#4 Share

When the youngest, Hannah, was home during the month-long winter break she had the forethought to bring her plants home. Didn’t want to leave them to die a slow painful death in the cold dormitory.

One was a philodendron. A very green and healthy plant. Was growing like crazy as philos are wont to do. I told her it needed a haircut. To spruce it up a bit. So I did.

Then I took the cuttings and plunked them into a glass vase filled with water.

The kid returned to her university with her newly shorn plants at the end of the holiday.

Meanwhile, the cuttings were thriving at their new homevase (just made that word up and keeping it) and shooting out little roots everywhere. All I ever had to do was top it off with a little water as needed.

This is what it looks like now.

There are now probably five or six individual plants. From one plant.

My daughter is currently home with us. She left university the first week of March and arrived in Rhode Island to spend the short Spring break. Never imagining that she wouldn’t be right back at school in ten days. So her only accompaniment was a big basket filled with dirty clothes. Everything else, including her green little plants, remains locked up in her inaccessible dorm room.

Poor little plants. Also casualties in the pandemic war.

The good news is that when she does return to her university she will have five new plants. All from the original Mama.

This is something simple we can all do. Whether we live on a ranch or in a city apartment. Take a cutting from one of your plants. Then drop it in a glass jar or vase. When it roots share with a friend, neighbor or family member. Rinse and repeat.

It’s healthy for the indoor environment. Where many of us happen to be spending every minute at the moment. It’s super easy. Cheerful to look at while also spreading cheer.

Things will get better. Hang in there. Be safe.

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Geraniums

The geraniums did quite well on our back deck this past summer. Always so cheerful looking with their bright reddish-orange blooms against a back drop of dark green leaves.

I’ve always thought they had staying power even while surrounded by upstarts.

When it was time for the summer farewell I wasn’t quite prepared to let them go. To do what many folks do. I did not buy into their “annual” tag.  Did not let the geraniums die a natural death in their potted state. Did not watch them be reduced to brown stalks and allow the soil to be repurposed as an ashtray for a shivering smoker. Did not leave them to the elements. Did not rip them from the dirt and throw into the compost bin. Did not allow the blooms to just disappear like tourists after Labor Day.

I treated the geranium like a perennial plant. I kept it alive.

It wasn’t that I wanted to play God.  It wasn’t about trying to save money on new plants in the spring. It wasn’t that I wanted one more thing to care for in the house.

I just really enjoyed looking at them. Each and every day. So cheerful. That’s it.

Why couldn’t I invite a last vestige of summer into our home? It’s not a rejection of autumn but merely a symbol of past and future joy.

They were still blooming and perky looking so I brought the pot inside and found a perfect spot in the sunroom.

It’s now February and they continue to thrive. And I still love looking at them. A bigger pot is definitely on the horizon.

In my last posting I stated that I would share the things that enhanced or added cheer to my autumn and winter days. This geranium totally made my list of cheer.

Stay tuned for more.

 

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