Thursday, July 31, 2008

Reminders of Life and Death

The tale of my two cyclamen plants continues and is a bit mysterious. I wrote about them earlier this year, telling how they were both gifts from women friends who later had cancer. One survived; the other didn’t.

Soon after I took the above picture in February, I decided the plants were root-bound and found bigger pots to put them in. They suddenly had lots of green, healthy leaves, but only an occasional bloom.

The white one, given to me by someone who survived breast cancer, continued to thrive even without blooms.

The pink one, given to me by my elderly friend Florence who had a malignant brain tumor and died last summer, started to shrivel up and died just a year after Florence’s death.

Not that I have a green thumb, but I did treat them equally well. I watered them and occasionally fertilized them. What would cause one plant to live while the other just wasted away?

I’m wondering if I found a shallower pot if the white one would put its energy into blooms once again instead of growing roots?

I’ll have to find other reminders of little Florence now that the pink cyclamen is no longer.

5 Comments:

Blogger Kristin said...

Thanks for posting an update. There are so many paths of thought one can take with this pair of plants and the friends who gave them.

10:38 PM  
Blogger bulletholes said...

Most folks don't think of flowers as "beings" but I think they are wrong....

"I don't want no God on my lawn
Just a flower
I can help along
'Cuz the Soul of nobody knows
how a flower grows
How does a flower grow?"
catstevens from "longer boats"

One of my favorites!

10:47 AM  
Blogger Barbara said...

Kristin -- I wish I was a better gardener!

Bulletholes -- (aka Steve #1) You've inspired me to pull the shriveled up pink cyclamen out of the trash and see if I can resurrect it. Don't hold your breath...

Lovely song from one of the best!

12:58 PM  
Blogger GEWELS said...

Cyclamens are VERY funny plants.

Cut the leaves and stalks all the way to the soil line, give it some water and a little bit of sun. Not too much as they actually prefer a cooler place (that's why you always see them sold in the winter time)
In a bit you will see new leaves sprouting at the soil level.

Anytime you see the leaves really start to whither and brown repeat above procedure.

Let me know if this works. I usually just throw them out and buy new ones too.

3:22 PM  
Blogger Barbara said...

Gewels -- I see I have so far done entirely the wrong thing. I figured it was too dried out, so I decided to soak it in water with MiracleGro in it. I will pull it out of that solution and re-pot it. Then I will follow your directions. Seems like desperate measures for a plant that I paid nothing for, but it's worth a try. Otherwise, it's a little like losing a friend twice.

4:01 PM  

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