In September of 2024, I went on a little trip to the IKEA in Dartmouth with three goals in mind: eat Swedish meatballs, find cute storage items, and maybe bring home some furniture. Then suddenly, I saw her, the most beautiful common house plant: the peace lily. I impulsively brought her home alongside a marvelous blue pot to keep her cozy. With leaves that looked almost spider-y and gentle white coned flowers – which are not flowers at all but specialized leaves called spathes – it was love at first sight.
The journey home
I carefully held her in my lap on the drive home, not wanting to damage her. I’ve never really been interested in plants before. They seemed like a lot of work, and most plants I’ve kept over the years died fairly quickly. But maybe this time would be different, I had never felt this way before. I read everything I could about peace lilies: how they like humid climates, need more water than most, and are poisonous (very cool). Like so many before me, I became obsessed, usually acquiring more plants via Facebook marketplace, and committed to becoming a plant mom.
Mom gets busy
Then the reality of law school called and my time and energy had another void to fill. I would still water the kids now and again when they got noticeably limp. Most of the peace lilies leaves were brown or dried out and dead, and no matter how much I watered her it never seemed enough. I noticed some small fruit flies hanging around, but it didn’t seem like a big deal, after all, plants attract a few flies every now and again. It wasn’t until the fungus gnats that the lily had been infected with from her time at IKEA developed into a full fledged swarm that I finally noticed – my plant was dying not because of a lack of water, but because she was getting eaten from the inside.
Time to reset
In a panic, I realized my neglect could no longer go unaddressed. I frantically researched how to get rid of the pests, which thrive in the kind of moist environment peace lilies need to survive. Over the course of a few weeks, by storing the plant outside the damp, dark environment of a pot, committing to bottom watering my plant through the roots to keep the soil dry (my now go-to watering method), as well as spraying the leaves with a soap mixture every day, the gnats were thwarted and eventually completely died off. Through meticulous effort and attentiveness, she was revived. After losing all her flowers and most of her leaves, the peace lily now has a full head of glossy leaves and is budding 5 spathes.
Maintaining wellness going forward
In so many ways, the story of this common house plant is reflective of our own lives. We often neglect to take the small, diligent steps we need to maintain a base level of wellness. It takes effort, skill, consistency and diligence to not lose oneself to the external demands and pressures of our particularly challenging lifestyle, and to not neglect the ones we love in the process. It is a tough lesson, but one that we must all learn.
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