About this holiday:
July 27th commemorates the exciting "Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day". Plant owners the world over proudly stroll their plants through the streets, exchanging hellos, plant-care tips and general merriment. It is believed that by "Strolling the plants" you enable them to know their environment, bringing on wellness.
All of my house plants are too big to take for a walk anywhere, so they are going for a virtual walk, right into all your living rooms!!!! :)
This is a 33 year old Norfolk Pine. My dad purchased it for my mom the day I was born. It's about 7 feet talk and occupies it's own corner of the living room. Recenly, my mom and I repotted it, a huge undertaking. It has survived a move from Alexandria, VA to North Tarrytown NY in 1979, then a move from North Tarrytown, NY to Cincinnati OH in 1987, then a move from Cincinnati here in 2004. 
This is the "little" Norfolk pine. I use that term very loosely. As you can see it's taller than the chair. When we moved from Alexandria to NY in 1979 my mom was afraid that the original Norfolk Pine would die, so she bought another one and planted it with the original. When I got the plants in 2004 I decided that the little one was likely choking out the original one so, after 25 years of co-habitation, I got the "extra" pine it's own pot. Seemed to do good things for both plants - both plants had a growth spurt and looked healthier. However, I now had 2 huge plants in my living room. 
This is Audrey. As in Little Shop of Horrors. Feed me Seymour. Audrey is split leaf - she might have a more scientific name, but we know her as "the split leaf". Audrey is family heriloom. I'm not exactly sure how far back the split leaf goes in our family, but this particular ones history is easy to trace. My grandparents had a giant split leaf plant, prob about the size of this one, and my grandmother drug it outside for the summer. It was very happy outside and it doubled in size in a short amount of time. It was now too big to get it into the house! So my grandmother cut part of it off. My grandfather wouldn't allow her to throw the cutting away so she planted it - which of course meant that she now had 2!!!! She gave the cutting to my parents soon after we moved to Cincinnati and now that cutting takes up more space in my living room that some of the furniture! I actually really like Audrey - she's an active plant, very frequently I'll look over there's another giant leaf unfolding! She doesn't need much water and a yearly feeding of miracle grow keeps her happy!
The neat thing about the split leaf is that when it grows a new shoot from the stem you can cut it off and stick it in water for a month or so and when it grows a root plant it in a pot and guess what? You've got another ginornmous plant on the way!
I once sent a cutting home to California with my aunt. We wrapped the stem in a wet paper towel and put it in a ziploc baggie and she carried it home on the plane. Her cutting grew a root and she planted it and it's well on it's way to being huge! She recently moved back to the East Coast and the plant survived just fine. It recently unfurled another leaf!
When my cousin got married I gave her a cutting, that I'd planted, and called it "her branch of the family tree'!
Soon after I got Audrey, my grandmother, who had moved to Florida and then back to VA and somehow her split leaf has vanished, asked for a cutting, so I grew her a plant. She has taken very good care of her plant and it's probably about 1/4 the size of mine. Recently she moved to an independent living facility in Williamsburg and she can't keep the plant (barely enough room for her in her tiny apartment!). The plant now lives at my parents house in Williamsburg, where it gets bright sunlight most of the day and it's quite happy. The downside to this is that my parents have retired as gypsies and they live in their motorhome 8-10 months out of the year! My grandmother doesn't have a car. This means that once a month or so someone has to go and water the plant. The upside to this is that if someone drives to Williamsburg to water the plant we'll likely stop in to see my grandma - the family plant, keeping the family together!
Did you take your houseplants for a walk today?
6 comments:
I have several plants. All are named Robert. I've taken them for many walks, drives, etc. over the years.
Then there's the hybrid plant named RobertAllison. That's a fine one. Only gonna get better with age.
As for Sera, she has lots of plants out on the back porch. And she hasn't killed any of 'em yet. :-D
-TG
Melissa.....would you please tell Talmadge that I said, "Bite me."
I tell you...if I were a Rich Woman, I'd be Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On). Then I'd leave a note on the refrigerator for him that says, "Please Read the Letter". The letter will say,"Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson. Don't diss my horticultural skills (or lack of). Nyeah."
:-D
I do love him, I really do....there are just some times that Talmadge just loves Killing the Blues.
Hey, don't take my word for it. On visits to Troy, I pass right by the Bonnie Plant Farm in Union Springs, Ala., and those seedlings all start screaming in raw fear when I get within 1/4 mile of the complex.
Clearly you've been married to me for waaaaay too long.
I love you, too. I think. :-)
--Talmadge "Better to kill the blues than a plant" Gleck
Wow...I leave the blog unattended for a day or so and you guys start going at each other! :)
Sera, I could send you a cutting from Audrey - she's REALLY hard to kill!!!!
Melissa, you don't know my wife. It's a good thing "Audrey" doesn't read this blog, or else she'd start screaming like all the Bonnie plants.
Yes, Sera has done very good with her patio garden ... it's just too much fun ragging her about her past horti-murderous streak.
As the missus is fond of saying, "What good is a spouse if you can't torture them?"
But contribute Spawns Of Audrey at your own risk...... ;-)
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