This year’s planetary alignments encourage self-expression, insight, and exploration. With Venus coming out of retrograde after March and a second round of eclipses due in August, we determined the perfect houseplant to balance the energies of your indoor spaces this summer.
Aries & Aries Rising: Aloes
This summer is about embodying Venus’ love, art, and creativity. Enjoy the blessings of connectivity and focus on your creative and social outlets. With succulent foliage ranging from pale green to colorful stripes, an aloe will bring a pop of interest to your creative space. When given room to grow, aloe plants form pups that can easily be individually potted and shared with your friends and family.
Taurus & Taurus Rising: Orchids
The season will put extra emphasis on connection and purpose. Focus your energy on your career and reputation by rooting down into your stable home life for comfort. Despite what you may have heard, orchids are worth the investment. They also warrant a little extra consideration, but once you get a rhythm going and grow accustomed to their ways, orchids are no hassle. Get an orchid settled at home or in your office window, then reap the benefits of beauty and fragrance with light maintenance.
Gemini & Gemini Rising: Mirror Plants
This summer is for developing, reviewing, and renewing your biggest aspirations. Seek both answers and questions, and consider making meaning through new writing and teaching opportunities. During this time of reflection, an ideal companion is a Coprosma mirror plant. Small and colorful no matter how cramped or under-watered, mirror plants rarely drop their leaves. With such easy care, you can spend more time journaling. Let your mind wander to the bigger questions—your mirror plant is very accommodating.
Cancer & Cancer Rising: Amaryllis
The planetary movements are presenting meaningful patterns, so focus on what you can learn from your own philosophical evolution over time. How are you expressing your beliefs? A rapidly growing amaryllis, Hippeastrum ‘ Papilio Improved’ sends up multiple flower spikes and blooms reliably year after year. The outrageously beautiful star-shaped blooms come in white, pink, peach, green, red, and burgundy. With speedy growth and outspoken annual blooms, an amaryllis will remind you to consider your own cycles and self-expression.
Leo & Leo Rising: Silver squills
You may be reviewing some your long-term goals. This work should also coupled with balancing your partnerships. Silver squill Ledebouria socialis is easily maintained and plants well with companions like hens and chicks, mirror plants, polka dot plants, rhipsalis, and senecios. Propagate Silver squills by diving the little bulbs when they’ve initiated their own roots. Playing well with others and dividing easily for ease of sharing makes this your perfect summer houseplant for balancing your connections.
Virgo & Virgo Rising: Snow roses
This summer is characterized by balance: between internal and external, mental and physical, beginnings and conclusions. Focus on the slow, steady growth of a snow rose, Serissa foetida. Snow rose is impeccably tidy, intriguing, and congenial beyond belief. Leave it untended—it might be years before your snow rose outgrows its pot—or prune it fastidiously as a bonsai depending on how you feel.
Libra & Libra Rising: Passion flowers
Use this season to review your most important relationships, both romantic and professional. This work will help you determine which connections best support your ambitions. With relationships and love at the forefront of your mind, enjoy the otherworldly floriferous flowers of a passion flower. These energetic vines know no limits and will benefit from your care and support.
Scorpio & Scorpio Rising: Echeverias
A season of dynamic tension between home and career is upon you. Consider mirroring your domestic and vocational spaces by keeping matching echeveria arrangements in a sunny window in both home and office. These intriguing structures come pretty close to needing zero maintenance, so plunk them into a funky, snug container and just water once every week.
Sagittarius & Sagittarius Rising: Herbs
The planetary movements are asking you to focus on self-acceptance and healing energy surrounding your family life. Don’t feel like you need to plant an urban jungle—start small with some simple herbs. Most varieties will offer aesthetic, aromatherapy, and culinary benefits you can share with your household.
Capricorn & Capricorn Rising: Columbines
This season highlights the financial aspects of your life. Balance your assets and the way you share them. For an affordable houseplant that will offer more bloom for your buck, invest in columbines. Once you get them growing, they shoot up blossom spires. Starting from seeds is an inexpensive option, and with a little nurturing, sowing is a cinch.
Aquarius & Aquarius Rising: Kalanchoes
You may be reflecting more on your daily rituals and activities. Take time to consider how these habits help or hurt your self-exploration. As part of your morning routine, add the meditative task of rotating your kalanchoe. Systematic rotation ensures all the amassed occupants receive the benefit of sun.
Pisces & Pisces Rising: Hoyas
What supports you? How can you better support yourself? Use this season to balance your effort and self-care. As a uniquely low-care, tidy vine, hoyas have long, thin, crinkled leaves that create a sense of jungle without the work. The flowers are also beautiful and fragrant.
About the Author
Tovah Martin gardens fanatically and organically both indoors and throughout her seven-acre Connecticut garden. She is the recipient of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Gold Medal “for extraordinary service to horticulture, especially greenhouses and indoor plants.”
Martin is the author of many classic gardening books, including The Indestructible Houseplant and The Unexpected Houseplant.
Buy The Indestructible Houseplant
Indiebound | B&N | Amazon | Workman
Buy The Unexpected Houseplant
Indiebound | B&N | Amazon | Workman
All photos by Kindra Clineff.
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