Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Indoor Outdoor

When Bill and I left Connecticut in our Westy, eight years ago, we put a couple of plants in my mom's care. And recently, this winter, on one of Mom and Dad's visits here, she thrust them back upon us graciously returned them to us. This one . . .

. . . was a couple of tiny sprouts coming out of a small pot, and now has taken over our living room . . .

. . . and this one, which was about 18 feet long, to which Bill recently gave a long-overdue haircut (ironic, I know). And, oh look! Look who that is.
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Chapel Hill Girl. Our first niece/nephew/munchkin. Ach. Look at those shoulders.

Anyway. We have other indoor houseplants.
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We have our beloved Cacti. Cacti's a cactus we got for free in Gila Bend, Arizona. He traveled with us to San Diego, lived with our shoes in our shoe bucket / milk crate in Jacquie and Bill's garage until we remembered we had him in there, sprung him, replanted him in the bottom of a yellow plastic cup, carried him with us for years in our Westy, and who we spent inordinate amounts of time trying to get into the sunlight while driving, while we weren't spending inordinate amounts of time knocking him over and dumping his cacti dirt all over the Westy floor. So many times.
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We have this guy, too. Mistahs's sister Kelly gave us this one. We have great western light streaming into our extra Mary Beth and Mark's bedroom. Clearly. The plants, they love it in there..
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But it's time. It's time for these guys to make the leap to the out-of-doors, and ol' Yucca here:
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. . . he's leading the pack. Jennie left this on the door of our house the day we moved in, last May, and Billy transplanted him last weekend.
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Is he not, as Jennie would call him, a handsome fella?
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The parsley made the leap to the out-of-doors (isn't that much more fun to say than outdoors?) too. Ol' parsley's been keeping us in, um, parsley all winter long.
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But yesterday. Yesterday was especially noteworthy because yesterday was the day Billy finally transplanted ol' Bowden. (I preface our plants' names with ol'; I can't help it.)
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We got ol' Bowden the day we visited ol' Charles Bowden. As reported in my very first blog post.
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Ol' Bowden has been in a reusable/recyclable Glad container. For over a year. Which was red, but faded.
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Only Mistah Schleckah knows how to transplant plants, in this family.
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He's got a great touch. And great gloves.
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If *I* turned the Bowden upside-down, like so, ol' Bowden would lose his ju-ju. Or his mo-jo. Whatever.
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Clearly, ol' Bowden has still got it. His ju-ju mojo. Whatever.

Can you see? In the meantime? The world is starting to green up around here; it's starting.
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VoilĂ ! A newly planted, spring-ready Bowden . . .
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. . . and a gratuitous photo of Mistah . . .
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. . . and the best part of all . . .
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. . . ol' Bowden, now that he's got a better get-up, can finally hang with our ol' friend Cacti, who, after all, has has his own book written about him.

10 comments:

  1. Why Mistah Shlekah, is that Ol' Bowden in your pot or are you just glad to see me?

    jacquie

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  2. LOL, Jacquie. I told Mistah that the ol' Bowden was planted at a, um, jaunty angle...

    Ellie

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  3. Every summer I have great ambitions to be a real gardener, and fail every summer. I can grow anything that is low maintenance (like tomatoes), which I why I like houseplants.

    I actually managed to keep an Orchid alive for an entire year. It's even got new buds! Maybe this year will finally be my Great Gardening Year! Or not.

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  4. It's so funny you posted this today, I was just lamenting yesterday about how all of my office plants need to be repotted, but alas, never will.

    They look terrific the first year, okay the second, a little sickly the third, etc.

    There are currently three that are hanging on.

    When can Mistah be here?

    Beth

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  5. A few years ago I found this AMAZING hanging cactus at a plant store only they wanted about $90 for the thing. A little piece of it accidently 'broke' off and found its way into some dirt at my house. Grand Theft Botany.

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  6. Mistah has a great head of hair! Seriously.

    Di
    The Blue Ridge Gal

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  7. I'd be careful posting pics of your plants on the web. I've got such a black thumb, your plants might just die after I read your post.

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  8. I'm so jealous of those with green thumbs!

    And I concur, Mistah has some great length on that hair. This 70's hippie chick still digs long hair!

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  9. Has Ol' Bowden been in that pot longer than four hours? If so he may need to see a doctor.

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