Thursday, May 8, 2008

Guilt

I'm feeling a little guilty about leaving this weekend. I have several plants on my desk at work, inside my apartment, and on my balcony that might be missing me. At least four of them I'm not worried about; they are philadendrons who could really care less about what you do with them. They just slowly grow, turning their leaves toward any pathetic light source they can find (my 150-watt lamp bulb at work), never complaining, never looking wilted, and potentially lasting decades. Yes, decades! Mom has one that has been growing in the same pot for what, 35 years now? The one I have at work gets closed off in the dark cave known as my office during the entire weekend, only to greet me with his bright green leaves each Monday morning as if it's been a glorious vacation. The ones at home don't mind drinking what's left of my Gatorade when I get back from bike rides.

But then there's my hibiscus. She's not too fond of Memphis winters, even though I bring her inside and put her right next to the huge westward-facing window of my bedroom. She just loves the sun and heat too much to really thrive. I took this photo of her recently, and look, she's waving at the setting sun, her source of food and happiness.

I just repotted her this spring in a larger home with her favorite treat: nutrient rich, decadent "horse dirt" that Mom gets from the barn. [Side note: we don't like to say that we put manure (albeit composted) on vegetables, so we just use the ambiguous "dirt" term.] I'm excited to see how she fares this summer, and I hope that my 4 1/2 days out of town won't start her off on the wrong root.

5 comments:

  1. I'm sure your hibiscus will be fine during your trip...she'll be so busy eating horse dirt! If it makes you feel any better, I recently rotted about half the roots of my Christmas cactus, resulting in her losing about half her leaves to malnutrition. Whole stems just popped right out when I tugged at the whithered leaves, leaving (haha) behind spongy, hollowed-out bits of root. Note to all gardners -- when a plant is called a CACTUS, it generally does not need thorough drenchings on a regular basis.

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  2. Oh poor cactus! I was thinking of Leafy and Biscuit while I was writing this and about how much better of a plant mom you are than I am. :)

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  3. I know Leafy, of course...but who is Biscuit???

    --Jenny

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  4. Biscuit the hibiscus, of course! Biscuit loved St. Louis, but our current apartment doesn't quite meet his sunshine needs. No flowers since we've lived in Birmingham, but many, happy, varigated leaves. :)

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  5. I love your blog and the comments. I'm flattered to be mentioned. By the way, that plant has now been in the same pot 43 years! New horse dirt, of course.

    Mom

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