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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK

How to keep your houseplants alive: A masterclass with Sarah Gerrard-Jones

Sarah Gerrard-Jones
Sarah Gerrard-Jones Photograph: Sarah Gerrard-Jones

Despite what the ill fates of your potted pandemic purchases might suggest, houseplant care doesn’t require a degree in botany or horticulture, or even a vested interest in plant biology. What it takes is time, interest, and a willingness to learn from what the plant is trying to convey through its appearance.

This masterclass with Sarah Gerrard-Jones, aka @theplantrescuer on Instagram, puts forward a simple guide for not only keeping your houseplants alive - but allowing them to thrive. You will learn the practicalities of all aspects of plant care, from how to choose the right plant for you, to tips for everyday care.

In the first hour, you will discover how to help your houseplants thrive, such as understanding the importance of light and water, and how to identify how much is enough. You will also find out why a good potting mix can combat ‘overwatering’, and how to repot your plants. If you have any plants in need of repotting, you will be invited to do it with Sarah in real time.

In the second half of this workshop, you will learn about the importance of paying attention to a leaf’s colour and texture. This will enable you to diagnose common houseplant ailments and how to remedy them, how to recognise different pests and treat them, and why you might want to consider propagating to ‘save’ a dying plant.

This masterclass will blend live demonstrations with ongoing Q&A, to open up your mind to the brilliant and fascinating world of houseplants. By the end, you will feel confident enough to tend to a troubled houseplant, rather than throwing it out and replacing it with a new one, and you will have discovered how to mix different soils, repotted some of your plants (if you like!) and more.

This course is for …

  • Anyone with an interest in houseplants

  • Anyone who loves plants but cannot (for the life of them) keep them from dying

Course content

Thrive:

  • Light and water

  • Mixing different soils

  • Repotting your plants

Survive:

  • The leaf: observing colour and texture, and what they can tell us about plant health

  • Identifying and treating common ailments

  • Identifying and treating pests

  • Propagating your plant

Tutor profile

Sarah Gerrard-Jones
Sarah Gerrard-Jones Photograph: Sarah Gerrard-Jones

Sarah Gerrard-Jones, aka @theplantrescuer, is a self-taught houseplant obsessive who firmly believes that every plant deserves a happy life. From a young age she was raised to appreciate nature, learning about the outdoors from her grandfather, who worked as a groundsman on a Scottish estate. After studying art in Edinburgh, she moved to London and became a freelance picture editor for the Sunday Times, the Guardian, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. In 2015, her love for nurturing living things evolved to include houseplants. Having adopted some non-flowering orchids that had been dumped by a local store, a new-found passion for rescuing ailing and abandoned plants took hold. As @theplantrescuer on Instagram, she has helped thousands of people understand how to make their plants happy and what to do if something goes wrong. Her broadcast and print appearances range from BBC Gardener’s World to the Times. Her book, The Plant Rescuer: The book your houseplants want you to read, will be released on 28 April.

Details

Date: Monday 13 June 2022
Time:
6.30pm-8.30pm (BST)
Price: Standard ticket £49 (plus £2.66 booking fee); Ticket + book £62.25 (plus £3.23 booking fee) with a copy of The Plant Rescuer

This masterclass is available globally. If you are joining us from outside the United Kingdom, please use this time zone converter to check your local live streaming time.

6.30pm BST | 7.30pm CEST | 10.30am PDT | 1.30pm EDT

You will be sent a link to the webinar two hours before the start time of 6.30pm (BST).

Information on Guardian Masterclasses

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To contact us, click here. Terms and conditions can be found here.

By enrolling on this masterclass, you’re helping to support the Guardian, and this allows us to keep our quality reporting open to all.

All Guardian Masterclasses are fully accessible - but please contact us if you have any queries or concerns.

Returns policy
Once a purchase is complete we will not be able to refund you where you do not attend or if you cancel your event booking. Please see our terms and conditions for more information on our refund policy.

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