Plants that are useful to us Ft. The candy

Today I will share a blog which I was supposed to share 2 months ago. Because that’s when I got the idea for this blog. Certain dates, events and personal things delayed this blog. But It’s here now.

I got the idea of this blog while watering the plants. I thought, how grateful I am to be this close to nature. Plants give us so much and we should be thankful to them. This post will tell you about things that plants give you for free (other than oxygen, fruits and shade).

Let’s start with our green list:

1. Papaya plant

Papaya is a great fruit. It is rich in anti-oxidants. Helps in digestion. Rich in various Vitamins. This post is not about the benefits of papaya fruit but its plant.

Leaves of papaya are a great source of platelets. That means if you consume its leaves your platelets will improve. Ideally, 1.5 lacs platelets are a good number, anything below that could be dangerous. The reason why platelets decrease………. hey wait I have a blog for that, check that out for a better understanding.

Real pic from my garden

Papaya trees are grown through seeds and you can grow them easily if you have some open space. It requires moderate sunlight and sufficient water.

2. Snake plant

This beautiful looking indoor-plant could be your next big attraction. Not just it look beautiful but keeping it inside is actually very beneficial. Spoiler alert- plants give us oxygen!!!! They release CO2 at night. But, do you know there are some plants that give oxygen at night as well?

Well, the snake plant is one of them. As it’s an indoor or shade-loving plant. It can be kept inside and it will purify the air inside your beautiful home (and lucky for you it doesn’t bite). It requires little sunlight and it proliferates very fast. That means if you can buy 1 plant, you can make 10 out of it in no time. You can gift it to others and make their air pure as well.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Other than snake plant, spider plant, money plant, neem plant, palm gives oxygen at night.

3. Hibiscus

Next, we have Hibiscus or china rose or Gudhal. I am sure you have already seen this beautiful flower. It’s surely a beautiful flower and people gift them to their loved ones. But, are you aware of the tons of benefits a single flower has?

If you eat Hibiscus flower (yes eat it), it can help you control blood pressure. Not only that, but hibiscus also controls cholesterol. Hibiscus is loaded with vitamin c, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, sodium, phosphorous and so much more. It is also known to be beneficial for weight loss. Promotes good liver health and aid in piles.

You can make tea with hibiscus or jam or just make a paste out of it and apply it to your hair with our next entrant.

As you can see, it doesn’t have any flowers right now

Growing Hibiscus plant is a task. It requires frequent water, proper sunlight and a good fertilizer. It also gets easily affected by Mealybugs so it needs proper care (and lots of affection).

4. Aloe vera

Aloe vera is the most known entrant on our list. Its products are easily available in the market and are sold at high prices. But, why do that when you can grow it at your home itself? You may say that you don’t have space for it, but, fear not my friends as this is an indoor plant.

The aloe vera gel is extracted from the leaves of this amazing plant. Interestingly, it has no fragrance, so if you see a product on market with some scent, then it’s not pure. Aloe vera gel can be used for skin nourishment, hair treatment(don’t forget to add hibiscus to it), insect bites, for sunburn and more.

You can also make juice with it and drink it daily, it’s known to be super beneficial for digestive health and blood purification. If you don’t want to make juice, then it’s fine you can cook it and eat it for dinner. You can also store its leaves in the refrigerator and use them as a cool pad. Just don’t feed it to your pets as it’s poisonous for them.

We have 4-5 aloe vera plants

As this plant is indoor. It doesn’t require much sunlight or water. Just keep removing the damaged leaves and you will be fine.

5. Neem

Neem or Indian lilac is the most commonly available tree/plant on our list. It’s an outdoor plant and you can see it is very common on the roadside. Nowadays people sell its leaves to foreign countries and its bark is used for making toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Neem is an ancient medicine and according to Ayurveda, it is used to treat various ailments. It’s good for the skin, good for hair. You can drink it and it’s good for digestion. You can use it to kill bacteria. It helps during itching. It is great during chickenpox, malaria, treats lice, and improves immunity.

