Catching Idle Butterflies

Happy plants!

I decided on a light-hearted subject for today, folks.

Is it wrong to anthropomorphize my plants? I mean, I can understand attributing human thoughts and emotions to animals, because they are such complex creatures that can experience pain and joy, know how to manipulate their human owners into giving them a goodie when they really don’t deserve it (Rufus learned this one within a week!), give comfort when we’re scared or sad, the list goes on.

But plants?

Come on, really, how can a person tell if a plant is happy or sad, depressed or angry?

While I can’t tell the more subtle emotions (nor do I think they have them), I can tell when my plants are in need, or when they really like what I’m doing for them.

I have many happy plants, but these are the happiest.

First is an Aloe Vera. I rescued this monster about nine months ago from work. Left upstairs all by its lonesome, no one was taking care of it – one of those “out of sight, out of mind” situations. I watered it a few times, but then would forget about it for a month or so. This tenacious thing kept holding on, though, even in spite of all the neglect. Finally having walked by it and seeing its leaves thin, droop and turn a dark brown, almost black with only the slightest green peeking through the stems, I decided to take it.

I told my boss I was taking the thing home. He waved at me and said, “Go ahead.”

I replanted it into a bigger (twice the size of the original) pot and placed it near my southern facing bay windows, watering it at first twice a week, then once a week, now I’m up to once every other week.

This is what my Aloe Vera looks like today:

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Now you know why I call the thing a monster. It’s outgrowing its pot already! I’ve had to remove three sprouts as they wanted to crawl out of the pot for more fruitful soil. They are sitting in their own pot in my kitchen, equally as content now. While the picture has Monster placed on the floor, I normally have it sitting on a chair, because it's Rufus’ favorite plant to gnaw on, and I don’t have a table or shelf it’ll fit on!

I do have two other plants at work that are equally as happy:

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The vine grew three feet in less than a month, then slowed – stopped actually. With the approach of spring, it’s growing again, two inches since Friday plus more leaves!

The African Violet was given to me by a friend as a thank you because I helped her with her computer. She had so many plants already, she wouldn’t let me leave until I took one. Again, with spring, it’s now decided to flower again. I’m finding more buds peeking out every day.

Ain’t they perty?

I’ve always loved plants, even as a kid. I didn’t know I was good at taking care of them until I found a plant my mom had thrown in the garbage. It had one green leaf on it, so I decided to see if I could save it.

That was twenty years ago. It hasn’t grown a lot, it’s only about five feet long if I were to stretch it out, but it’s always been healthy. It’s been my constant companion through my most difficult and joyous times. Other plants may come and go, but this one I plan on keeping alive until the day I die.

Sorry, no picture of that one. My house is a mess, and where I have the plant is particularly cluttered. I don’t like to show off the fact I’m a slob if I don’t have to!

So am I nuts for loving my plants – enough to even take pictures of them?!

Should I be relieved I haven’t named them as well? Oh wait, I named my Aloe Vera, didn't I ?