Green Thumbs

As someone who flirts with extremes (read good and bad, right and wrong etc.) I assumed people were either good at gardening or not … They had a green thumb or they didn’t. 

I can not be alone in this.

I was pretty good at keeping my outdoor garden and summer pots alive and thriving. 

Then I moved and my garden predominantly moved indoors.  Now I’m less sure about my gardening and green thumb theories.  

I had to pull out my jasmine.  I think I over-watered it.  Some of the stems look healthy (read I’m honestly not sure - they are green so I am hoping they are healthy).  Instead of throwing out the entire plant and starting over - which might yet happen - I have cut what I hope are healthy stems and have them sitting in water.  

According to the internet they should grow roots in a few weeks.  Once the roots are a couple inches I can move them into soil.

I’m only a few days in - so it’s too early to tell if we have the workings of a healthy plant or not - so I’m in the fingers crossed stage of the process. 

In fairness - the internet also tells me jasmine is easy to care for.  

My orchids on the other hand … I’ve managed to get them to rebloom.  They even came back with a third stem.  What?!?

I have a theory about why I’m managing to keep my orchid healthy and I’m failing to keep my herbs, my jasmine, my roses, my gardenia etc. etc. etc. alive.  

Everyone says the orchid is hard, finicky, and difficult to manage.  So, I did some research.  I bathe it for 15 minutes once a week and I cut it back after all the last set of blooms fell off. I also talk to her.  I’m not sure talking helps - but I do it anyway.  I tell her how beautiful she is, say good morning, talk about how impressed I am with her growth and new stem and new blooms.  I suspect the science backs the bath and the trimming back the stems and I’m less sure it backs the talking.  Since she’s a living organism I will continue to chat with her.  

My fig tree also seems to be healthy and happy as is the porthos.  That’s it from my original grouping of plants.  I’ve added a few more and been gifted a couple … time will tell how they fare. 

Fingers crossed they all stay healthy and even better if they thrive. 

Total transparency - I may not have killed the rose.  It’s meant to be dormant at this time of year.  So I’m hopeful that come spring I’ll start to see signs of life and will get blooms in the summer. I plan on keeping it outdoors again in the summer, just moving it indoors in the winter to protect the root from rotting. 

When I closed up my balcony I rearranged some things … Partly to not block my view, to protect the patio furniture and partly to allow for more functional use when I open it in the spring. In doing so, I have rethought my planters and the type of plants I’d like to pot this spring. 

While I miss my poppies and hydrangeas … Potting them doesn’t make sense, so I will play with blooms like cosmos - which are colourful and messy in the way a garden should be.  Messy in that it has room to breathe and be a living thing that is allowed to grow in the way it wants instead of being tamed or controlled. 

I have a few more plants I’d like to buy for the kitchen (read lavender and rosemary) because why not aim high!

Taking the jasmine and trying to create roots is a new process for me.  Historically I would remove the plant, toss it in yard waste and start again.  Don’t get me wrong -  I may end up there yet, I’m just not starting there.  And that’s something.  

No instant results … Patience entering the room … Not needing perfect right out of the gate. 

I have no idea if the stems are healthy, or if I will get roots or I’ll be able to plant these and grow something from the stems.  I have no idea if these will ever become something living, growing and blooming. I’m willing to try.  

It’s an odd shift.  I actually want to see roots, know that I could cut off the unhealthy bits and watch the healthy pieces come back to life - to thrive.  Only needing a little support, a little nourishment, a little time. 

Watching something grow, something bloom … That feels like something - something worth trying, worth hoping for. 

I’m learning it’s a process.  My plants feel like people, each with different needs, requiring different conditions to thrive.  Some plants you will just figure out and you will understand their needs. Others will take a while but you’ll get there eventually and it will be worth the effort when you do.  Some … well some you just won’t understand - no matter what you do, no matter what you try - the outcome will be the same … you and the plant will not have success.  

Maybe nobody has a green thumb - they just figure out which plants they can work with and which ones they can’t.  The ones they can, they’ve taken the time to understand, to learn their needs and how to support their ongoing growth.  

I like that idea.  I’m choosing to believe that.  I’m merely in the process of discovering who my plants are and what they need.