I really think I need a separate blog for it. If you can eat 4-5 leaves then it’s great, if not you can use it in oil form, shampoo form or make a paste out of it. I suggest you eat its leaves and that too fresh leaves for all the amazing benefits.

This tree is tall

You might not able to grow a neem tree at home but you can definitely grow a curry tree at home. Curry leaves are edible as well and are widely used in Indian cooking. It promotes good digestion, reduces hair fall and so much more.

Curry leaves are called Meetha-Neem in Hindi. Meetha means sweet. It’s definetely has a better taste than bitter taste of neem.

6. Tulsi plant

Tulsi or holy basil is the most common plant in Indian households. The reason for that is, it is revered a lot. It got even more popular in 2020 as people understand its beneficial properties. Tulsi is known to have immunity-increasing properties. Regular consumption of tulsi leaves helps during cough-cold, improves metabolism and reduces blood pressure. You can consume 3-4 leaves daily, but not too much. You can also add it to your food or tea (Indians know what I am talking about 😉 )

Growing the tulsi plant is very easy, but maintaining it is quite difficult. Many people water it daily as a sacred offering, but it should not be watered daily. It doesn’t need too much sunlight. Also, ensure regular trimming of the plant as it will help it grow.

We had 25 tulsi plants in 2020, we gifted a lot of them. Many even died, as this plant is very sensitive.

You can grow so many more plants at home that are actually beneficial. Several herbs and spices can be grown easily and those are very beneficial. These were just my top picks from my garden. In the comments share, if you have any plant around you, that is benefiting you in any way.

We will be sowing some seeds. Any guesses?

Coming up next I have a beautiful poem by The candy. She wrote this poem for me 1 month ago and I feel bad for not being able to write this blog before.

Make sure you check out her work > The candy

Until next time, plant a tree and shine with it.

53 responses to “Plants that are useful to us Ft. The candy”

  1. Finally this post got published 😁
    BTW I have to say that you have a lovely garden…it’s so BEAUTIFUL 💞
    and this post provided me with such valuable information..coz I never knew that we can eat hibiscus flowers 😅
    BTW…I have a hibiscus plant but recently it’s got affected by mealybugs..what do I do now?
    And for the seeds…I have no idea😄
    It was an amazing post and thank you so much for including my poem in it.

    • Thanks.
      I really wanted to write on this. I think I got the idea of this blog in April, but some circumstances delayed it. When I asked a poem from you, you shared immediately. But I was unable to write this. Thanks fro your patience and support. It wasn’t possible without your help.
      .
      Few years back, when I was of your age, some person came to us and asked about Hibiscus flower. That’s when I realised that it can be eaten. Also, Treat your plant with some new oil spray. Or spray some shampoo.

  2. I love plants!
    I love greenery!!
    I love everything as long as i don’t have to eat neem because that’s a bad taste!
    We also have a few plants at our place, but not many.
    Lovely post, thanks for sharing!

  3. Lovely post, Devang. Your garden and the information you shared are very interesting. You certainly have a good variety of plants in your garden. It’s good to know more about each of them. Some of those plants grow here in the UK, but others don’t. I like aloe vera plants but I can’t have them because, as you rightly say, they are toxic to pets, particularly cats. I have to be careful about what plants I grow indoors in case Peanut decides to eat them. However, I do grow basil, parsley and mint on my kitchen windowsill as I use them for cooking.

    In my garden, any plants out there are wild as I’m not able to access my garden in my wheelchair. I have in the past asked friends to take photos of the wild areas of my garden. In fact, I had a friend here today for lunch, and she went out and took some photos out there for me. I am thinking, as you suggested to me quite some weeks ago, about writing about my garden too. It won’t be as lush and tropical as yours, but it’ll be very different. A couple of other people have also asked about my garden, so perhaps, that will be my post for this week. I’ll see.

