The oldest plant I own is the purple heart plant, also known as the Tradescantia pallida. Since I was living in an apartment back in 2017, I was limited to only having indoor plants. Purple is my favorite color so I decided I would buy a plant that had purple leaves or flowers. I did some research online and came across the purple heart plant. I found the closest plant nursery near my workplace and drove there during lunchtime. (I didn’t check if they sold the plant, but I figured since it was a common plant I should be able to find it). The nursery mostly had outdoor plants. There were only a few plants that were indoors. I ended up finding it in a small section near the windows indoors. It was almost dying. I decided to buy the plant anyway. When I got to the cash register, the owner said I could have the plant for free because she felt bad for the dying plant and just wanted someone to care for it.
History of my Purple Heart
My purple heart was in a clay pot near the window in my apartment bedroom. It’s one of those plants that could survive even when I went on vacations. I would water it every few days or once a week, really depended on when I remembered. Haha. When I moved to my house a couple of years ago, this as the only plant that survived. I recently, repotted it into a plastic pot and realized that it thrived more in bright light. Keeping it in a shaded area gives it more of a green color. There’s a few stems that have broken off when moving it and repotting it but its really easy to take that cut/broken piece and just put it back in the soil. It will continue growing.
Plant Care
| Lighting | Can be in shade but prefers bright light, full sun |
| Soil | Moist but can tolerate drought |
| Water | once a week during colder seasons, every few days during warmer seasons |
