aluminium foil for the top."

Known as 'The Leca Queen' within her online community for her use of clay LECA balls, Mutalima has now written a book called Plant Parenting for Busy People to help teach people about caring for indoor plants.

While she showed an early passion for plants, this was quickly relegated to the sidelines as Mutalima grew up.

"Life becomes life. You go to uni and do all sorts of things, and things fall by the wayside."

After growing up in Zambia, Mutalima lived all around the world before moving to Australia in 2011. Pregnant at the time with her second child, Mutalima found herself buying an African violet.

"I thought 'oh, I'd love a plant,' and there's just something about African violets that I love."

But it wasn't until she was in the midst of Melbourne COVID lockdowns that her journey back to plants really flourished.

Plant fails

While she may be somewhat of an expert now, Mutalima had to learn the ins and outs of indoor plants the hard way.

"Even with my previous knowledge, and my thirst for caring for indoor plants, I struggled taking care of plants," she says. "I could not keep my plants alive."

She recalls the death of a fiddle leaf fig named Molly that led her down a path of self-discovery.

"I just couldn't understand what was going on and I only started becoming successful with plants when I sat back and said 'obviously it's a me problem'."

From that point on, Mutalima took a long hard look at her approach to plants and began to make some changes.

"I went into detail about how much light they were getting, when was the last time I fertilised them," she says.

"Once I started to get a handle on things like that is when I started to see success, and I think that's similar to a lot of other people out there."

Know thyself

When it comes to the most common mistake people make when approaching indoor plants, Mutalima says it's a failure to know oneself and be realistic about what you can do.

"The most important thing to know is yourself: what kind of person you are, how committed are you to projects, and what you are actually willing to do.

"If you are not willing to have a humidifier in your house, or if you're not willing to have grow lights in your house, then you really need to rethink the kinds of plants you want because the two have to go together."

To help address these common mismatches, Mutalima's new book includes a section where readers can identify their parenting profile and match it with an appropriate plant profile.

"Plants are living things and they have specific requirements," she says. "So in order for you to be successful with specific plants, you have to understand that one plant and what it needs."

Know thy plant

By teaching people to self-reflect on their abilities and approach to plant rearing, Mutalima hopes this will result in less plant deaths.

"There's a lot of disposability that's gone into the indoor plant space now where people think 'oh, well it's dead, I'll just go to Bunnings and get another one.'

"We can reframe that attitude into 'how can I properly care for the plant' as well as an understanding that plants are living things."

This leads to Mutalima's top tip for aspiring plant parents out there.

"Know the plant and what it needs," she says. "We owe a duty of care to our indoor plants to give them the best that we can and do right by them.

"The plant didn't walk to your door."

Plant Parenting for Busy People by Dr Nora Mutalima is available for preorder now.