Garcia’s grandma propagates her love for plants

PHOTO: Redwood Barn Nursery, a family-owned Davis nursery, sells a variety of fruit, vegetable and flower seeds.

By Ellie Blosch

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Plants make sophomore Sofia Garcia’s bedroom special. Her simple gray walls are filled with plants hanging from the ceilings, rising from the floor and potted on a desk.

Garcia’s love for plants started when she was younger, admiring the garden and houseplants of her grandma. “I would go to my grandma’s house and even now, her whole front yard is full of plants,” Garcia said. “I always thought it looked really nice, so that always drove me to get into plants.”

Garcia decided to start her own collection back in 2020, starting with a simple pothos, a hanging house plants with green, heartshaped leaves. “It was a small plant. After a while I just started collecting more and more, just because they were fun to take care of,” Garcia said.

Since 2020, her single plant collection has increased to approximately 20 separate plants, including hanging plants, ferns and a monstera that grows outward.

After a few years, she started gifting her plants to others. “It helps me know more because I am buying new plants and telling them all of the care and it makes me do more research about them,” she said.

Garcia has also learned how to propagate her own plants. “I have a little station with cups of water, and once in a while when the plant starts getting too long for my liking, I just cut them … that’s what goes into the water and that’s where the roots start, and from there you just let the plant grow,” Garcia said.

Garcia finds her plants from several places, including Redwood Barn Nursery, a family-owned nursery in Davis. Jordan Shor, who has worked at Redwood Barn Nursery since 2020, recommends that if you are just learning about plants, to start small with a pothos.

“(Pothos) tends to be really tough and the cool thing is it’s really resistant to things like Phytophthora, which is kind of like a root rotting thing that happens,” Shor said. “They can live in pots and their root systems can be completely overgrown, but they can live in a tiny little pot. I’d say that is one of the best starter plants for people looking for house plants.”

Garcia also recommends starting off simple when starting a collection. “Do your research about the environment that it needs to be in, like if it needs a lot of sun, (or if it is) more of a shady plant, especially how often you need to water it, and if it needs a lot of humidity or not, as well of what type of soil it needs,” Garcia said.

Now that her collection has grown, Garcia can share her love of plants with her grandma. “Sometimes even now, I take some of my plants over to her and we exchange plants,” Garcia said.