• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Exeposé Online

Making the headlines since 1987

Exeposé Online
  • Editorial
      • Newsletter
      • Puzzles and Games
      • What’s On
      • Print Exeposé
  • Freshers
  • News
  • Comment
  • Features
  • Exhibit
      • Arts + Lit
      • Lifestyle
      • Music
      • Screen
      • Tech
  • Science
  • Sport
  • The Exepat
      • International
      • Multilingual
      • Amplify
  • Satire
  • About
      • Editorial Team
      • Write For Us
      • Get In Touch
      • Advertise
Home / Lifestyle

Spring blooms

by Catherine Stone

Spring blooms

Image: Cat Stone

Apr 12, 2022 – by Catherine Stone

Cat Stone explores the beautiful blooms that spring bears – and how you can bring a bit of nature into your own home.

Spring is by far my favourite season. The feeling in the air when the turn of the seasons is in the air, the first touch of sunlight on your face after long cold months – spring always seems to arrive, to quote John Green ‘the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once’. For Spring though, ‘waking up’ is more appropriate – its as if the world casts off its lethargy and comes alive. 

The most tangible signs of Spring are the flowers: snowdrops and crocuses peeking out from February, daffodils religiously springing up in time for Mother’s Day, primroses, narcissus, anemones, and bluebells carpeting the woods.

It’s the perfect time of year to head out on some walks or spend a day in the gardening, weeding the winter detritus and breathing fresh life with new plants. In our postcard size garden, my housemates and I spent a companionable day planting some forget-me-not, sweet peas, and alliums, as well weeding and pruning the existing vegetation. We are also germinating wildflowers in our shed for planting in the summer term.

Sitting outside repotting many plants which have been desperate for a bigger pot for years is incredibly satisfying…

Many psychological studies have revealed the tangible mental benefits of spending time in nature – it reduces stress and anxiety and lowers blood pressure. It is also possible to claim some of these benefits in your own home by filling it with houseplants. Prolonged and regular proximity to plants has been shown to provide emotional boosts. A study during the first lockdown found that 74% of participants with houseplants reported increased levels of wellbeing. Maintaining plants can be therapeutic and can lead to feelings of purposefulness and connectedness by caring for something other than yourself. 

I have long collected houseplants slightly randomly, to the exasperation of my housemates, who patiently put up with plants crowding our windowsill (and then our fridge that is below a skylight that the plants adore). However, I have become much more interested in proper plant care over the past year. Sitting outside repotting many plants which have been desperate for a bigger pot for years is incredibly satisfying, and regularly watering them has become a meditative part of my routine. Recognizing that my plants are not just aesthetic ornaments kept in dainty pots, but real organisms that need to grow, has been a key change in my mindset (even though it does mean I never have the right number or size of pots).

Image: Cat Stone

I have a lot of succulents and cacti (some Exeter charity shops sell small ones) but my favourite houseplant is my Chinese Money Plant, or Pilea Peperomioides, which at the start of the academic year was one plant and is now five glorious plants, grown from tiny offshoots that I have sliced and repotted. For this amazing feature, they are also nicknamed friendship plant, as you can gift the new plants to your friends.

This spring, why not embrace your inner Professor Sprout by cultivating some houseplants or getting involved in the garden. The Exeter Community Garden on Streatham Campus is open to volunteers and Exeter Library is running a seed bank where you can ‘check out’ seeds for free!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

About Catherine Stone

As a final-year Liberal Arts student and History major, Catherine (or Cat) has enjoyed exploring her interests by studying across different disciplines and by writing across Exeposé since her first year, developing a passion for student journalism in the process. By day, she is curled up reading a book, vainly trying to write an essay or out on a walk in the Exeter countryside to escape her own mind. By night, she is asleep. As a Features Editor, Catherine is looking forward to gaining some great experience by digging deep into a fascinating array of topics and editing some excellent student writing!

Reader Interactions

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Review: The Menu
  • Prince Harry’s Spare and the rise of the memoir
  • Review: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
  • Exeter UCU express “disappointment” in Vice-Chancellor in lead up to strikes
  • University of Exeter leads the way in ALS research
  • Legends and Lattes: An easy read for coffee lovers and retired adventurers
  • UCAS aim to scrap personal statements
  • Exeter graduate named as one of the “Women of the Future”

Footer

  • facebook-alt
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • linkedin
  • mail