Tips on how to keep houseplants alive, pick up a hobby, exercise indoors, bake bread, and more.
Winter is never the easiest time. It’s cold. It’s dark. It’s icy and snowy and windy. It puts the “season” in “seasonal affective disorder.”
And this winter, the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, is extra complicated. The end of the pandemic might be in sight, but we’re not there yet, not by a long shot. So we know that we won’t have all the things to look forward to that we once had: gatherings at home with family and friends, bundling up for a night out at a restaurant or bar, the relief of running on a treadmill at the gym while the streets outside are slick and dangerous. It’s going to be rough; some might even call it miserable.
We’d like to help you make it less miserable. Vox has brought together some of our coziest minds — and tapped the experts — to help you figure out how to navigate this winter. Join us as we roll out tips on how to pick up a new (indoor) hobby, how to bake magical bread, and how to keep your houseplants from calling it quits. We’ll be checking with people who know how to deal with small-space living and long, dark winters. We hope it’ll help make things less terrible — maybe even a little joyful.
How to keep your houseplants (and yourself) less miserable this winter by Umair Irfan
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Sarah Lawrence for Vox
A Scandinavian local explains how to make it through winter, by Melinda Fakuade
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Sarah Lawrence for Vox
Hygge, a culture of coziness that has taken over the self-care space, is Scandinavia’s specialty.
Winter will suck. We gathered some of Vox’s coziest minds to help you make it suck less.
Ida Skibenes, a 32-year-old born and raised in Norway, resides in Bergen, where by December, there is an average of six hours of daylight per day. Shorter days mean more time spent inside, sheltering from the cold. But as a result, Scandinavians are familiar with the business of creating bearable winters for themselves, bringing small joys to where despair might typically occur.
Seasonal depression affects around 10 million Americans, and winter may be even more difficult to manage for many as the pandemic continues on, and forces us to spend more time at home. We could use some Norwegian advice — “hygge,” a culture of coziness that has taken over the self-care space, is Scandinavia’s specialty. They’ve mastered and perfected the art of making winter less miserable. Skibenes spoke to Vox about how she survives winter, and her methods to combat feelings of isolation that come with the colder months of the year.
Tell me a little bit about your relationship with cold winters over the course of your life. Do you like winter? Do you not like winter?
I think growing up here you get used to it. You kind of don’t have a choice. Of course, some people will travel south, especially the older generation who will leave for Spain or Italy for a month or two when it gets really cold and really dark. But most of us just deal with it. We are used to having many months in a row where we don’t really see that much sun or daylight.
When it’s at its darkest, I think most people will struggle a little, maybe feel a little more tired. Especially if you work in an office and you don’t have the chance to step outside and get some sunlight on your face. It can be pretty hard because it’s dark when you leave in the morning and then it’s dark when you get home.
I struggle with how early it gets dark even in New York. Do you have any tips to combat that difficulty?
In some ways, [I’ve experienced it.] Especially with feeling more tired than in the summer months. That might be the hardest part. But I’m a full winter girl, so I kind of appreciate the dark. I think it’s cozier to get up in the morning when it’s dark outside.
I think that the most important thing you can do is keep your sleeping rhythm the same. Try to, if you have the chance during your day, get out and get some sun. If it’s only for like ten minutes, I think it can make a huge difference. We also have really bad weather, especially in November and December. It can be very tempting to just stay inside and just hunker down and wait for it to pass, but I think it’s really important to get that fresh air and just move around a little.
In Norway, we are very much professionals when it comes to making things cozy. Lighting candles and being under a blanket on a couch and playing games, so that’s in our blood I think.
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Corbis via Getty Images
I actually wanted to ask you about that. I’ve read that the Scandinavian culture of coziness is called hygge. Can you tell me more about that?
I think Norway may be most explicit about it. We go all in. I think maybe it’s the way that we’ve kind of learned to survive through hard winters for a long time. We find a lot of comfort in just doing the really small things to make your home a bit more cozy and just lighten the mood. And a lot of us have grown up staying in family cabins — that’s a thing, where we would go to a cabin up in the mountains or by the sea or somewhere else.
That’s a peak level of coziness when you get to the cabin and you light the candles and play games and eat a lot of food. How it got that way, I’m not sure, but it’s just become this thing that most of us do, just a way of surviving those long months.
So it’s kind of like this culture of togetherness and warmth; it’s kind of like a purposeful escape from the dreariness of winter.
I think it’s interesting because we as a people here in Norway, we’re generally quite cold. We like to keep our distance from people. On the news now with Covid-19, they [say] “What did Norway do right? What did they do that we didn’t do?” And I think that often they miss the point of us being people that really, generally don’t like being around people that much.
