I have had a set of three plants in my office that I bought from IKEA at least 5 years ago (perhaps as many as 7). Although they were chosen for their resilient nature (being varieties of cacti/succulent type plants – yes, I know, I’m no expert), for the past few years these plants have been dead, as a result of my complete lack of care for them. To begin with I watered them regularly (weekly) and they did okay but at some point I stuck them behind a sliding internal glazing panel and from then on neglect set is as I was seemingly incapable of sliding the panel open and walking a few metres to the office kitchen to get some water for them. This was the result:
Finally, on Saturday, after having it on my list of things to do for many months I bought some replacements (also from IKEA) and then this morning I removed the old plants and put the new ones in their place. I had measured the size of the previous plant pots as being 10cm and the new ones were a little smaller than this with the result that the news ones look a little hidden in the pots. However, I think they will be fine and if I can be organised enough I might get some gravel to form a base for them to stand on and to raise them up within the outer pots. So, my latest attempt at introducing a little greenery into my office isn’t perfect, but it’s defintelty an improvement on the dead ones:
and they look quite smart on the window-sill:
It remains to be seen how long these ones will survive, but I can confirm that they have been watered so they should make it through a week or two at least!
Tim O'Hare 