Plant-Sitter Please!

December 18, 2006 8:35 AM

Please help me find a plant-sitting nursery! I'll be unable to care for my wonderful plants for about two or three months starting in January and I would love to find a florist or nursery in or around New York City that could care for them for me (for a price, of course). My google-fu is not strong, and is failing me. Does anyone know of such a thing?
posted by The Bellman to home & garden (5 comments total)

Most pet-sitters will look after plant watering, and will probably give you a reduced price if that's all they have to do.
posted by fish tick at 8:44 AM on December 18, 2006

Yeah, try the local dog-sitter (ask your neighbors with dogs). Easy enough for them to do before they take the dogs out. I haven't heard of a service like that, if you can't find a local dog sitter, try posting an ad on craigslist under the jobs posting section perhaps.
posted by allkindsoftime at 9:22 AM on December 18, 2006

(I used to work for an orchid nursery) I'm guessing this might be a bit of a stumper so I'll offer some general advice - plant boarding is not an uncommon need, particularly with rare/exotic and/or touchy plants like orchids, but it's certainly a niche so it might be hard to track down via internet and it might be spendier than you anticipate. I knew of 2 greenhouses in the Minneapolis metro area that did it primarily for orchids, so it's got to be available in NYC.

I'd try looking at orchid resources online - particularly if your plants need special care. I found the Greater New York Orchid Society - I note their "Marketplace" page has info on a variety of vendors and local societies (though not all are in New York), and I bet if you made a few calls asking for advice about boarding plants you could get onto some resources.
posted by nanojath at 9:32 AM on December 18, 2006

Also, what neighborhood do you live in, in case we know somebody who would be qualified/willing to help you out in a plant-sitting capacity?
posted by hermitosis at 10:15 AM on December 18, 2006

I live in Tribeca, but the point -- I wasn't clear I guess -- is to find someone who will take them in, not come in to water them. Something like what nanjath was suggesting.
posted by The Bellman at 11:49 AM on December 18, 2006