The Vanishing Plant
I have three poinsettias, one from last year and two from the year before. I didn't really mean to keep them, but since they didn't die, I couldn't pitch them. I just couldn't. I set them outdoors this spring.
One of them looked like it was done for and I set it outside and pretty much forgot it. And then one day I realized that it hadn't died. It was starting to put out new leaves. I moved it to a place where it would have the best chance to survive.
At the end of summer the three of them all looked really healthy and I brought them all together at the edge of the steps on the front porch. The one sitting on the porch itself blew over repeatedly one day. I brought it indoors and watered it well, then left it indoors. That left two poinsettias on the porch steps.
But suddenly, I could only find one. For almost a week I've promised myself that I'd look around and find what happened to the other poinsettia. Today was the day. Sarah and I walked around looking at all the plants on the porch, over and over again. I looked over the porch railing to see if one had fallen down there.
Just before I gave up, I started moving the plants around at the porch steps. I have a grouping of Gerbera Daisies there, some potted mums and the poinsettias there. But when I picked up the poinsettia, I discovered that I had set it down on the edge of the second poinsettia's pot and the two plants just blended into one big mass as I looked at it. Mystery solved!
I was just a little bit hoping that the plant had blown away somewhere so I wouldn't have to bring it back into the house. I have SO MANY plants to bring in.
But I found it, hale and hearty. And you know, I can't just toss a healthy plant. I'll make room, somehow.
Submitted by
NJ
at 9/30/2005 9:00:35 PM- Maybe not dessert, Leslie, but definitely from warmer climes. I think they are rather pretty even without their foliage turning red. One of these makes white flowers.
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It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I realized that poinsettias thrive quite nicely well past their prime and onto the next season. I think the trouble I had had previously was bringing them home on too cold a day, shocking them. I'd always try to bundle them up and hurry them into the car to try and avoid that.
The first one I had that lasted 'til May was such a shock to me then, when I mentioned it to my Mom, she told me that she had some that were a few years old that actually bloomed again.
I don't blame you for not wanting to pitch them. I think they're acually a desert plant (is that correct?) so perhaps being ignored a little doesn't hurt them.