    Thanks for sharing this post, Devang. It’s very interesting and informative. I also liked the poem from your friend, Candy. Take care 🌞🌼🌻

    • Thank you so much for this precious comment.
      It really made me glad.
      It’s good to know that you have indoor plants and those are helping you.
      I wonder if lemon grass, lavender plant will survive uk climate. Need to research.
      I will look forward to your green post.
      It will be great.
      You can also write a blog while being in your garden. That would be a refreshing experience.

      • Hi Devang. Strangely enough, I’ve just written my post about my garden with lots of photographs. I hope you enjoy it as you were one of the people who suggested and encouraged me to write this. lemongrass and lavender does grow here although they would need to be planted rather than just growing wild. I hope you are well. It’s very hot here today – 33C!! The sun is shining 🌞

      • I love that blog a lot.
        Here it’s monsoon already. So temperature is down a bit.
        Raining regularly.
        Please take care and shine bright like that sun ☀️

  4. You have a wonderful garden with so many incredible plants. I have always wanted to grow more plants but unfortunately I live in an apartment where it’s not possible. Maybe someday though.

  5. Neem
    oil mixed in water with a little dish washing liquid works on most bugs and won’t kill your plants. I would need to look up the measurements but it works a treat on mine!

    • Neem oil spray is actually good against mealybug.
      We have neem tree and I made its spray and sprayed on lemon tree. It was blessing.
      But, we cannot spray it always on all plants. As neem spray repel butterflies and bees. Gets hard for pollination.

  6. An excellent and most informative post on houseplants. I’m familiar with three and here in US used them as decorations. I had no idea you could consume the leaves of some for-health benefits. Once I moved from my marital home to an apartment, I purchased dish gardens (several house plants in nice pots or baskets). Although I had a green thumb in my countryside floral and vegetable gardens, my house plants only survived for 6 to 8 months. Today, the price of those dish gardens has tripled (close to $70.00). I am enjoying your posts and learning from them. Imagine that old grannie is being educated long distance. 😊

    • Thank you for sharing this with me.
      Do you have any plants? As you have mentioned you have a green thumb.
      I would love to learn more about it. $70 is huge amount.
      Who is spreading rumours that you are old?? 😱

      • 🙋🏻‍♀️ You’re welcome.
        At the present time I have only two plants. My daughter gifted me a small bird house on Mother’s Day with Kalanchoe and some green plant.
        Unfortunately, the supermarket doesn’t list plant names.
        The other one I purchased myself (Dracaena). I sometimes treat myself to a pot of flowers – Mums, Daisies or miniature Roses.
        Each week at the supermarket I check on the Peace Lilies which since Easter leave much to be desired as I wish to purchase a healthy plant.
        Pothos, Philodendron, English Ivy, Wandering Jew and Spider plant are some I had when I lived in the countryside.
        To my knowledge there are no rumors about me 😂😂 I consider myself to be respectable Senior Citizen. I don’t fib about age if someone questions me.

  7. Very nice post, love the plant info and your garden too. So much green! 🌱 I did the same with aloe vera and got a plant instead of using the store kind. Works better!

  8. Beautiful and informative post, Devang.
    I loved all those pictures from your garden… I’ll be adding snake plant and aloe vera to my garden soon😊

    Also, hibiscus’ flowers could be used to make hair oil to attain strong and shiny hair😁

    I was waiting for this blog from quite a long time, i don’t know how i missed this one! 🤷‍♀️

  9. OMG ! You have such a beautiful garden… I wish I could have these plants and trees at my house..
    I use Aelo vera every week for my hairs it makes my hair soo smooth..
    Also, my mom use tulsi in tea in winters and it enhance the taste so much.
    Thanks for sharing .

    • I actually try to use aloe-vera for face, but It never suits me. Then, I tried to consume it, but after 2 days I forgot, haha. Tulsi tea is actually a great option. Have you tried Cinnamon in the tea? It’s heavenly. These spices and herbs works as a magic.
      Thank you so much for reading. I really appreciate your precious time.

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