Retiree Aida Van Dyk is so busy, she’s had to cut back her houseplant collection: She’s gone from having 500 to 400. But there’s no risk of her sitting idle: She’s taken on a new hobby – tropical fish.
Van Dyk was runner-up in New Zealand Gardener’s 2021 houseplant heroes competition, proving that houseplants are not just for millennials. Van Dyk's houseplant addiction started with just one Monstera deliciosa she was looking after for her daughter.
She started her new hobby in a similar way to her plant obsession – helping out one of her daughters who was moving.
Van Dyk lives in a villa in a retirement community in Bethlehem, Tauranga, with her husband, Jacko, a man whose good-natured patience is tested by his wife’s obsessions. He has been encouraging his wife to give away plants. “When my daughters visit they say, ‘please, please can I have this plant?’ and my husband says ‘Take as many as you want. Your mum is too busy.’”
Van Dyk has plenty of plant-specific storage at her home.
Currently under contention is a 2-metre-high fiddle leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) that one of the daughters wants. “She will take it. I think I have no choice,” Aida concedes, admitting she needs to cut back. “I probably have to reduce. Some are getting bigger too. The monstera is huge – it’s nearly going to the ceiling.”
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