I grew up around plants.

I remember in our sitting room then, we had ceramic pots on the walls with Pothos which used to be watered once a while.

Then, at the balcony of the flat we stayed in, we had lillies, ferns and some other plants I can’t remember right now in painted clay pots.

Sadly, my brother and I only used the plants then to “cook” for our imaginary friends.

Fast forward to decades later….

I took up acrylic painting during the pandemic mainly to keep my sanity being stuck at a place and I believe the houseplant fever was a part of the sanity preservation measures.

One weekend when I visited my parents, I found two of the ceramic wall pots they’d used for the Golden pothos in the store room and that got me wanting to own a pothos plant.

As with most of my obsessions, I got a pothos not long after, which I put in my bedroom.

I’d give a list of what I have at the moment and how I got them:

• Pothos: I got this from a vendor I found on Jiji.
• Golden Pothos: I got this from three sources, first I took a cutting from my favourite coffee shop. A friend also gave me some cuttings of a variety that had huge leaves. I’m training the different pothos to climb all over my balcony
• Coleus: I was taking my daily morning walk when I saw a gardener pruning this lovely purple leaved plant. I asked him if he was going to throw them away and he said yes so I took some.
• Aloe Vera: My mum has these growing wild at her backyard. I heard they are medicinal so I took some.
• Leaf of life: Same as the Aloe vera. My mum has a huge bush of them.
• Philodendron: The person I got my first pothos from gave this to me as a gift after my Aunt passed late 2021.
• Cactii: I always wanted these and later got two from a seller in Jos, I haven’t transplanted them  a year later.
• Snake plant: I have different varieties and got them all from cuttings, from my Uncle’s house and also my office. If you take a mature leaf, cut a v at the bottom and put in water or soil, it roots and forms a new plant.
• Tea Rose, Larkdaisy: I got these with the Cactii from the Jos vendor.
• Fern: We had these growing up and one day, taking a walk, I saw someone selling it and bought it.
• Spider Plant: I got this from cuttings.
• Pomegranate: This was from someone on Facebook. I actually wanted a dwarf guava tree but he didn’t have that so I got this.
• Aglanoema: I went out one evening and saw this one thriving with no care in the world in a very dark place. That’s my kind of plant (low maintenance) so I got one the next weekend.
• Cockscomb: I was at a company I do business with and saw this with the bright red flowers. I couldn’t resist and had to ask to take one of the small plantlets in the soil.
• Large Aloe Vera, Spearmint, Cuban Oregano: These were gifts from a friend.

I’ve come a long way from the child who played with plants in an imaginary kitchen. Now, they fill my space with color, life, and a sense of tranquility. Each plant tells a story, a testament to the journey I’ve undertaken to collect them all. And while I can’t promise I’m done adding to my collection, I’m excited to see where my houseplant journey takes me next.