With the help of The Greenhouse in Sycamore, the library has installed three propagation walls in the Adult Services department. We’ve placed them in areas where people can sit, relax, and enjoy the greenery. There are plugs nearby so you can charge your technology while recharging yourself.
Did you know that just being around plants makes us happier and healthier? According to Fran Bailey in The Healing Power of Plants: The Hero Plants that Will Love You Back:
“Today we have a greater wisdom of the healing power of plants and their extraordinary range of properties: plants can help to keep us alert, calm us when we feel stressed, add goodness to our food and bring joy and beauty to our living and working spaces.”
Not sure where to start? Every first Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM, the library holds a Plant Adopt or Swap program, sponsored by Willrett Flower Company. Check out our event calendar for the next session. Willrett provides us with a few houseplants and others are encouraged to bring in plants and propagations of plants that they don’t want, can’t take care of, or have too many of. Participants are able to take one or two new houseplants to decorate their space at home or work.
Propagating plants, as has been done to create our walls, is a way to help your plants asexually reproduce by taking cuttings. You can share your plant with others without having to give away the entire plant. If we planted and carefully nurtured the plants on our propagation walls, they’d all turn into large plants! Root Nurture Grow: The Essential Guide to Propagating and Sharing Houseplants by Caro Langdon and Rose Ray gives a great explanation about how to clip many different kinds of plants so you can share them without damaging the mother. They suggest choosing plants that are healthy and pest free, unless as a last resort, and fertilizing the plant several months before you intent to start propagating.
Once you’ve rooted and planted your propagations, you’ll need to learn how to take care of them. Practical Houseplant Book by Fran Bailey and Zia Allaway will help you not only learn how to best care for your plants, but also how to display them creatively. It also includes flow charts to help you determine what’s wrong with your plants when they’re sick and how to cure them.
Some other books at the DeKalb Public Library you may find helpful are:
- Houseplants: The Complete Guide to Choosing, Growing, and Caring for Indoor Plants by Lisa Eldred Steinkopf
- How Not to Kill Your Houseplant: Survival Tips for the Horticulturally Challenged by Veronica Peerless
- Nature Style: Cultivating Wellbeing at Home with Plants by Alana Langan
- Decorating with Plants: What to Choose, Ways to Style, and How to Make Them Thrive by Baylor Chapman
- Go Green: Plants Make People Happy by Eva Minguet
Have more questions or need some guidance? Contact the reference staff at the DeKalb Public Library at [email protected] or (815) 756-9568 ext. 2150.