Today's post comes from a heavy heart. I have had to say good-bye to a 10 year long member of the family. I have had the most beautiful Crown Of Thorns plant for roughly the last decade. Though a plant, it has always brought me such comfort and joy. I truly love this plant and have cultivated it from a clipping. I wish I had an actual photo of it...healthy, anyway.
Many people would plant this in a standing pot. Being that this will actually climb and vine though, I have always opted to hang it. In reality, this may not have been the best choice. Those that stand tend to have thicker, stronger branches I have come to find. But, it blossomed the most beautiful, delicate little yellow flowers every spring and summer and has always had vibrant green leaves.
Until about 4 weeks ago...
It was then that it took a rapid turn for the worse. Though I tried to trouble shoot and figure out what was going wrong, I couldn't. I literally watched it worsen daily. I even sought help from my extremely knowledgeable mother and grandmother (who've had green thumbs since before I was born) to no avail.
The only thing left to do was to try to salvage whatever we could. I tried to remind myself that everything has a life cycle. And really, how poetic would it be for a Crown Of Thorns to be resurrected?! Poetic or not, it was what I needed. I was confident I could do it, after all I did raise it from a clipping the first time.
We clipped about 8 small branches, everything left that had any green -life- left to it. We made sure only to keep the healthy parts of the stalk. We planted them, watered them and fed them. I then cut the entire plant at the base and planted the only remaining pieces of root to see if anything good could come from them. That will be a long shot, though.
My once giant, twisting, thorned plant was now 8 wispy stalks in 6 pots. It was the next generation of my plant. I was sad but a little hopeful too. It's been 3 days now and the stalks are doing pretty well. One of the smallest has already gone, but 4 others have already begun generating new growth. This is exciting!
I hope to be able to cultivate these all into even stronger, healthier plants than their parent ever was. I am up for the challenge. I can't help feeling too, like this is a tangible metaphor in some way. As I take on the new adventure that has become Simple City Sam I feel newly awoken in so many ways. I like to look at this as both of us having a rebirth of sorts and a beautiful new beginning to life. I find it truly fitting for this plant.
Onward and upward.
Simple City Sam
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