MONDAY BYTES – July 15, 2013
True confession: I’ve had this one plant in my home for 20+ years—a green viney thing that I water every other week. The fact that I’ve not killed this plant in all of these years is my sole botanical accomplishment.
When I adopted this plant it had just a few leaves and was in a small pot with no instructions, other than not to overwater. After a while I decided to re-pot it to a roomier container. It grew—more leaves and vines over the years. Benign neglect is my policy.
But after having the plant for 10 years I noticed something odd on one of the stems.
There seemed to be an unusual growth—a waxy protrusion. I was somewhat alarmed: wondered what was wrong and maybe my poor plant had some kind of parasite! It had never done anything like this other than grow more vines, more leaves.
To my astonishment, the protrusion eventually opened into a cluster of small pinkish flowers with dark red centers. And these had a wonderful scent—a chocolatey vanilla aroma.
Thank the gods for Google because I was able to identify my plant finally as a Hoya. And I found out they like to be root bound, which explained why it took 10 years in the roomier pot to finally produce a bloom. This is what it does now about every 3 months:
What’s the moral of this story?
Please send in your vote (new morals are encouraged!)
1. Bloom where you are planted. You’ll need to have roots and these can take time (you need to grow your network).
2. Be patient: some of us are early bloomers; some of us take time.
3. Don’t underestimate yourself or others.
4. If you suspect your plant has a tumor, chances are you’re wrong.
5. Other?
For this week: Take a look around you and admire what’s blooming (your work, your colleagues, your plants).
Monday Bytes archived posts are HERE.
Dream big, Plan smart, Live well!
