It’s true. I went on a killing spree. I felt bad about it but those suckers had to go.
Before you call the cops, I’m talking about my house plants; they were out of control and taking over until it was either me or them. Honestly, I tried giving them away to loving homes. Twenty were adopted last October but scads more were destined for homelessness.
My plants, especially the ones that bloom during the winter, are my babies and it felt very personal to get rid of the extras.
There’s a snake plant that’s been in my family over 150 years and I agonized about getting rid of any part of that plant.
Witness the seven pots of its babies sitting before me as I type this <<First Name>>, with two more behind me plus one in the bedroom. Still, I threw five clumps of snake plant babies into the woods to fend for themselves at the end of fall. Multi-generational planticide pure and simple.
On plant stands in the entryway are peace lilies from my parents’ memorial services. Gotta keep those. Except… I composted two of their lush offspring: a cruel ending to something with “peace” in its name. Four Christmas cactus, three red and one fuchsia, adorn the windowsills. I noticed yesterday they’ve migrated their offspring into the snake plants. Smart cactus plant. Better chance of survival as a twofer.
The sunroom has two snooty orchids who hate me. They refuse to bloom again even though I baby them. Not a good decision on their part. Clearly they don’t know my reputation for plant extermination. A friend gave me a pot of hens and chicks last year. So cool looking. They’re all about reproducing and now I have four pots of them. Yikes.
The three amaryllis that I stuck in a dark closet at summer’s end look bad. Soon they’ll come back with garish blooms and grow so tall they’ll tip over the pots. In a moment of insanity, I ordered a poinsettia from a local charity at Thanksgiving. It’s still going strong and looking good. Keeping that one. There are two African violets in the bedroom that are the happiest campers you’ve ever seen. They continuously bloom in luscious pink and purple. They sit next to a small jade plant. I kill jade plants but am hoping to keep this a secret from Little Jade. Right now, it seems happy.
Then there are the four mystery plants. They’re nice looking and are low maintenance so I’ve kept them off the house plant hit list. It may seem like I have a lot of plants, but it’s a significant reduction in my plant parenthood And I’ve promised myself I won’t be repotting any plants this year.
I’m here for you if you’re trying to make a decision and can’t get clear on how to proceed. Click here Work With Me and let’s chat! You can also subscribe to the weekly by clicking here: Subscribe
