buy and sustain my first houseplant

obviously i failed before, however this creates a challenge

i’ll try a sunflower again

I don’t remember exactlz what my first houseplant was, but my oldest living one is a cactus I bought when I was about 12, some 12 years ago.

was about the one comment I had yesterday when I saw the state of my poor houseplant after its two weeks of living out in the wilderness on my windowsill, while I was doing Marseille. Maybe that’s just as good, since I’m leaving for two weeks in Paris tomorrow… And now I have to face the awful truth: I’m just not a caring person.

I hadn’t considered vacations. Now, it was impossible for me to remove the plant from my room at the boarding school during spring break because I already had a thousand bags. Niether could I just leave it there because that would mean letting it die. Solution? I left it on the windowsill for two weeks, hoping for some rain and that no wind would knock it down and cause a sudden death. It is, I remind you, on the fifth floor. I’ll get back to you as soon as the holidayys are over, just don’t die out of curiosity.

The day before yesterday I bought a sad little 1,5 Euro plant standing on the pavement outside the florist’s. Yesterday I stole a soup bowl in the school cafeteria which now serves as its flower pot. So from now on it’s just the hard part left, keeping it alive until I leave the country. Cross your fingers, people!

Well, I did it. This plant, the Devil’s Ivy, cannot be killed. But more importantly, I have not killed it. This “accomplishment” amounts to pouring a little water into a pot about once a month, and only being inspired to do so by extreme acts of droopiness on its part. But the facts stand. I made a goal of owning my first houseplant and keeping it alive for six months. Someone heard about this goal and bought me a Ficus. That was very nice of them, but I killed it. Or, at least, it died. Then some people on 43 Things suggested I buy a Pothos. That was very nice of them. I bought one. The woman at the greenhouse assured me that I couldn’t kill it if I tried. I didn’t really try, but I didn’t really not try either. I haven’t really paid attention to its care and feeding. I haven’t really paid attention to its light. Still, it lives. It is invincible. So I sort of cheated. But I won.

Got myself a bamboo plant as a Christmas present two years ago. It was a little tiny thing when I first got it. Now it’s nearly as tall as I am. Just takes some filtered water (like from a Brita pitcher) and a little indirect sunlight (like through my mini-blinds). I really do need to get it a bigger container and some more river rocks to hold it upright and in place.

It’s an Phalaenopsis orchid (mostly white…pink in the center). I hope I can keep it alive. I bought a book on orchids just in case. How many months do I need to wait until I can say that I have sustained it? Hmm…I suppose this wasn’t a very well thought out goal. Seems like a setup for disappointment. Even if this plant lasts forever…I will never be to say that I completed my goal…....I may come up with a time limit from the book. ....more information coming soon…

The other week I finally noticed that my Pothos was exhibiting the same mortal signs that San Ficus (patron saint of dying) once did. Acting all droopy and suchlike. So I watered it…for the fourth or fifth time, ever. Today I looked up my previous entry to see how long it’s been since I got the thing. It’s been three and a half months. And while I spend about three minutes per month caring for this plant, it entirely perks up whenever I water it. It gets cheery and lively, as if in visual celebration of all the attention that’s been lavished upon it. I cannot kill this plant. (I may end up wanting to kill it, because apparently it has the disposition of a cheerleader, and I tend to get along with the brooding poet types. Except for that one brooding poet of a Ficus, with whom I did not get along at all.) I also cannot in good conscience mark this goal as complete until I’ve sustained it for at least six months. I reckon that’s ten or twelve more minutes of goal-oriented attention, and my work here is done. I can handle that.

Aka pothos, aka devil’s ivy, is THE easiest houseplant to maintain. I inherrited mine some 8 years ago when my college roommate left after Fall semester and left the plant on the windowsill for Winter Break. Unwatered, and in the unheated room for 4 weeks, and it was still alive when I got back in the spring. I’ve even made cuttings and just stuck them in water for a few years, and they did well, and I’ve given some to friends. Go for it!