Equal parts neglect and ignorance; that's how plants die at my hands.
But to have found plants that thrive under these conditions...
... well, I'm gobsmacked and chuffed as nuts.
~ ~ ~
Back in late September, I'd taken some plants inside for the winter. To keep them from the maws & paws of cats, I'd closed them up inside the Nursery with the grow lights turned off. This was only meant to be temporary. I'd fully intended to repot them for their winter term.
And then I forgot about them.
Four months later:
Cleaned out the Nursery last Saturday.
The Namaqualand Daisies* had become brown and brittle. Its summer blooms, vivid and intense as pure pigment, had nearly convinced me that orange was a primary colour; but now it was just as vividly and intensely dead.
The leaves of the Pineapple-scented Geranium had withered away... but its woody main stalk still held stems that were a pale, pale barely~green...
I'd heard that geraniums/pelargoniums can be forced into dormancy, which is how some people choose to overwinter them. So just for a lark, I decided to allow it exposure to houselight, and gave it a good spring~like soaking.
And damned if it hasn't started sprouting leaves.
Utterpletely and Most Exquisitivively Flabbergastrordinary.
{Shameless plug: I got this plant from Holt's Geraniums. Go shopping. Go shopping now.}
~ ~ ~
While we're on the subject of resilient plants, I may as well mention Tradescantia Zebrina {aka Wandering Jew}:
Many moons ago, my mum gave me an array of plant cuttings. They were wrapped in wet paper towels and sealed in tupperware for their survival on the 11~hour trip home. When I finally got back to my apartment, I put them in a {good china} bowl of water to root, and put the {good china} bowl up on a high shelf inaccessible to cats.
And then I forgot about them. **
Went looking for the bowl when I realized I only had three out of a set of four good china bowls, and I couldn't figure out where on earth the fourth had gotten to. Tore my one~room apartment apart looking for it, muttering things like, Dag~NAB~bit! I live in 400 square feet of space! How in holy thunderation is it humanly possible to lose anything?
When I took the bowl down from the shelf, I found that not only had all the water evaporated, but that almost all the cuttings crumbled at the touch... almost all, that is, except for: the Wandering Jew.
It seemed quite unaffected by the drought. No hint of withering. No discolouration. It lay there, chock full o' life, looking for all the world as if it were sunning itself; the only thing it was missing was a beach towel. Dare I say it... it looked... relaxed.
That was the beginning of a long and happy plant relationship.
It grew well; in fact, at one point it grew so well that the weight of its own vines eventually tipped itself off the shelf in the window where it sat. Any other plant would've gone into shock and died after taking a tumble like that; but I just transplanted it, gave it a trim, and rooted the cuttings to make new plants. And it was fine.
Alas, I do not have that plant anymore. It moved to a sublet with me, and when I moved away, the roommates asked to have it; so I gave it to them. High praise for a plant, I think.
~ ~ ~
So, if you're like me, and you need plants that can survive despite without your care, then try something from the Tradescantia or Pelargonium families. Honestly, if I can't kill them, what makes you think you can?
= = = = =
* MacKenzie Seeds sells them as "Rain Daisies", which is odd, because they're not.
** See a pattern?
Posted by edgar at January 28, 2004 09:30 AM