My rosemary on the other hand, I couldn't keep it alive no matter what I tried. Full sun, partial shade, inside, outside, letting the soil dry out, moderate watering, daily watering, I tried it all and none of it helped.
Rosemary needs dig deep in the soil or in a big clay pot. Die in a day with their roots cooked if left in small plastic black pots. They need also full sun, but not when you buy it. Only after they develop its roots and pass the shock of being moved from a greenhouse to scorching sun. Big Rosmarinus plants have a bigger rootball and are much easier to keep alive.
First I didn't realize I was overwatering it and introduced root rot into the system. The online guides recommended repotting with fresh soil and carefully yanking on all the rotted roots so as to remove as much of the rotted material as possible.
They also recommended a very gentle scrubbing with a tiny bit of dish soap with the expectation that the plant will be shocked for a while but recover. I did all this and it did help somewhat.
Then the following months the area was very sunny with 90 degree F days. I didn't realize it at the time but I was killing the plant by overheat.
2-3 weeks of this and after realizing what was happening, I moved it into the basement near a tiny window with indirect sunlight (~69 degree F all day). This worked for a while but now as I take a step back and look at the plant, it is a mess. It is definitely still alive but does not seem healthy at all. Multiple leaves have yellowed, some have either yellow or black spots on it. All of the beautiful White Seed like things have turned pitch black and are disintegrating.
I am now just not sure what to do, I just keep watering it with 1 water bottle's worth of water every three days or so but it seems like it is a mess that I can't recover from.
* More light, but indirect. They like well-lit rooms as long as the sun doesn’t shine on them. They do like 70º better than 90º. * Let the soil dry a little between waterings. Stick your finger in the soil to see if it’s damp. If it is, water in a few days. * It’s ok to overwater them until water runs through the pot, but be sure the pot doesn’t sit in that water. * Prune off all the dead material. The blooms always look disgusting when they die.
Lastly, get it a friend or two. Get another couple peace lilies and care for them the same way. It’ll help you understand how they behave.
Then I tried putting it outside. What I've learned is that while they do not do well in direct sun, they do like light. Lots of it.
I've read that a southern window is the best window for a spath. The reasoning is simple: for folks that live in the northern hemisphere, the most amount of indirect light will enter from the south. And wouldn't you know it -- our south wall has no windows!
I live in Tennessee and I now keep mine outdoors during the growing season. It sits in a pot on the deck underneath the canopy of a large river birch. Even during the 90+°F days, it does well. The back of our home faces west, so it can catch a few direct rays late in the day as the sun sets over the horizon, but it is strategically located so that the deck railing and a nearby crape myrtle filters enough of that scorching late afternoon sun to make it happy.
I bring it indoors once the overnight lows start to dip to around 40°F. Over the winter, it drops about a third to a half of its leaves. I put it back out for a few days at a time in the early spring as weather allows. Once the frost danger has past, it stays outdoors. The leaves rapidly multiply and it puts out about 5-6 blooms around July.
If you can, try putting it outside. I am sure that the boost in photosynthesis will help it more than anything.
If ever in doubt I let it tell me - it's all about the wilting, if it starts to wilt, give it water, if it's not wilting, you can wait, if you haven't seen it wilt for a while, might as well let it dry some more to avoid root rot. I also trim off dead flowers and leaves just to give the other leaves more light but I don't think that matters.
One summer later and it’s back to around 5 feet. Also in SoCal, it gets watered maybe once a month, if that (whenever I remember). I _wish_ I could stop it.
I have mine in a semi-transparent container with no drain, so I can see the soil get darker, and I know when to stop adding water, and since there is no drain it soaks up the water well (i.e. the sponge hydrophobia the article mentions).
Another interesting one is fittonia (or nerve plant). It recovers readily as well.
I say the same thing about my Peace Lily. Actually, her being so dramatic trained me to water all my plants more regularly. Yes I'm admitting that I was trained by a plant lol :D
I once left it for about a month, came back, it had wilted quite a lot. I thought maybe it wouldn't recover. I watered it a normal amount and woke up to it having perked up quite a lot, and in another day it was back to normal.
Definitely a plant I would recommend.
[1] https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/mauna-loa-peace-lil...
We have it indoors exactly because that (being poisonous are often left untouched by animals increasing its decorative value). Can kill a cat by asphysia perfectly but this is really unusual. Pets can eventually bite them, once, and learn fast not to do it again. The dangerous part is if they would swallow 'a chunk of burning fire'. Will not happen easily unless your dog or cat is a totally clueless idiot.
Peace lilies have been surviving (not thriving, but surviving) there for 8 years now, but I've tried and killed rosemary three times now. I suspect overwatering is the cause.
All of these in pots, btw, because balcony - suspect that the rosemary would be easier in the ground.