Heather Large: Fingers crossed rose makes it

Well, my fingers must be any colour but green. Since November, with the help of my boyfriend, I’ve been trying to keep a miniature rose alive in our flat.

It was full of pretty pink flowers when it was gifted to me for my birthday. But six months on and it’s fair to say it’s looking more than a little sorry for itself.

The label had said it could be planted outside but as we don’t have a garden yet – we had hoped to be buying a house with one this year but coronavirus has put that dream on hold for now – I was hoping to help it to carry on thriving indoors until I had a suitable spot.

For that it needed a place where it got plenty of light but wasn’t in direct sunlight. We found a windowsill that was nice and bright but wasn’t going to catch too many rays.

And despite my limited gardening knowledge, I did at least know that getting the amount of watering correct was key as I knew leaving it without water too long could be disastrous but giving it too much can also be fatal for some plants. It’s very much a balancing act and one I don’t always get right.

And at first it seemed quite content in its new home, quickly sprouting new buds and flowers. But then a few leaves started to turn either partly yellow and drop off. Suddenly it wasn’t faring too well.

I tried placing it in different locations with varying amounts of light but none of the chosen spots have made it happy.

So I turned to Google which suggested it was either suffering from heat stress or that the lower leaves weren’t getting enough light because they were being overshadowed by the higher ones.

At the time the latter theory seemed the most likely as it did appear that the leaves on the bottom of the plant were the worst affected.

Unfortunately, by the middle of last week about 80 per cent of its leaves had turned yellow and had either dropped off or were close to falling.

Now it seemed like maybe heat stress was a more likely cause and it could have been getting too hot by the kitchen window which was drying out the soil too.

We decided to prune it back, not really knowing if it was really the right time to do that, in order to remove the dead branches and those that were a lost cause.

We were hoping that it would stop the plant putting its energy into those parts that weren’t going to recover.

It’s fair to say the rose bush has been left a shadow of it’s former self but at the moment it’s remaining leaves are staying green and overall, what’s left of it, is looking healthier than it has done for a while.

I think I’m becoming paranoid though as I find myself wandering over to quickly check it’s doing OK several times a day, looking at each leaf in turn to make sure it is still green.

As it was a gift, it would be nice to keep it alive so we can continue to enjoy it and I hope that one day, when life is back to normal, I will finally be able to plant it in real soil outside.

I’m keeping my not-so-green fingers crossed that it will survive this year and into next.

Before we knew that we were heading into lockdown, I had been considering trying to grow some strawberry plants indoors.

Both my boyfriend and I love strawberries and so I thought it would be nice to have our own supply close to hand.

I had carried out plenty of research on the best variety for growing indoors – alpine strawberries – and I was all set to give it a go.

But then lockdown happened and everybody went mad for growing their own fruit and veg and trying find seeds or plants on online proved impossible.

I do want to learn how to look after plants better and understand more about helping them to blossom and flourish.

And I know really that green fingers aren’t something you’re born with, they’re something that develop over time and with more experience.

I know I need to be prepared for a steep learning curve when we get our own garden – and hopefully the first thing I will plant in it will be my miniature rose.