How do you break up with your houseplant? I've been struggling with this for awhile and I still haven't figured out how to have "the conversation" with my ailing peace lily. Its not personal, its just no longer working. Well...its not been working for a long time, but I didn't want to admit it out loud until recently.
Its a little disappointing that I have the black thumb of death when it comes to plants. My Grandma Park had the most amazing garden when we were growing up. She had a farm and a huge vegetable garden she would take us to. It was the kind you could run and get lost in. Her flower garden was the kind you see in magazines. She would always send my sister and I home with an African Violet to put in our room. She said you couldn't kill them. Apparently she never saw the carcasses of the previous flowers she had sent home with me!! I kept thinking as I grew older that things would change for me in the plant-killer department. I had the best intentions of being a master gardener, but other than one summer hanging basket that I somehow managed to not kill, I had no such luck. About 8 years ago, I received a peace lily as a Secretary's Day present (either it was a cruel joke or the person really didn't know me). It did ok the first year, and by ok I mean I didn't kill is as quickly as I killed most of my other plants. Every year I was amazed that my little houseplant made it...until about three years ago. Then I realized that my plant was no longer thriving, it was merely surviving, and not well at that. There were two reasons I kept my plant. 1) A small part of me wanted to prove I could keep it alive. 2) The biggest reason, I didn't know how to break up with it. How do you break up with your houseplant? You can have "the conversation" with it all you want, but that doesn't really solve anything. Every time I walk past it, I feel a pang of guilt and secretly imagine this scenario: Me: Sorry plant, but its just not working anymore. Its not you, its me... Houseplant stares blankly at me. Its leaves are brown around the edges. A small tear roll down its leaf... Me: I think you would be happy seeing other people, people who care about you the way you should be cared for... Houseplant suddenly has a small suitcase sitting next to it... What do you do with it when you believe it needs to start living somewhere else? I can't just throw it away (although I really really want to). It didn't ask to have me as an owner. Until I figure it out, its going to continue living next to my television, and I'm going to continue feeling guilty every time I pass it.
1 Comment
Kim
10/11/2012 09:39:06 am
LOL So sorry -- but I can relate to this. I've had plants commit suicide between the store and my house. I solved my guilty plant problem by getting a cat. No more temptation to bring the lovely Christmas cactus home. Cats eat plants which makes me and the plant unhappy and the cat sick. :-P
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