Remember that time I asked you all if I should get a fish?
This poor plant is the reason why That Husband says it is a bad idea.
I think this example of my nurturing skills has left him a little bit nervous about my ability to nurture another living thing. I tell him not to worry about the baby, because when the baby wants something, it will cry. If this plant would have cried a time or two it might not be waiting for trash day outside our door.
Good gardners don’t automatically equal good mothers. Besides, aren’t poinsettas supposed to die. It’s a reminder that Christmas is over, that winter is here to stay for several more months, that life has become as boring, staid, predictable, and menial as it once was. I’ll give plant nurturing another try before I condemn myself as a black thumb.
10 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 23, 2009 at 12:06 pm
kaymarie (upturned.barbie)
Ha. I agree with you, a gardener does not a mother make. Possibly try again with a hardy house plant?
January 23, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Bean
You should try something that grows naturally in the area, so theoretically it’ll survive in your climate without much help. But I do feel you pain though, I have manages to kill a cactus plant.
January 23, 2009 at 12:26 pm
jenni marie
Jenna, I have killed so many plants since I left home it isn’t even funny. They just don’t cry. But, rest assured, it doesn’t mean you won’t be a good mom. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I get lots of compliments on my mothering skills. But I have a big, huge, black thumb.
January 23, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Jesseca
If it makes you feel any better I worked really hard one year to keep my Christmas poinsettia alive and after a little while the pretty red was gone and I had a large green bush. I chucked him after about two months because if he wasn’t going to blush and be pretty I wanted nothing to do with him.
January 23, 2009 at 2:07 pm
blablover5
Have you ever read Marley & Me? The whole reason they set out to get a dog is because the newlymarried wife has recently recieved a plant and then over nurtures the poor thing to death.
Plants can be surprisingly tricky, and sometimes they just get sick and die.
My little aloe plant lasted for 18 months when all of a sudden overnight it just got a bad bacteria and fell apart.
January 23, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Katy
I’m a good little mommy, but a horrible plant grower! You don’t have to be one to be the other:)!
January 23, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Cate Subrosa
Ha ha, the bit about plants crying cracked me up! Very good point
January 23, 2009 at 3:17 pm
shaylenerene
Why did it not cry!?!
January 23, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Kate
The plant my roommates got me for my birthday died after a week. I was very sad until I learned that it was a very difficult plant to keep alive. As Jesseca said, even if you can keep the plant alive you may not be able to make it bloom again. Plants are really hard! Besides, as humans we are made to care for babies, it’s instinctive. A fish would be different than a plant.
January 24, 2009 at 6:19 am
amanda
i killed mine too. and i felt guilty. but then i remembered something. your pointsettia had joy in his purpose (bringing the christmas spirit).
so it had joy. and now it’s in heaven. that’s really all anyone could ask for right?
and plants are not a good indication of parenting skills…simply an indication of our ability to understand plants. like you say, babies are much easier due to the communication thing….(and harder….but let’s just say easier to make TH feel better).