The truth of the matter is that I have unfortunate skill with potted plants. There is a chance that it is genetic: when my parents were engaged, my dad gave my mom a plant and said that if she couldn't keep it alive, she wouldn't be able to keep him alive :) The plant lived - thanks to my mom's roommate - until a few weeks after they were married.
Just after Rod and I started dating, he gave me a potted plant: a beautifully fragrant spring flower: After about 2 days of bliss, it started looking sadder and sadder by the day. It lasted for just over a week. He hasn't bought me another plant since; I recently learned it wasn't because I killed it, but that I was so sad that it died.
This year, for the first time since that spring flower, we received 2 plants as gifts: mums and ivy of some kind. The mums were a brilliant yellow for just under a week. By a week and a half, all the flowers were brown. I watered it faithfully, from the roots, and with warm (not cold, not hot) water. I trimmed the dying parts so that the energy could be better spent keeping itself alive. I put it in the sunniest place in the apartment. It didn't do a thing. By half-way through the second week, it looked like a dead twig. By about week 3, Rod "set it free" to see if it could do better on its own in the outdoors. It disappeared. I took the same good care of the ivy -chosen for its hardiness. It has changed from a bright green to partially white and speckled. To my credit, it is still alive. It has chosen a slow death, by the looks of it.
At a wedding several weeks ago, we were given a potted orchid as a favour. Rod tried to convince me that it might not be worth taking: it's not exactly the easiest flower to keep alive, and he didn't want me upset if I killed another one. It looked so pretty, I took it anyway. Two flowers have since bloomed, and there may be another on the way. It looks even better than before.
My trick? I've ignored it. I haven't touched it, watered it, or moved it since we I took it home. I may be on to something.
2 comments:
My Christmas cactus bloomed again, after I neglected it for weeks while in the hospital. Isn't it strange that neglect sometimes is what plants seem to need? Don't worry though, I am a nursery worker who waters soil flats and I so much over-watered some of my company's plants (not at the nursery, but at the company that went bankrupt) that some of them died and others were all but destroyed. The secret is to test the soil before watering.
I believe you've found the secret - ignore them. Over watering is a common and senseless death for plants. I find if I water my plants every two weeks - they seem to be okay. I've coordinated my watering days with my pay days - why not share the wealth....
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