---
title: "Hello, everyone! I’m new here :) This is my first ever plant, Portia…"
description: "Hello, everyone! I’m new here :) This is my first ever plant, Portia <3 She is an Elephant bush, and was gifted to me about 2 month ago. She is near a south…"
url: "https://getplanta.com/community/lZ7uAE3pQ86jnFGxrCwLrg/XG3jCaWKCC0tqKs4ZwLalD"
community: "Anything about plants"
author: "Aisha"
published: "2026-07-11T16:56:36.627119Z"
language: "en"
image: "https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/ZmLztcDrHrzzVoyRNm83vOG1JmWBfxPiKOyo3I5w8vM/jyhCrLXFSVG_08_CMwqy_Q.webp?size=large"
---

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# Hello, everyone! I’m new here :) This is my first ever plant, Portia…

_Posted by Aisha on 2026-07-11_

Hello, everyone! I’m new here :) This is my first ever plant, Portia \<3 She is an Elephant bush, and was gifted to me about 2 month ago. She is near a south facing window, and gets watered once her soil is dry :) I have a couple questions that I googled, but I felt like it wasn’t enough info for me. I found this app and am hoping someone will be able to help me :)

To start off she has grown a lot. In the first photo the green part of her stem is all that she’s grown. My worry is that the stem doesn’t seem to be getting any darker, and I was wondering if this is normal?

In the second photo there is a part of her leaf that is missing, and to me it looks like something has been eating away at it. She has leaves like this all around. I’ve looked for pests but haven’t seen any. Im thinking I may just not have the eye to find them because i’m not familiar with them? Could it be something I can change?

Is there anything else about her that you guys are able to see that I should do/change now?

Thank you so much in advance! \<3

![Attachment 1 of 2](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/ZmLztcDrHrzzVoyRNm83vOG1JmWBfxPiKOyo3I5w8vM/jyhCrLXFSVG_08_CMwqy_Q.webp?size=large)

![Attachment 2 of 2](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/ZmLztcDrHrzzVoyRNm83vOG1JmWBfxPiKOyo3I5w8vM/HLnQgWeDRhaiEO4zPhaLJA.webp?size=large)

## 4 comments

### Phil commented on 2026-07-11

Not sure about the pest question. To me, I’m not seeing anything about pests. But what I see, is an etoliated plant. This plant needs an abundance of light.

#### Aisha replied on 2026-07-11

Ill move her to an area with more light, thank youu!!

### MrsPlantyBrown commented on 2026-07-12

She’s a little leggy so likely lacking light. You can Trim back the leggy portions and let them root in the pot with her but give her lots of light and she will get bushier 💚

#### Aisha replied on 2026-07-12

Thank you!! :,)

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