I have disliked this plant from the first time I saw it, whilst I cannot tell you when that was, it was a good few years ago. Then four years ago it came into my possession. I say possession but I actually took no responsibility for it at all. I scorned it, moved it from my office to the outer office as if casting it out into the desert. This was cruel as the outer office has no natural light of its own and it was placed in front of a radiator to blast heat at it. To add to this cruelty, I ignored it.
and ignored it.
and then sometimes I felt a bit of responsibility for it and gave it a drink of water when I remembered.
Over the past few months I have been adding more plants into my office which include a peace lily I have had for many years and I care for it, water and feed. Yes, I have been tormenting this yukka (I think it is a yukka) by caring for a plant in front of its very neglected eyes. I have no shame.
Except I do have shame.
A few months ago it bent.....
.... and two of its leaf-shoots fell off.
I felt bad about this and gave it a feed.
Then I decided I could stand the shame no longer. I brought it into my office and put it on the windowsill. Now you can see that my office view is not the most scenic but it is natural light and better than nothing.
When I had to leave my office to work remotely from home I carefully packed up all my plants and brought them home. The yukka I popped into the conservatory and thought that this would aid its recovery.
It didn't. So I decided to trim off the limp looking leaves to see if it would sprout from the stem.
It didn't.
The result was not pretty. I moved it out to the greenhouse to see if it would be warm enough in there to give it a boost.
It didn't.
Nothing happened, there was no sudden sign of growth and then I noticed....
....this lesion in the stem. I prodded it a bit (like you do) and it is spongy. The stem should not feel spongy.
I think my (belated/reluctant) kindness in watering it has killed it. It got through all these years of neglect and then when I finally tried to help it, I killed it.
As ever the irritation is not with the plant but with myself. Rarely have I felt so much guilt over a plant death than I do with this one as I never liked it in the first place. I do not mourn it, but I did not mean to kill it.
Oh well, I shall have to find something else to replace it when I am allowed to go back to the office. Something I like better and may survive longer, this will be the silver lining.
and ignored it.
and then sometimes I felt a bit of responsibility for it and gave it a drink of water when I remembered.
Except I do have shame.
A few months ago it bent.....
I felt bad about this and gave it a feed.
Then I decided I could stand the shame no longer. I brought it into my office and put it on the windowsill. Now you can see that my office view is not the most scenic but it is natural light and better than nothing.
When I had to leave my office to work remotely from home I carefully packed up all my plants and brought them home. The yukka I popped into the conservatory and thought that this would aid its recovery.
It didn't. So I decided to trim off the limp looking leaves to see if it would sprout from the stem.
The result was not pretty. I moved it out to the greenhouse to see if it would be warm enough in there to give it a boost.
It didn't.
Nothing happened, there was no sudden sign of growth and then I noticed....
I think my (belated/reluctant) kindness in watering it has killed it. It got through all these years of neglect and then when I finally tried to help it, I killed it.
As ever the irritation is not with the plant but with myself. Rarely have I felt so much guilt over a plant death than I do with this one as I never liked it in the first place. I do not mourn it, but I did not mean to kill it.
Oh well, I shall have to find something else to replace it when I am allowed to go back to the office. Something I like better and may survive longer, this will be the silver lining.
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments are approved before being published