See, my wife has always loved plants—but her love can get in the way sometimes because it changes how she treats the plant. See it’s like this…the more she loves a plant, the more she will do for you that will ultimately kill you! Fortunately, she was not this way with our children!
Feeding Her Plants
For years, her watering ritual was to place her plants in the sink and let the water run over them for five to ten minutes. That in itself wasn’t a problem, but sometimes she did this several times a week—which literally washed all the nutrients out of the soil and down the drain. But, that was a small thing.
Take our old rubber tree plant. The plant had survived the family’s move from Colorado to Illinois. But somewhere along the way, my wife realized how much she loved her rubber tree. And with that, the plant’s fate was sealed. Because somewhere she heard that “nitrogen” was good for plants…and that plain gelatin was “rich” with nitrogen.
As a child who grew up cutting grass, I also knew that nitrogen was good for grass—in the right concentration. However, add nitrogen at the wrong time in the heat of the sun—and you burn up your yard! Never-the-less, my wife put gelatin on that rubber tree until she literally burnt it up. I guess love is that way….
As the leaves began to drop, rather than admit the mistake, she continued to water it. For the next three years she began to water that stump—never for once believing that it would not revive. That is, until I picked the whole tree up and it easily separated from the soil—because there were no roots to hold it in! Still, she didn’t believe that there was no life until I crushed the whole thing with one hand, given that it was now withered and hollowed out, having given up the ghost many moons ago.
Everythings Coming Up!
But for my wife, that was in the past, and she has found new life in the sometimes tropical lands of Georgia where we now live. Here she has found great success with seeds from things we eat. At this time we have the tops of pineapples seemingly thriving in a pot on the back porch.
But the real victory is her avocado plants that were grown from the discarded seeds she planted in the dirt. And while we don’t know the end-game for any of these…we have vibrant plants in the house!
The Bestest One of All!
Perhaps the most celebrated plant that we have had in some time was our fresh basil plant; a plant that we just happen to notice at the local grocery and purchased it. Well, soon it became obvious that my wife had a deep attraction for it…and love was not far behind! Not only was the plant easy to maintain—but its aromatic leaves made everything taste better!
So the basil plant received the royal treatment. It was moved to the sunniest areas of the house, daily—even throughout the day. When we went out of the house, I almost wanted check to make sure that the plant wasn’t with us…in one of those purses like the rich and famous do with their little dogs.
The basil plant was moved outside when it looked like there was going to be rain. Surely the other plants must have noticed! And day by day, the wonderful leaves were added to almost every meal. Especially after she learned of the health benefits of fresh basil—she couldn’t stop telling everyone about her new basil plant.
“See…” she told me, “…the secret with a basil plant is that you can just pinch off a few leaves and the plant is stimulated and soon, new leaves are sprouting.” But…just because you love a thing doesn’t mean that you can’t love it to death. Soon my wife became concerned because her new best friend stopped producing leaves after the old leaves were being pinched off…!
Gone too Soon!
And then, as sudden as the new love came into her life—it was gone. As I prepared to make some eggs and was looking to add the fresh basil, I wondered out loud, where had the plant gone? She said, I chopped it up—and worked it into the soil…because its season was over.
I guess all that I can say is that after thirty-two years of marriage…I am so thankful…that I am not a basil plant!
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