Plants Are Like Friends

As I have shared before, I was a biology teacher for several years. Botany is probably my favorite subject within the broader discipline of biology. I enjoy plants very much and I like to keep plants of different varieties. I have both succulents and "regular" plants.

Two of my cacti have special significance for me. One I have had for 29 years. It was a gift from a student and came from a cutting off a Christmas cactus that her grandmother had started 85 years earlier. When that 7th-grader gave me that plant, I would never have guessed that I would still have it nearly 30 years later!

The other (I confess I don't know what specific kind of cactus it is) was part of my plant collection in the house where I lived from 1993-97. Then I moved to the west coast for a year of graduate studies and got a job in Seattle for three years. I had given this cactus to some friends who obviously took better care of it than I did because it grew to monstrous proportions in their home. When I returned to the midwest five years ago, they gave me a cutting off the original plant and now it seems to be thriving on my sunporch.

Recently I added two orchids to my collection. I used to believe orchids would be rather difficult to grow, but I learned from experience that they are actually quite easy to maintain. That is a good thing because all of my plants must survive on what I call "tender, loving neglect." Unfortunately, orchids can be quite expensive. These two are still seedlings, so they were within the constraints of my budget, although I may have to wait a few years before they bloom.

Since I currently live alone and have no pets, I suppose one of the benefits plants provide is the presence of living things in my environment. All my plants have some sort of special meaning because most were gifts. And so seeing them as I walk past or whenever I take time to water them reminds me of a particular friend or an enjoyable event.

I recently came across a delightful little book by Kathleen O'Connell Chesto titled, Why are the Dandelions Weeds? (Liguori Publications, 1999). She has a relationship similar to mine with her plants. Here is what she says:

"When we first built this house, I asked all our friends to make cuttings of their plants and start them for us. I knew this was going to be a great house for plants, with all its skylights and glass, and I wanted something living to remind me of the important people in our lives.

"Today, as I dig and prune, I am aware of how much like the friends who gave them these plants are. Most of the time, it does not take a great deal of time and attention to keep friendship alive, but it does take a little consistency. Eventually, though, there needs to be some quality time together to become re-rooted in all the things that first brought the friendship to life."