I don’t do well with house plants. I’m not sure what it is, but we just don’t get along.
For a while, I put the blame on cats. They liked to excavate a few of the house plants, so I blamed them for killing them all. While they may have had something to do with the demise of the occasional plant, it wasn’t all their fault.
I do well growing things outside. Yes, there is the occasional battle with slugs or maybe Japanese beetles, but mostly I do okay outdoors when it comes to plants.
They same is not true indoors. Which may be why I have never had many house plants.
However, I recently inherited a few house plants. There are a couple African violets around. They absolutely scare me. I know they can be temperamental. They really dislike too much water. And too little water. And too much sunshine. And not enough sunshine. At the moment they are growing, so I’m not going to move them, and at least try to keep them damp.
There are also a couple Christmas cactuses around. One of them has a lovely looking bud on it, although it seems a bit confused as to the time of year. The other had several blooms. Right around Christmas. Like it’s supposed to. It’s right in the name.
But they are both rather spindly things, so I’m thinking they don’t really get enough light. But again, they have been in their locations for a while now, so I’d rather not move them.
It would be really great if they could somehow communicate. Just so we might know what they would really like. Pets learn to do that. When the cat sits on my face in the middle of the night, it’s usually hungry. When the dog wants out, she goes to the door. Not complicated and it works. Well, I’d rather the cat not sit on my face, but we’re working on that.
If only plants could figure out a few signals. maybe even write a note. You know, something like, “getting a bit thirsty over here.” It would make things much easier.
