Thursday, September 15, 2005

I am not getting attached

I bought this lovely little orchid last weekend. It's a phalaenopsis, I think. I'm not going to double-check the name because learning a plant's name is one of the first steps to becoming Emotionally Involved. And I can't afford to get too attached to this orchid because it is going to die.

Oh, it's perfectly healthy. For now. But soon it will sicken and die and then it will be dumped without ceremony and with only a couple of tears on the compost heap in my back yard.

Yes, I am a serial houseplant-killer.

It should be pointed out that I brought up two children without forgetting to feed and water them at fairly regular intervals. But can I manage to do the same for a simple, undemanding little houseplant? No.

I know it's selfish to keep bringing these innocent plants into my home, but I'm honestly trying to change. I watered this one just now. Somebody please e-mail me next week and remind me to do it again.

You might just save an orchid.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bet 1 & 2 are glad that they weren't houseplants: ;-D
j

Anonymous said...

I recall a time when #2 did not eat. At all. Still doesn't eat much that I can tell. So he was easy...if you DID forget to feed him, it was no big deal.

yfs

lindaruth said...

It's a lovely plant. You're brave (or the orchid is ignorant, since it doesn't know its likely fate) -- I've heard orchids can be a bit picky. I've never tried one. I killed a jade plant once -- yes, that's right. A plant that seldom needs watering I guess does need to be watered at some point, but I didn't so it died. I have a cactus in my office that seems to be doing OK. I water it about once a month or so, if I remember. :)

But my children lived. Of course, plants don't cry...

Linda (another member of plant-killers anonymous)

Bonnie S. Calhoun said...

I turned all 57 of my houseplants away from the laptop. I told them in a very soothing voice that it would be okay, "Mommy wouldn't let the bad lady near them." Before they turned away Libby, my pale pink orchid shrieked, "My cousin, she's killing my cousin." So if the plant police show up at your house....you're on your own!lol

Katie Hart - Pinterest Manager said...

I am a serial houseplant killer. The only reason my latest gift (I don't purchase them for sacrifice, others do) is still alive is because I put it with my mom's houseplants before it realized it belonged to me.

Maybe I'm not really a serial houseplant killer. Maybe it's only that the thought of me inspires plant suicide. :-)

RebMel said...

My husband says I have a black thumb instead of a green one. Kids and pets, I do great with. Plants--not so well. The only way they have a chance of surviving is if I transplant them outside and let God take care of them. Even then, I don't weed them nearly as often as they need to be, so the flower beds resemble jungles.

In Christ,
Rebecca

Anonymous said...

I kept a plant alive for nearly a year once. Then I left it with my husband (who was then my fiance) and it died promptly. He put it in a windowsill in Arizona and baked it. He also watered it every day and drowned it.

Sometimes less is more.

Brenda Coulter said...

First my sister suggests that I may have forgotten to feed my Number Two Son. Then Bonnie refers to me as a bad lady.

Sheesh. I knew it was a mistake to blog about this.