The Sill offers $10 online workshops to help you take care of your plants — I took one and found it found it very informative and unintimidating
- The Sill is a popular online plant retailer that also offers workshops to help you better understand how to take care of your plants.
- Workshop topics range from beginner plant care ("Summer Plant Care") to best propagation methods ("Propagation 101").
- They're conducted over Zoom and cost $10 each. During the session, the workshop leader gives a presentation and answers any questions you may have.
- I took a workshop on "Light and Environment" and found it thoughtful, informative, and unintimidating. Afterward, I felt more confident about the concrete steps I needed to take to make my plants thrive.
Scattered around my apartment, a leafy Zanzibar Gem, adorable Hoya Heart, and imposing Prickly Pear Cactus hold court as pieces of natural decor. But if you linger and bend down to take a closer look, you'll notice a wilted leaf here, some dried-out soil there. To be honest, I'm not a great plant parent.
But since I have more time on my hands lately, I decided to work on my plant-tending skills. In the long run, I knew that I'd waste less money on new plant replacements and develop a more fulfilling connection with these living, breathing green things if I actually learned about their individual needs.
That's where The Sill comes in. The online plant store offers interactive workshops where you can learn directly from plant experts, who stick around afterward to answer your questions.
How the workshops work
Usually, these workshops take place in person at The Sill's physical locations in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. However, due to the current coronavirus situation, they've all been moved online. While it's unfortunate you can no longer get a hands-on plant education, the upside is that now anyone in the country can access The Sill's lessons.
You can choose from a handful of classes, which take place over Zoom, and each class costs $10. Because workshops are virtual, they're also big — currently, the ones below all have more than 400 open seats left. Classes touch on different topics such as care for specific types of plants, as well as general plant care.
Here are the upcoming workshop topics:
The Sill workshops in June 2020
- Summer Plant Care on June 12 | Sign up here
- Propagation 101 on June 17 | Sign up here
- Light & Environment on June 25 | Sign up here
- Water & Fertilizer on June 29 | Sign up here
According to The Sill, Plants 101, a primer on how to care for the most common houseplants, has been the most popular workshop since it was introduced in 2016. Workshop attendees tend to be a mix of new and repeat participants, so don't feel intimidated if you're brand new to plant care.
I recently joined The Sill's Light and Environment workshop to see how it works and learn some actionable tips for my own indoor garden. Here's what to expect if you're interested in taking a workshop.
What to expect from a workshop
After you sign up for your chosen class, you'll receive a confirmation email with the Zoom link. Remember to join the Zoom call at the specified time. In the call, you can leave your camera on or off, whichever you're more comfortable with.
My workshop was led by The Sill's Plant Expert and Customer Experience Coordinator, who also offers virtual one-on-one Plant Appointments ($29) if you want more personalized attention.
I found the workshop to be very informative and practical. It started with a presentation that went over the properties of light and how they affect plants, explained how to measure light in your own home, and pinpointed other variables that could determine your plants' growth.
Despite the web-based nature of the workshop, it was professionally executed. The leaders clearly knew their subject matter, and presented it in an accessible way. Participants asked questions through the Zoom chat function during the lesson, while The Sill's Experiential Marketing Manager and Coordinator took turns answering.
The workshop also had some "hands-on" portions where the Coordinator showed us how to use a light meter, so if you tend to space out during presentations, these lessons may not be for you.
Overall, I came away armed with plenty of new information to help me take better care of my plants. If you already have a vested interest in plant care, I think you'll find the workshops interesting and helpful as well.