New Year's Resolution #1: Take Care Of My Plants - The Before Images
I wanna live.
Oh this is going to be embarrassing. I mentioned before that I noticed that the only time my plants looked good was when I went away for a period of time. Every time I went on vacation someone else was actually taking good care of my plants. That is when they would actually flower, bloom, stand up, and produce...anything, something. That was a wake up call for me. It is a situation that has become, why even have plants? Why go through the bother of planting or purchasing anything? It is kind of miserable.
Help us!
But not anymore. I resolve to take care of my plants this year (and the years to follow, hopefully). This means pruning, cleaning, keeping from the cat as best I can, and the really important one, watering. It seems so simple but apparently it isn't for me. I mean, I go through all the trouble of buying soil and pots and seeds and watering cans and cute little shovels. I spend a couple days of the year planting, getting dirty, yelling at the cat for chewing on my freshly watered plants or for sitting in the pot of dirt. I have fun doing that when the notion moves me but it ends there. I sit on my couch wishing the plants were healthier, not so crispy and saggy. I will them to suck the nonexistent moisture out of the air so I don't have to get up, grab the watering can, bring it into the kitchen, fill it up, carry it back out to the patio...a whole 6 meters away....pour the water into a few pots. Repeat. We really could use a spigot on the patio but it isn't there so I have to do all this work. I live in California so I somehow feel entitled to have healthy, happy plants. Not happening. Now I have to actually do something.
Look at these poor things.
Enough talking. I have all the "BEFORE" pictures here for the world to see. I will then plant, sow, protect and encourage them all to thrive, then post the results as they come along. I think I can figure out watering but I am pretty horrible at pruning so if you see something I have done horribly wrong or something that I have horribly neglected, please leave a comment so I can get the most out of these beauties. And now for the ugly truth...
First off, my Jasmine Vine. I bought this to put in front of the sliding screen door leading to my bedroom so I could smell it's sweet perfume as a slept on a warm, summer night.
Instead, I neglected it to the point of it having about three green leaves left which I think are dead anyways.
I'll start by pruning it and, of course, watering it in hopes that I can save it. This plant may be beyond saving but I won't give up on her yet.
Next is my 10 year old Plumeria Tree. I grew this little beauty from a little stick I bought in Hawaii. It is winter now so there are no leaves but in the summer it does grow leaves and you can see that the top several inches are green which I hope means it is still growing. I don't know if it will ever flower because it is so old now but I hope to help it do so this year.
I have these two Hibiscus plants that have been surviving pretty well, considering. This one is ok.
This one is a bit fallen down. I will try to prop this one up with some soil. I think the cat uses this plant to sit on, causing it to keel over and grow sideways.
You can see that these are green and they even flower year round amazingly. Very hardy plants.
Here is one of my house plants that I have kept outside for too long. As you can see, it is destroyed.
Another Spider plant, destroyed.
This guy gave it a good try, see it's extension? Why are these getting ruined?
Oh, that's why. I have a stupid cat.
A cat that eats and destroys plants.
Non-stop. Munch munch munch.
Here is the result - a chewed up, brown, ugly plant. Too ugly to even bring inside.
Thanks, Nova, you stinker.
There you have my plants who have been my neglected children, born of love but then left to fend for themselves in a harsh, harsh world, begging on the streets for scraps of water or a break from the abuse brought on by the wild animals. The above represents the plants that have survived, I use the term loosely. Some weren't as lucky. I had to remove several grey-brown streamers that once were sprouting seeds full of hope and wonder.
In memory of those I have lost I am going to plant a few new ones and a few replacements from seed. I'll get into that in the next posting. For now, this shame that is my 'garden', soon to be my past.
/
0 comments: