Plants are full of surprises

I’m not quite sure why my miniature rose is not only still alive, but blooming. I don’t have a good record with roses. If they last more than a year or two, I consider it to be some kind of miracle. 

This particular little plant was cheap and I hoped it would last through the summer before dying. That was at least three or four years ago. It seems happy in the half barrel it is planted in. Its quarter-sized  blossoms change from pink to coral to white, or is it white to pink to coral? Sadly, it has sacrificed fragrance for beauty.

A couple of years ago someone was giving away calla bulbs. I chose a handful and put them around the back of the little rose. The ones that the squirrels didn’t eat have bloomed every year since then. Their winter home is in a basin of sand under a night blooming cereus that is as gangly as the blooms are pretty. That particular plant hasn’t been outside for several years because it is too heavy. It is still in the same pot as it was when I brought it home from Mom’s. I think she filled the bottom of the pot with rocks so it wouldn’t tip over. It reaches out to me every time I pass by. I think it wants to go outside with the rest of its friends.

This year the flower barrel has filled up with water. I dip out what I can. The rose and the callas are blooming. I am surprised that none of them have drowned. I vow to poke a hole in the side of the plastic liner to let the water drain but so far I get distracted before I get it done.

The point is that living things can surprise us. Some things survive in extraordinary conditions, some things don’t. The rose and callas are not only alive but flourishing. On the other hand, I have a spider plant that is on its last legs. It has managed to get itself covered in scale. Scale looks like little hard brown bumps. The scale bugs like to suck the sap from plants. I thought I had gotten rid of the nasty insects by letting the last plant that was infested stay outside all winter. It didn’t work. That plant died and the scale moved to the spider plant.

I try to stay away from insecticides, herbicides and any other product advertised as being able to kill one thing or another as there are usually unintended casualties.

The only exception I make is for products that kill thistles. My thistles view being yanked from the ground as a challenge and a signal to increase their numbers as quickly as they can. The only way I have found to control them is by poisoning them. The other thing that works for me is to change their environment. If I let the flower beds take care of themselves they will eventually block the sun and crowd out the unwelcome plants.

I am always surprised by which plants live and which ones don’t. Some thrive on neglect and will exceed expectations no matter what. Others will wilt and die as soon as they can. Only time will tell which is which.