We kind of just stay with the people we know and the people we love, and we don’t socialize that much with people we don’t know. Especially now during the winter months, we don’t really go that much outside anyways, so I think it’s easier for us to socially distance than other people. I think that’s a part of the coziness culture as well, that we have this kind of small group. Maybe it’s just a partner or maybe it’s a couple of friends or maybe it’s just a couple of family members that you’re really close with, and that’s your flock.
What about the way that Norwegian people prep for the cold in the way they get dressed? Is there anything clothing-wise that you would recommend to Americans who want to make their winter less miserable or cozier?
We use a lot of wool. From top to bottom. Immediately, as soon as we hit the end of September, start of October, that’s when we get our wool game on. If you’re going to survive winter either in Norway or anywhere else where it’s cold, that’s the thing to do.
It’s important for us to stay warm throughout the day, because if you get cold then you’ll be cold for the rest of the day and you’ll be miserable. Especially socks and hats. If you’re warm on your feet and warm on your head, then you’re basically covered. Layering and always wool. The first layer is always wool.
When it gets really cold like December and January, I always have a million layers on. But I always feel like I look so bulky. I imagine that in Norway, people find a way to look more chic about it.
Some of us try — especially the younger generation. I don’t know how they do it, but they look flawless. But for most of us, especially from 30 years and up, we only like being comfortable, and warm is more important than looking good.
And is there any way that Norwegians approach winter skin care or beauty or self-care habits that you would recommend to Americans?
Moisturize. I’m terrible at skincare in general, but moisturizing is number one. L’Occitane has this really awesome face cream that I would recommend to anyone who has to live through the cold months because it really helps keep your face moisturized throughout the day.
Is anything else, winter tip wise, that you want to add that our readers should know about how you get through the winter, whether it’s physically or emotionally, and how a Scandinavian view informs it?
People will react to dark and colder months in different ways, and I think just embracing whatever you’re feeling [is important.] Telling yourself that it’s okay if you’re more tired, it’s okay if you don’t want to go outside, and it’s okay if you feel less energized and don’t want to socialize much, or anything that you’re feeling. Just embrace what you’re going through, because it is hard when it’s so dark all the time, and maybe your sleeping rhythm is a bit off and your eating rhythm is a bit off. Be a bit more aware of self-care.
Of course, right now it’s hard to not isolate. So keep in touch with your friends, and if you have a partner, talk to your partner about how you’re doing. Just embrace the time that you’re in.
A very basic guide to indoor winter gardening, according to experts.
Winter will suck. We gathered some of Vox’s coziest minds to help you make it suck less.
So you’ve acquired a houseplant during the Covid-19 pandemic. Or several. Or dozens.
You’re certainly not alone. Next to cultivating sourdough, gardening has become one of the most popular Covid-19 pandemic hobbies across the United States as people spend more time at home, overwhelming plant nurseries that are still trying to maintain social distancing precautions.
“I can tell you that we have seen worldwide interest in gardening that has approximately doubled in terms of individual participation from 2019 to 2020,” said Dave Whitinger, executive director of the National Gardening Association, in an email. “The number of website visitors to garden.org is twice as high as last year, and most of the gardening companies we have spoken with have reported approximately the same thing. The gardening companies I have spoken to have all told me they have completely sold out their inventory this year.”
With so many restrictions on going outside, it seems natural to want to bring some of the outdoors inside (or at least close by). Plants bring us numerous benefits. Beyond the obvious aesthetics, your pothos plants, African violets, and succulents can relieve stress and boost productivity. (Their air-cleaning benefits, however, are a bit more questionable.)
But now as we head into the winter, when cooler outdoor air becomes less hospitable to fingers and fronds alike, first-time gardeners are facing the challenge of nurturing their new charges through one of the toughest times of year.
To find out more, I called up experts at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, DC. It’s the oldest continuously operating botanic garden in the US and turns 200 this year. It contains nearly 29,000 square feet of indoor growing space, in addition to five acres of outdoor gardens. Its 65,000-plant collection includes chocolate plants, orchids, the endangered aloalo flower, and the crown jewels, two 8-foot-tall flowers that look like deformed penises and smell like rotting corpses. I figured they would know a thing or two about keeping fussy plants alive.
Whether your thumbs are barely turning green or you’re an aspiring plantfluencer, here’s what to know about keeping your plants (and maybe yourself) happy and healthy through the cold months.
Plants can prepare for winter, but they may need your help
The first step in getting your household foliage to survive the winter is to do some homework. That can involve doing some research in a plant database to learn more about the ideal conditions for your plant, like temperatures, sunlight, and soil. You can also look up the US Department of Agriculture hardiness zone you live in, which can help determine which of your plants can survive the winter outdoors and which need the warmth of your home.
“Getting a little bit of background of the plants is probably one of the most critical things for winter care,” said Angela Weber-Hetrick, the gardens and grounds supervisor at the US Botanic Garden. “Tropical needs are a lot different than your hardy plants, or Zone 7a, which is what we are here in the DC area.”
