If there is one thing I am sure of, it is that just like children or pets, plants also require care and love. Deciding to have plants in your home must bring with it the commitment to watch over the growth and care of this living being that, just like other beings, feeds, grows, reproduces and dies.

I live in a city in Venezuela, Cumaná, where, strangely enough, it rains and temperatures can go between 25° and 35°; not to mention, that in several areas and days, the water supply can be suspended for a day or more. This type of information is fundamental when planting even a small shrub, because if the idea is that the shrub grows “as it is its nature”, it is essential to know what space and climate you have.

Because of the conditions already mentioned, I have few plants in my house and the ones I have, are ornamental plants, small, resistant to the hot climate of the city, that do not require much water, like succulents, and that will not lose their vitality because they are in pots or containers, where they cannot take long roots.

The care of my plants is elementary and part of my routine. Every day, while I drink my coffee or make breakfast, I take them out to the window so they can get some sun and I pour water on them right there. Because we must remember that, just like us, plants also need to hydrate and nourish themselves. In the case of my cacti, they get about half an hour of sun and then I put them back in the living room because otherwise they would get “scorched” by the weather. I must say that I use small earthenware pots decorated with seashells, which are not only used to transport the plants from one place to another, but also to decorate the living room. And there is no prettier and healthier decoration than having natural plants in the house, even if they are small.

At one time, as a teacher, I had my own office, where I received my students and colleagues. In that office, I remember, I had an aloe vera plant, which is used by many to “clean” spaces of bad energies. That plant, like the ones I have in my house, created a different, natural, beautiful space and required little care. But one day, a group of antisocials began to destroy the university where I worked and among the things I had to take out of my office was my aloe vera plant. I took my books and my bush, and put them in safety.

This anecdote reminds me of the Natalie Portman and Jean Reno movie, where Reno's character, Leon, goes with his bush up and down just to take care of it, to protect it from the bad guys.

You can't, out of snobbery or pure whim, fill spaces with plants if you can't take care of them. Even less should you take plants out of their natural habitat, just to beautify your house, and even less knowing that you do not have the resources, economic, physical and time, to take care of those plants. A plant is a living being and just like having a child or a pet, which require a serious and intelligent analysis to see if you can have them, you should do the same if you want to have plants in your house. It is not only having them: it is also taking care of them.