Stay Awhile

My friend G. is always starting new plants—in the pots of her larger, older plants. With her in mind, as I’ve found severed spider plantlets, I’ve laid them on the soil in the large croton’s pot until I had a chance to pot them in their own home. They benefited from the croton’s watering and have stayed alive.

Then, closer to G.’s practice, I decided that they might actually look nice circling the pot and cascading their own babies down the side, so I dug little holes in the soil and tucked them in. One was so enterprising that its roots had already taken hold but I redirected it.

Back Out

The “mother” spider plant, along with its companion geranium, is enjoying freedom outdoors back on its hook again. The spider plant did fine indoors—when I didn’t trip on its branches, but the geranium will do much better outdoors. When we lived in New England, I knew a woman who kept her geraniums blooming indoors through the harsh, snowy winters but I’ve never been able to pull that off.


Today is also another Red Hibiscus Day! The gorgeous red blossoms are opening nearly every day now.

What’s This?

While tending the garden today I spotted this seedling coming up in a spider plant pot! It’s not unusual to find stray “weed” seedlings in outdoor pots, those brought by wind or wing but I potted the spider plantlets indoors with potting soil straight out of the bag. What is it? I looked more closely before I automatically plucked it out (I’m really pretty patient about letting things grow until I can see what they are). It’s a bell pepper seedling but I didn’t plant it! There are no birds or winds in here. We eat a lot of bell peppers for their fresh flavor, vitamins and color and the seeds do turn up in strange places but this is far from the kitchen. Who knows? However it got there, it seems I have a head start on spring planting!

We’re so thankful that not only is the sun back but the “rough weather” including tornadoes forecast for last night never developed because of a rain system to the south. Praise the Lord! Rain without trouble—a good thing.

Remember Lazarus?

Remember Lazarus, the nearly dead spider plantlet I found and rescued last summer? I had noticed while watering that a stem (or “umbilical cord”) from the main plant had somehow dried up so I followed it to its end and found a shriveled gray-green, though more gray than green, plantlet. I planted it in soil and watered it—just in case…This picture shows a slightly improved version of its condition. As it began to revive, I named it Lazarus after the man Jesus raised from the dead after Lazarus was in the grave for four days.


The biblical Lazarus was a marvel everyone wanted to see (John 12:9). The people had seen Jesus raise others and they knew of the prophets Elijah and Elisha having raised people from the dead but those were “immediate” raisings--shortly after the person had died. This one though, was really big since, as the King James Version has Martha, Lazarus’ sister say, “He stinketh”. Not to be too indelicate but Jesus not only raised Lazarus from the dead but he rebuilt and restored that which was being destroyed by decomposition (John 11:39). The Lord’s specialty is rescuing the people he created from destruction. No matter how bad a person’s life “stinketh”, Jesus can clean it up (Hebrews 9:13) and make it new—transform it (Yes, he still literally raises dead people to this very day). He loves doing it because it gives glory to his Father—what motivation (John 14:12-14)!

Lazarus the spider plant, as it is now bears little resemblance to the gray, shriveled plantlet I found and rescued; now that it has life pouring into it again from soil and water—it’s like a new plant!

*You can copy and paste any of these Bible references (or any others) into the search box at http://www.biblegateway.com and the scripture will come up.

Multiplication

My airplane plant a.k.a. spider plant has been very productive in the warm months; it was time to let some of its babies grow on their own. I gathered up my empty plastic pots, washed them in hot soapy water and filled them with potting soil. Then I snipped off plantlets that most needed the nourishment of soil—and that fit the pots. I’ve been saving shallow clear plastic containers for saucers; buying them would be about 69 cents apiece! These new little plants will make good Christmas presents.


Though I potted ten or eleven plantlets, the daughter plant (daughter of my original plant) has plenty more in various stages of growth—a couple dozen.

Sun Effects

My arrangement of water globes definitely catches the sunlight—even if I did have to get on my hands and knees to photograph it (I learned to do this from a professional photographer). One of my favorite aspects of colored or stained glass is the way the sun lights it; it can be beautiful on its own but there’s nothing like the combination of light and color!

The arrangement of sunlight has definitely changed with clocks turned back to Standard Time; I think the plants in the morning windows will benefit most since we open the curtains early. Even outdoors, the east-facing pots have held up to the cold weather better since the rising sun dispels some of the chill.

However, over the weekend the combination of sun, furnace and our busy comings and goings left some of the recently migrated indoor plants in need of dried leaf removal. Oops! I checked and watered them before I went out but they apparently dried out before I knew it. Remember, they’re still in terra cotta pots. But thankfully, they’re not too much worse for the wear.

Leaves that droop or wither can often be revived as with the spider plantlet “Lazarus” but if they’re yellow or brown--they’re gone. Go ahead and cut them off since the plant will put its energy into trying to revive the leaves instead of making new ones—it simply can’t bring that kind back. (While this can be a parable for some parts of life, it does not apply to marriage or necessarily physical health because God is able to revive that which was dead!)

Resurrection

A day or two ago as I was looking over my airplane plant (aka spider plant, but I don’t call it that since some people are so frightened of spiders, I don’t want to prejudice them), I noticed that one cluster of “babies” was the wrong color and knew something was wrong. Eyes are some of the best gardening tools! As I looked over the limp gray-greenness, I was pretty sure that the plantlet’s connecting branch had somehow been broken. It had.


Airplane plants can be easily propagated from these “babies” but usually only when they’re cut and planted right away. However, I’ve not had success in planting the “dead” ones. But I had a pot of soil and decided that I had nothing to lose if I planted this one. Maybe some TLC would pull it through; would it thrive like others (2nd picture) I had cut and planted—I didn’t know. I potted and watered and put it in the least sunny place in the garden (any difference in sunlight is incremental though since in the afternoon the entire garden is ablaze).


This morning when I checked on it, I was pleased to find that it was making a come-back! It’s not yet fully flourishing like its brothers but it’s on its way—a kind of resurrection. Since the morning some years ago when I collapsed and showed no signs of life until my husband shouted, “Be alive in Jesus’ name!” and I was, I’ve been reluctant to give up too easily. Even when things show no signs of life.

I’ll keep you posted on “Lazarus” airplane plant.