‘Tis the season to check out the wide variety of indoor plants and blooms that we use to decorate our homes for the holidays.
Whether cut flowers, blooming plants, or bulbs like amaryllis that can be forced into bloom in just a few weeks, there is something for gardeners of all skill levels.
And what you prefer can tell a lot about you and your personality!
Please choose which type of plant you prefer to buy to decorate your home.
a) cut flowers
b) blooming plants
c) bulbs for forcing
d) a, b, and c and lots of them
e) fake plants
Here is what that choice says about you:
If you prefer cut flowers, you like immediate gratification but aren’t interested in a long-term commitment. However, if you tend to keep the cut flowers after they’ve dried up, you may be conflicted and really want a long-term plant relationship.
If you prefer to buy potted blooming plants, you like immediate gratification, but are willing to also invest in a long-term commitment. You are optimistic that once your blooming plant becomes a foliage plant, you have the skills or maybe just the good luck needed to get it to flower again.
If you prefer bulbs for forcing, you are patient and a nurturer and are willing to wait for the gratification of a blooming plant. You are in this plant relationship for the long haul. You have confidence that if you provide the light, soil, and water, the plant will reward you with a bloom.
If you prefer all three of the above, you are a gardener.
If you prefer fake plants, then you want to be a gardener, but are afraid of real plants, afraid of commitment, of getting your hands a little dirty.
What’s your preference?
(Source for this test: Me, from a post in 2008, though it might seem more valid if I said the source was the Institute for Gardenetics Research and Other Work (iGrow) which is also me when I want to sound more official.)
I'm in it for the long haul!!
Hey, you left out my home decor, which is: Every window stuffed to the gills with all sorts of tender plants I grew outside this summer but wanted to save for next year! (plus cut flower, plus forced bulbs, of course)
You left out f) foliage plants.
Hmmm. No category for me. I rarely by plants to decorate my house. I think cut flowers are a waste of money which could be spent on a a garden plant. And I don't do well with houseplants (or rather they don't do well with me).
Two exceptions: on very special occasions I will buy cut tulips or cut asiatic lilies because neither grows well here an it's more expensive and disappointing to try to grow them from bulbs than it is just to buy some that last a week.
I agree you left out foliage plants 🙂 I have lots of those and bulbs and flowering plants. If I want cut flowers I get the from my garden. fake plants make me shudder.
All the above. No fake plants.
Whew! I chose D) all three of the above. Glad to know I'm a gardener. I had my suspicions, but…
Is there a garden bloom day this month? I still have a rosebud and a couple black eyed susans and my unnamed pink plant from last month. My pansy finally got frozen last night.
Oh, yay. I'm a real gardener. Or, perhaps a real harsh gardener? I give my blooming things 1 year to flower a second time, indoors. If they won't comply it's off to the compost pile…
Oh, you left out dried flowers. I know some of them are dyed (anathema to a true gardener), but please tell me they don't come under the category of fake flowers. I like them as decoration in a few spots in my house, mostly because I can't keep houseplants alive.
I want them all, because I don't keep indoor plants. They are a short term relationship for me. Love em and leave em
I dislike cut flowers. I prefer flowers still attached to their roots. I'm stunned that after all these years, after all the orchids and cyclamen blooming on my windowsills and porch year after year, I'm not a gardener.
I love them all…no fake and that includes Christmas trees. Cut flowers are sunshine for my soul when the thermometer reaches 10 degrees and the snow flies.
Dried flowers or everlastings are not artificial or fake. Botanicals, like rose petals, keep a lovely fragrance. Nothing fake ever smelled so delicious.
I calls 'em as I sees 'em.
I'm sticking with bulbs, they're pretty much foolproof. I did buy some flowering plants, but they aren't flowering anymore.
linked to you tonight!
good quiz! I like all of the above.
Rosey
I'm definitely a D, though I'm usually too cheap to buy very many cut flowers, and my houseplant and bulb population is very small.
I applaud you for your truth in advertising, Carol–I would have been quite impressed if you had mentioned the research here was from the Institute iGrow:)