Plants themselves are quite varied, so it’s difficult to come up with broad recommendations for every bit of greenery. Weber-Hetrick explained that there are plants that do winter prep of their own. Many plants, but particularly perennials that experience winters in the wild, can go dormant when the season changes. That’s when the plant stops growing actively. Its leaves and stems may even fall off, but the root structure is still alive. (A general way to test whether a plant is alive is to bend the stem. If it’s pliable, it’s alive, but if it’s brittle, it’s probably dead.)
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Devin Dotson/US Botanic Garden
The signs of dormancy can be subtle in houseplants. It can be as simple as their growth slowing. But not every piece of vegetation hunkers down for the season. Succulents like aloe go dormant in the summer while other succulents like agave go dormant in the winter, for example.
When it comes to plants that go dormant in the winter, it’s all the more critical for them to be at their healthiest as the days get shorter.
“In fall, they’re starting to store up all their carbohydrates, and really what they are trying to do is basically store as much energy as they can to make it through the winter,” Weber-Hetrick said.
Tropical plants, like philodendron, cane, and bamboo, also respond to shorter days with less growth, thereby consuming less water and fertilizer. And other species may need some trimming to get rid of dead branches or decaying leaves. “Sometimes it needs a good pruning, a good haircut, before going into the winter months,” Weber-Hetrick said.
But regardless of the species, once winter begins, you, the plant owner, become the gatekeeper for almost everything that a plant needs to survive if it’s kept indoors. So it’s on you to figure out what your garden needs.
Keep a close eye on your greenery and establish a routine
Every home has its own terroir, and general plant care guidelines may be too vague for your porch, windowsill, or hanging basket. That’s why your own observations are crucial.
“You can kind of ‘listen to your plants’ in terms of just kind of looking at them,” said Chelsea McKinley, a plant health specialist at the US Botanic Garden. “If it seems like they’re drying out more frequently and they’re putting out more growth, then that’s a sign that they’re ready for more water and maybe for some light fertilizing.”
Throughout the winter, here are some of the key things to observe on roots, stems, leaves, and buds to help your plants thrive.
Pests: Make sure there aren’t any stowaways on plants you bring inside, and keep an eye out for any critters that could harm them, like aphids and mealybugs. Check the undersides of leaves for even tinier pests like spider mites. “They usually cause a silvering or yellowing of the leaves,” McKinley said. “Those you might need a magnifying glass to see.”
If you are repotting or moving plants to a different container, make sure the new vessel is sterile. Use a mild bleach solution and rinse thoroughly to prevent bacterial or fungal infections.
Light: Plants depend on photosynthesis, the process by which they use light, carbon dioxide, and water to make sugar and oxygen. With the sun going down earlier, every photon is precious. Some plants can cope with less light, but others may need the assistance of a growing lamp. Check to make sure what kind of lighting your plant needs and ensure your lighting source is adequate, especially if it’s a supplemental source. “You just want to make sure that lightbulb is fairly bright and has both red and blue wavelengths in the spectrum,” McKinley said. If you are just relying on sunlight, the optimal position can change through the winter, so be prepared to move your plants.
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Devin Dotson/US Botanic Garden
Temperature: As it gets cold outside, it becomes more important to maintain warmth inside. Though some plants like orchids prefer a bit of a nighttime drop in temperature, most prefer steady conditions, so avoid placing them in drafty areas.
Water: Both too much and too little water can be harmful. That can manifest as wilting or yellowing leaves. But rather than waiting for a plant to show signs of distress, one sign that a plant may be ready to water is if the top centimeter or two of soil is dry.
“When you do water, make sure the entire root bulb gets really wet,” McKinley said. “You want about 10 percent of the water you put into the pot to come out the bottom of the pot.” This helps flush out salt in the root structure. But make sure the water drains away and that the plant doesn’t remain sitting in water.
Some chemicals in tap water can also be harmful to plants, leading to problems like yellowing leaves. You can use distilled water or leave some water out for 24 hours to allow residual chlorine to evaporate out.
Humidity: Running the furnace in the winter can dry out the air in your home. And as dry, heated air parches your throat, it can desiccate plants as well. A humidifier can help reduce these effects. So can misting plants with a spray bottle. Maintaining proper humidity can also reduce the need for watering. But make sure to wipe down leaves after misting since tap water can leave behind mineral deposits as it evaporates. A wipe will also remove household dust that can block sunlight.
Balancing all of these elements may be tricky at first, but over time, it should get easier to establish a plant care rhythm and routine. “Plants love consistency,” Weber-Hetrick said.
If you’re looking for inspiration, you can also explore the US Botanic Garden virtually. And while we’re all housebound this winter with our aloes, begonias, and cacti, know that it’s totally okay to talk to your plants; just be cautious if they start talking back.