The Spoonie Plant Guide: Low-Maintenance Houseplants for Spoonies ft. Megan Wages of Fancy Free Nursery

Welcome to S04E09 of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast. This episode is part two of my catch-up chat with Megan Wages, my second-ever podcast guest, first wave Covid long hauler, co-owner of Fancy Free Nursery in Tampa, Florida, and the guest of last week's S04E08, Running a Small Business as a Covid Long Hauler with Megan Wages. In this episode, we talk about plants! I've become a plant lady in the last 6 years, and I've noticed that my plants tend to tell me a lot about how I'm feeling. First I noticed that the downstairs ones were fine. The upstairs ones were so sad. Turns out there's a reason for that. In Part 2 of this two-part episode, we get into the actual plant content. Specifically: what should a spoonie with limited energy, unpredictable symptoms, and a complicated relationship with energy actually grow?

The answer is: more than you think. Megan walks through her spoonie-approved plant list, propagation tips, why your Calathea's attitude is not your fault, and the thing fluoride in tap water does to your spider plant. She also answers listener questions live, talks about soils, orchids in wine decanters, and the surprisingly emotional experience of a plant that keeps coming back no matter how badly you've neglected it.

There's also a spider plant baby giveaway. Alysia won. She lives in a basement apartment and this is probably the perfect plant. I wish I had the spoons to get to the post office and send it to her. One day, my love!!! I promise!

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Snake plants and ZZ plants: the spoonie ride-or-dies
• ZZ Raven: the black plant for the goth baddies
• Pothos propagation and the hormone tip nobody talks about
• Why I am a self-described prop lifter
• The "teats" moment (you'll know it when you hear it)
• Ripsalis: if spaghetti became a plant
• Spider plants and the fluoride problem
• Burgundy rubber tree, Tineke, and the fiddle leaf fig blue sky tip
• Orchids in wine decanters: the lab aesthetic
• Alocasia: pretty, finicky, spider mite magnets
• Why Walmart plants are a gamble (the fish department story)
• LECA: the water-to-soil bridge method
• Your plant's health as a mirror for your mental health
• Listener questions answered
• Spider plant baby giveaway 🌱

LISTENER QUESTIONS ANSWERED:

• Tara's 20-year fiddle leaf fig: how to help her thrive
• Monstera propagating in water: when and how to move to soil
• Can you bring an orchid back to life?
• Best plants for a low-light basement apartment

You can find Megan

Fancy Free on Insta

Megan on TikTok

A Friend for the Long Haul

• A Friend for the Long Haul on Insta and TikTok

• Substack: https://f4lh.substack.com/

• The podcast playlist on Spotify

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I do have an Amazon gift registry that update for the summer each year. We are a blended family of 6 and all of us have disabilities. Some of our kids have complex medical issues as well as intellectual and physical disabilities, and we're increasingly neurodivergent. Summers get emotional, kids get boring, and the parents work from home without a "village" or the luxury of childcare. This summer gift registry keeps us afloat.

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