While houseplants add the perfect ambience and cozy vibes to any space, sometimes they are HARD to keep alive! Like us, each plant is unique and has different needs and care. It can get confusing to keep everything straight, especially when you are first starting out. What better way to track the health of your houseplants and their care than a spread in your bullet journal or plant journal? 

Just a page or two in your journal to track the recommended care for each plant as well as recording how and when you care for said plant could very well be the difference between life or death for some of your houseplants. Here’s the general spread I use in my plant journal and how I made it.

Supplies

• Archer & Olive Notebook - I'm using an A5 size with white dot grid paper. 
• Calliograph brush pens
• Sketch pencil & eraser
• Straight edge, like this dot grid stencil
• Ink pen
• Decorative elements - most of mine are from the Growing Seasons monthly kit 
• Optional: Photos of plants

Make sure to use code PLANNEDANDPLANTED10 to save 10% off your Archer & Olive order!

How to Make the Plant Care & Growth Tracking Spread

1. Measure out and sketch your plant care spread in pencil 

For this spread, I’m using the top half of the left page to put a photo of my plant (you can sketch in an illustration if you’re more artistic than me), the name of the plant, and when and where I acquired it. The bottom half is a box where I will list recommended care techniques from the internet or the card insert that comes with most plants.

The right page is divided into 4 equal sized boxes where I will add notes about care and how it affects the plant as time goes on. Sketch out these lines and spaces in pencil after measuring so you don’t make a mistake! 

2. Ink in the spread with a pen and straight edge 

Now you just go in with an ink pen and a straight edge and add in the lines for the various boxes on your spread. 

3. Add headers for categories of plant care and growth tracking

I like making “headers” stick out a little bit, so I use the wide-tip end of my Calliograph marker to make lines where I want the header to go. This way I don’t have to wait for the ink to dry after writing in the title and prevents smudging! 

In my plant care box, my headers are light, water, soil, and temperature & humidity. For my growing notes, the headers ar placement and lighting, potting and soil, water and food, and other, for various other notes about the plant care.

4. Letter the plant name onto the top of the page 

Then I add the title to the top of the page. I knew as soon as I opened the Growing Seasons monthly kit that I wanted to use one of the leaf sticky notes in my plant journal, because duh! So I lettered the common name of the plant onto the sticky note. Below the common name, I wrote the scientific name because it makes me feel smarter. Then I taped the leaf onto the page.

5. Add a photo of your plant, or drawn in a doodle 

The photo I’m using in my spread is a polaroid photo from my Instax mini, but you can just as easily take a photo on your phone and print it out on a home printer, or send it to a photo printing establishment. 

If you’re more artistically inclined than I am, you could also doodle in an illustration of your plant. I personally like the photo because I can see how much my plant grows from year to year, but you do you!

6. Add decorative elements like washi tapes and plant stickers

Again, the Growing Seasons monthly kit is perfect to add a little pizazz to your spread. Can you tell I’m obsessed with this kit yet? I added in some plant washi tapes and some cute little plant stickers in some of the blank spaces.

7. Fill in the plant care information 

Now I go in with a regular writing pen and add in the recommended care tips for the plant. You can find these recommendations through a quick Google search. Most houseplants also come with a little card insert that has some care instructions listed. If you keep these, you could even tape them into your journal for a fun little found object moment!

8. Use the second page to add in notes as you care for your plants

The second page is not meant to be filled in right away. Basically it’s for you to write and track any care notes for that plant as time goes on. When you repotted it, how often you water it, if changing it to a different spot in your house makes it grow faster etc. If and when your cat knocked it down (thanks, Waffles!) and any damage it takes. 

And now your spread is finished!

The beauty of this spread is that you don’t have to recreate it every year like in other bullet journals. You could very easily keep the same house plant journal for years and just update and add information as your collection grows. 

If you don’t feel like setting this all up on your own, you can download the printable I created of this spread, and print and glue it into your own notebook!

And of course, here’s a visual tutorial on how I set this spread up. 

Hopefully this spread will come in handy, at least for some of your temperamental houseplants! As you become more acquainted with each plant, you may not need to refer to this as often, but it’s very helpful for new plants and new plant parents especially. 

If you found this helpful and would like some other ideas for plant care spreads to include in your bullet journal or plant journal, check out these other blog posts for inspiration:

• How to Create a Dutch Door Houseplant Watering Tracker in Your Plant Journal or Bujo
• Bullet Journal Spreads for Caring for Indoor Plants

And as always, happily planning and planting!