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Damian Adamski has 200 houseplants in his Papamoa East home, and that’s just how he likes it.
Damian Adamski is happily together, but he has advice for single, straight men: “If you are a man and single, and you want to meet women: Start collecting houseplants.”
The Papamoa East man bought his 200th plant on Wednesday, and knows he has spent thousands on the hobby over the past two years.
Adamski, a quality assurance specialist, is a member of “six or seven” online houseplant groups, where he’s surpassed about 10 to one by women, but that’s of no importance to him.
“Where I sit is in a very small minority as a straight man. But I am there for the plants; I make contact with anyone about plants. ”
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It was his partner, Lisa O’Neill, who bought him his first plant, a bamboo from Puerto Rico, two years ago.
A turning point came when she gave him a calathea (or prayer plant) two Christmases ago. It was wrapped in a “pocket light bulb thing”.
“It looked great, but died slowly. I started Google and YouTube (to learn how to take care of it) and it just opened up this whole forest world out there. ”
That calathea came to life again after cutting off all the dead leaves. He has since bought at least 15 other kalatheas.
Adamski says O’Neill tolerates his hobby. “She keeps saying, ‘At least it’s not an addiction to meth or anything like that.’ It’s an addiction, especially if you go down the hoya route: Once you start collecting, you can’t stop. ”
His 200th plant is a rooted cutting of a variegated Hoya obovata for which he paid $ 75. “I can no longer go to Miter 10 or Bunnings because I bought all their plants,” says Adamski, “so I mostly buy on Marketplace on Facebook, some through Trade Me.”
Damian Adamski
Adamski’s Philodendron micans benefit from growing lights.
Adamski, 52, says he loves the hobby because it is peaceful. “I sometimes tell people that this is my way of helping climate change. I can’t have a forest or plant too many trees outside, but I can have all these plants inside, as meaningless as they are. ”
He says it’s also a connection to his mother, who died about 15 years ago, and who was a keen gardener.
“She was a plant nut, mostly outside with wonderful gardens, plants and trees.”
Hoyas especially reminds him of his mother and her ability to care for them so they can flourish.
He says his collection has not already been expanded.
“I’m waiting for my stepson to move out so I can take over his room,” he jokes. “I do not express him. I’m just saying ‘Ooh, I can have some nice plants in here.’
His advice to other wannabe plant parents? Use YouTube to research the care of plants you purchase.
“There is a lot of advice: how to grow, how to reproduce, where to put it …”
He recommends calatheas, hoyas and dracaenas for beginners.
Also ZZ plants (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) because they do not need much light and are generally easy to care for: “You can forget to wet them for a month and they will still be sweet.”
“Philodendrons are big and easy, and also a good place to start. And there is so much information about them, ”he says.
“The best advice I can give is to water your plants. Learn to know when they are thirsty and not be a helicopter watcher.
“If you want to learn more, go to Google, go to YouTube.”