One year after the demise of our dragon tree, we have become proud plant parents of four. Oh how far we have come from the neophytes we were just 12 months ago. Just as we thought we have given up hope on growing live plants, an unexpected housewarming gift of a moonshine snake plant reignited the green fingers in us.

More than six months on, the snake plant has lasted longer than our late Draceana and, in fact, done pretty well under our care. Though to be honest, a huge amount of it can be attributed to the more favourable environmental factors. The plant itself is also probably hardier and often marketed as a beginner’s plant that can stand up to the occasional neglect.

With this newfound confidence, we were about to plunge deep into a fresh hobby – gardening. What really re-sparked the interest was that my new office desk is situated right beside a window and could do with a little greenery considering that the window oversees the dull building facade. So first came a juniper bonsai to bring some blessings and good vibes to the workplace.

While it looked perfectly at home on the windowsill, little did we know at the point of purchase that the bonsai isn’t going to do well indoors. So a week after having it in the office, we felt that being in the great outdoors within the comforts of our apartment’s balcony is in the long-term interest of its health and growth. Taking its place at the office is a stalky Ming Aralia, more tolerable of the lower light intensity indoors with its indirect light needs.

Back home, we’ve always wanted a bigger potted plant in our balcony like some of our neighbours have in theirs. What made the find so challenging was our very specific requirements – a height which is tall enough for the foliage to rise above the balcony railing, a beautiful silhouette, and one that needed relatively low maintenance and care.

A flurry of searches over weeks at some of our favourite nurseries didn’t turn up any that fulfilled all our requirements. So we settled for a juvenile olive tree with lovely lines but didn’t quite meet our height requirement at present. Nonetheless, we surmised the tree could always grow taller as it matures and climb above balcony railing eventually.

And that’s how we ended up where we are today as budding gardeners with a panoply of tools like grow lights, plant misters and even soil mix for repotting, courtesy of the Diderot effect. That may soon expand to gardening shears, fertilizers and who knows what else in the future. From just average folks with limited knowledge of watering and light requirements, we have progressed on to become kinda experts who knows our NPK.