Saturday, October 31, 2020

Dieffenbachia, progress report

 A few weeks ago, I did surgery on the giant dieffenbachia, hacking off the whole thing leaving a stump, then transplanting the growing tip, plus another side shoot.  Here's how they're doing


See down the right side there, a tiny green shoot? that's the stump coming to life and getting ready to burst out


And here's the side shoot, starting new leaves


And the growing tip, unfurling new leaves, despite sharing with a potato, which is still there, need to follow him closely for when his leaves wilt, because then there will be potatoes, with luck.
Dieffenbachia is a very responsive plant to work with.  It just really wants to live, and all you need do it let it.


Then here's last night's rapid, didn't feel like cooking, supper.  That's the rice with the last of the cheesy broccoli, and on top, an omelette made with the last of the grape tomatoes. Fast and very good.  The Thai basil on top, if you just do that and leave it a few minutes, gives off a very delicate version of its flavor, just about right for the egg in its vicinity.

All these productions show that you can just let things do what they plan to do, and don't need to work so hard all the time.  I tell myself.



7 comments:

  1. Gruesome looking, the first photo. Nice plant though.

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  2. I think I need a Dieffenbachia. No one would praise me for having a green thumb, but I can surely manage to let this plant live. Will be on the lookout for a small one to start with.

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    1. Good idea. They get big quickly. When mine was six feet tall I hitched it to the wall behind it with loops of twine and a hook, so it wouldn't topple.

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  3. I think you’re onto something there. We work so hard to disguise things rather than let them be.

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    1. That notion that life is all about effort seems to start early. Yet one of the things I learned as an artist was to let things happen rather than force my ideas. Really hard to realize how little, uf anything, we can control.

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  4. Very good - nice to know other plant-minded people are out there.

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