Mom, You’re a Whisperer. You’re a Plant Whisperer,” my daughter Emily proclaimed as she looked at my living room windowsill garden. I’ve heard of Animal Whisperers. It’s someone who communicates with the animal and understands the animal’s feelings through a kind of telepathy.

“A plant Whisperer?  ME??”  What I know and what seems to be paramount to plant caretaking is direct sunlight or indirect sunlight; which plants go where; watering or not overwatering. I’m an indoor gardener; a windowsill gardener; a plant caretaker. My windowsill gardening is successful enough for Emily to call me a Plant Whisperer. Come visit my indoor garden.

The living room sill has sunlight filtered through sheer white curtains, giving the plants indirect sunlight. That sill has my flowering orchid plants and flowering African violet plant. The African violet plant has a mass of soft velvety green leaves leaving enough space in the center for a cluster of tiny purple blossoms to poke through. This small plant seems to say, “Water me, but don’t overwater, and keep me in the filtered sunlight.”

Alongside the African violet stands a second potted plant with three pale purple orchids. Usually, the flowers would appear in a vertical cluster, but instead these florets grew in a horizontal direction, as though to offer its friendship and in conversation with the small African violet posies. This windowsill has yet a third plant. A small orchid plant stands proudly boasting a mass of white and purple blossoms twice a year. The plant was a gift on my eightieth birthday, making it almost fifteen years old and still thriving.

My dining room sill faces full sunlight, so it houses gifts from my dear, now deceased friend, Trudy.  This sill has small healthy pots of chives, parsley, and basil. While sadly, Trudy is no longer with me, nostalgia is still present with the flavors the herb plant cuttings add to my salads, stews and soups. 

My windowsill garden continues to offer me pleasure and fond memories throughout the seasons. As I pass the sills, the plants are all whispering to each other, “Hey, Caretaker, we appreciate all you do for us to make this garden flourish.”