I Killed It!

I Killed It!

I would like to say I have a green thumb. Hell, I’d be happy to say I have a brown thumb. However, for some reason, me and plants just don’t get along.

Which has been making me chuckle this summer as James and I have both been doing our best to keep the flowers in our front pots alive. In past years, whatever we’ve planted for summer color is often dead by August. Last year we watched every leaf and flower get eaten by some strange caterpillar invasion over the course of two days.

However, for some reason this year, we’ve been determined to make sure they live.

We fully expected to come back from New Orleans to four very dead plants. Would not be the first time. But our house sitter was good enough to give them a splash or two while we were gone, so all four are trucking right along. Two of them looking a little the worse for wear but hanging in there.

Unlike myself, James has something of a knack – maybe compassion? – for plants. Maybe he’s just more nurturing? Or maybe he simply does better indoors.

After months of trying to get our first (and only) office plant to survive, I gave up and brought it home to breathe its last breath. No amount of watering – over or under – and no amount of moving it to get more, then less, sunlight did this poor plant any good. Somehow bringing it home seemed less cruel than watching it gasp and then wilt on my desk.

Today that same plant is sitting on a stand in our living room and is about two feet tall. We’ve been gone for a week, so the leaves have lost some of their color. But there it has sat, year in and year out for almost 10 years. It has even endured multiple car rides as we moved from place to place during our renovation. Multiple prunings as leaves have wilted for one reason or another.

Now James seems to think we need to replant it to a bigger pot. It needs some room to breathe and grow. However, when I sit in the chair in front of the plant, I’m already concerned that one day it might decide to just eat me.

Unless me and my black thumb can take care of it first!