I bought FoxyJ an orchid for Valentine's Day, if I recall correctly. I kept it alive and thriving until we moved in July. I managed to keep it alive through a month of moving from my sister's place to my mom's to my in-laws' to our new place. A month after moving in here, it died.
When we moved in here we bought two majestic palm plants at Ikea. Within a week or two the leaves were turning brown on one of them. I fought and fought but in the last week or so I've accepted that it's time to give up the fight. The plant is dead.
If this were a matter of me being airheaded and just forgetting to water or otherwise neglecting my plants, that would be one thing. I'm an obsessive person, though, and I've obsessed over these plants. I looked up proper care for each of the plants, I bought orchid food, I tried to find the perfect spot in the house where they'd get the right amount of sunlight. All to no avail.
The powerlessness of it all is kind of depressing.
Did you talk to them? My former roommate always had a ton of plants on the balcony, and when she'd go out of town she'd leave me in charge of them (much as I didn't want to be - I have zero interest in plants). I'd water them once a day, and while I'd water them I'd {cringe} encourage them to grow, and tell them they were doing great. Ok, yes, I felt like a MORON. But I remember reading, many years ago, that talking to plants helps them thrive. And when my roommate came home her plants were ALWAYS doing better than when she left (she refused to talk to them - she said she felt stupid. I guess I'm just used to feeling stupid).
ReplyDeleteSorry about your plants.
I'll have to try that with future plants. I'm willing to feel stupid if it'll keep them alive.
ReplyDeleteTry avocados! Those are fun. Even though one of my three just died...that one was very much lack of watering.
ReplyDeleteMmm... avocado...
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to give one a try now that I'm in a climate where it's feasible, but I just had three avocados this week and didn't save a single pit. I guess I'll have to get another one.
Perhaps your environment needs a cleansing. You know, to get rid of the negative energy abandoned there by the previous occupants.
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean my apartment has to go on an all-liquid fast or something? I'm not sure I want to see what comes out as a result of the cleansing.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like you loved them to death.
ReplyDeleteI stick my orchids out on my deck (underneath a big oak tree) during the summer months and have them on a drip system where they get watered twice a day for 10 minutes - and basically just forget about them all summer. In the winter I bring them inside. Once in a while, when I think about it, I give them some fertilizer (usually african violet food, since that is what I have on hand). They usually bloom either in the fall or spring.
Vegetables, on the other hand - they hate me. I can grow pretty flowers - but I can't grow vegetables worth a darn.
I'll try loving my next plant less.
ReplyDeleteIf they are anything like our goldfish, the more you ignore the longer they survive. I bet they'd even survive without food if we went camping for week. Not that we'd ever try that...again.
ReplyDeleteDo you suppose the same is true of children?
ReplyDelete