From Ludivine, professional plant addict

Ludivine works as a florist in Belgium during the day. In the evenings and at weekends, she cultivates over 150 houseplants and her garden. A true plant-addict, she has created an Instagram account where she shares her passion for plants. She has also opened an online store to offer rare plant cuttings from her collection.

I've always loved plants, being in the garden, working with my grandparents and parents. In 10th grade, I decided to take a CAP (vocational training certificate). At first, I wanted to be a hairdresser or a photographer. When I visited the CFA (apprentice training center), I came across the florist section. I remember meeting the teachers, seeing the premises and it just clicked. I said to myself, this is where I belong.

Today, I've just turned 31. I' ve been a florist for over 15 years. Plants are at work, but they're also at home. I created an Instagram account and an online store, Amapola, to share my passion and my collection.

I stopped counting a long time ago! I must have over 150, not counting cuttings and growing boxes! There isn't a room without plants!

I have a garden with fruit trees (pear, plum, apricot, cherry, mirabelle), mimosa and lots of tulip bulbs, hyacinths... We've also created a permaculture vegetable garden, with lasagne cultivation. The garden is so full I don't even think I have room to plant anything else.

Indoors, I don't have many different varieties. I grow mainly Anthuriums, Philodendrons and Monsteras. My Monstera variegata was the first rare plant I bought for myself. Today, it's four meters tall. I've taken thirty cuttings from it! I also have a Monster Dubia, which I love.

Anthuriums. They're my favorite family. I started with them a few years ago and it was a no-brainer, right from my first Anthurium.

My favorite is Anthurium pallidiflorum, with its long, slender leaves. I've had it for almost four years now. It has adapted very well to the house and is easy to care for. I still have a humidifier and a horticultural lamp beside it, but it's truly a plant that has never let me down. And yet, when I fell in love with it, I knew absolutely nothing about it.

I also took a lot of cuttings from it. I kept the first cutting, which is now as big as the mother plant. And I must have sent ten or even fifteen babies to France and Belgium.

Alocasia, but I think it's more the plants that don't like me. I very rarely succeed with them. I've had several and I tend to make them die. I've only got three that I've had for five or six years and that I manage to look after.

There are also begonias and Calathea. I think their foliage is nice, but I don't like them at home. Besides, I've had several bad experiences with Calathea. They caught every possible pest!

We're starting to see a lot of Anthurium variegata, with white or pink variegations. It's clearly a dream to have them in my collection, but the budget is a big brake!

Monstera Dubia and Anthurium pallidiflorum are the two plants I'm most proud of.

As an anecdote, when the Monstera Dubia Monstera dubia made its first leaf with fenestrations, I was in my greenhouse with some friends. I looked at my plant and exclaimed: "He's just given me his first leaf with holes". People started to panic, wondering if an animal had eaten the leaf... I explained to them that it was the adult form of the plant. And I ended up looking like a total nutcase!

Alocasias, clearly. I've killed more than one Alocasia 'Frydek' variegata! They really are my biggest disappointments.

I've also had failures with cuttings, including Anthurium cuttings. Unmanageable rot that sets in, forgetting to water because you're away for the weekend or, on the contrary, too much water.... There are always bugs, you're never 100% professional. But we learn and discover every day. You learn by making mistakes.

For those who are just starting out, it's to do a bit of research before buying. There's a lot of fashion nowadays with social networks. You see a plant, you put it on your wishlist. I think it's important to find out as much as you can and see if you have the right conditions to welcome it into your home. It's good to do it after the purchase, but it's better to do it before. Because by the time you've set up a horticultural lamp or a humidifier for your plant, it could be withering away in your home..

After that, it's all about trying. That's how you learn, how you discover, how you adapt to the plant and how the plant adapts to you. It's important to try. I've had plenty of failures. I've tried lots of different methods, substrates and fertilizers..

I think there's always advice to be taken, but above all I'd tell them to treat themselves. Not to look for the most expensive and rarest plants. We forget that there are more common varieties and species that can easily be found in garden centers, which are just as incredible, such as hoyas, pothos pothos or Sansevieria. Sansevieria is a very easy plant to grow, and I think it adds a lot of style to any interior.

You can find Ludivine's plant collection on her Instagram account, amapola.plantes and her cuttings on her online store amapolaplantes.fr.