My green thumb

Hens and chicks, over which I futz
When I was younger, I did well with plants.  They liked me, I liked them, they grew, they flourished.  I gave them sun and water and they gave me loveliness and cooperation.  I was younger and I lived in a third floor unit that had great southern light and after a certain hour, almost no light at all.  I worke second shift and was gone from 430p until 1am. This gave the pants happiness, especially the christrimas cactus which flowered twice a year -- Halloween and Christmas.  I had a monster African violet that liked me and its pot and became huge.  And then I changed jobs.  And then I moved.

The moving killed everything I owned and everything that came into my apartment.  I stopped buying plants but one day, Mike and I were at the Gardens of Getsemane in Chicago and I saw a fiddle leaf fig.  It was small, in a four-inch pot, and I wanted it.  I told Michael that if I bought it and it died, that was it:  No more plants again in my life.

Surprise!  It flourished.  Within 10 months I had to get it repotted.  Another year went by and it was again repotted.  I moved into this place and while it took the move hard, the upper leaves have been growing.  I acquired a lower table.   I then got another plant-- a weird thing that is a version of mother in laws tongue but the leaves?  Fronds?  are all round and pointy at the tips.  I'd been doing very well.  So I decided another fig would do it and got a mini-fiddle leaf fig.  I went to greenhouse with my sister and brother-in-law and I got three other plants, and then I gave my sister some money to get me a lemon-lime scented gernanium.

Everything's growing!  I futz over them.  The begonia seems to be ready to make its move and take over my apartment -- it's doubled in size since I got it.  It's immense with many blooms.

So now I can share that I am not a fan of drapey houseplants that give off many flowers.  Upright with flowers is okay.  Small trees like the figs are great.  The hens and chicks it absolutely fine.  But if you're gonna be a flowering begonia in my home, you need to be at attention at all times.  That Tuberous begonia is happy, though, and will be with me for a long time.  My green thumb is back!  Welcome back to the world of the living.

And no, I do not name my houseplants.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who's that dame?

It has been many, many weeks since my last post and apparently I've not been missed. That is okay! Things have happened since my last attempt. Teranofuji won the May Basho -- if he wins in July, his Yokozuna status is assured -- and as of tomorrow I will be working 40 hours a week. I've not worked 40 hours a week in a year and a quarter and I am both happy and feeling what best can be described as lazy. I will miss YouTube and reading books. After thinking about it for many years, I decided to adopt a cat from PAWS Chicago. PAWS is a terrific place and since they opened their doors the number of cats that have been euthanized in Chicago has gone from 46,000 to 1,900. Much of this is due to trap, neuter, release for those who cannot be socialized and adopted; they are returned to their feral colonies to live out their lives with their felines pals. My cat, now named BB, was a stray. She always uses the box and covers her business; she sleeps on the bed with me but in her own s...
Read more

Have you seen the gallinule?

Image
American purple gallinule, courtesy of VIREO Yesterday morning I set off with the birders to look at birds at the Magic Hedge near Montrose Harbor in Chicago.  As we were arriving, I found out a gallinule had been spotted very recently.   Two men were walking away from the harbor as we were leaving our car.  "Did you see the gallinule?" my sister asked. These were two very sweet and funny guys.  "No," said one, "but I saw a really big fish," and held his hands about 20 inches apart.  "I don't look at fish," said the second, "but I saw a grebe.  The gallinule is supposed to be down by Slip A." Fall at the Magic Hedge near Montrose Harbor, Chicago There was a difference for me this week.  I had my own [not great but they work and hey, they were free] binoculars.  I forgot my plastic bag so I couldn't concentrate on picking up trash (which was too bad as there was a lot of it).   I actually looked at something and was late...
Read more