Mastodawn

JJ 🇺🇦23h ago

I know nothing about plants, other than that I’ve learnt that they die if I try to take care of them. So I leave them alone and they look after themselves. I’ve been ignoring this plant for a year. I don’t know what it is or what it does. The other day, I noticed a weird little mismatched shoot. It keeps growing, more and more overnight, like Jack’s Beanstalk, up and up and up. I think unfurling may happen. I am not even embarrassed about how exciting I find this.

#Bloomscrolling

This is my hobby now. Staring at this, waiting for something to emerge. It should be a sport. Furling. The Furling Championships. The Olympic Medal In Watching Things Unfurl. Better than worrying about politics, I tell you.

Forest Fern 1d ago

I love your hobby. I could watch that for days so definitely, furling should be a national sport.

@forestfern It should, seriously. Now I think that Hurling and Curling are just spelling mistakes. The sport they are meant to be playing is Furling.

Forest Fern 22h ago

@CiaraNi All those curlers intently looking at ice where plants don't grow. We just need to redirect them to the houseplants.

*seriously, I love curling and those curlers!

@forestfern Good plan

dasgrueneblatt 23h ago

Lisa 🦔23h ago

@CiaraNi the dopamine of anticipation is So Good! 🪴

@mycrowgirl That's it! It's the anticipation. Accelerated by the fact that I know nothing about the plant so I don't know what may or may not emerge - I am observing it like an excited child.

Lisa 🦔23h ago

@CiaraNi the best way to observe, honestly!

blob_raccoon_heart

@mycrowgirl 💚

quixote 16h ago

@CiaraNi The next stage is a time lapse photography setup next to you 😆

Ms. Que Banh 1d ago

@CiaraNi That's a ZZ plant aka Zanzibar Gem. It's really hard to kill & a good choice for beginners 💚

@PhoenixSerenity Thank you! That's a lovely name. I shall be acquiring more Zanibar Gems I think, judging by the success of this one. I won't look it up in detail yet because I am enjoying the suspense of whatever is happening, waiting to see what may or may not emerge. Thanks for its name - I don't even remember where I got this one, so now I know what plant name to seek out.

MacPsych 1d ago

@CiaraNi I have a couple of these in my office. Precisely because they’re impossible to kill!

@macpsych I am learning this! This may be the world's most perfect plant. I was thrilled enough that I hadn't actually killed it, and now it's producing new bits. Amazing.

Aaron Brick — אהרן בריק 17h ago

@macpsych @CiaraNi Unsolicited advice: don't repot a ZZ plant with bare hands. The roots are reportedly very irritating.

Thomas Arildsen 1d ago

@CiaraNi it must have got some water, right?

@arildsen Apparently!

Thomas Arildsen 1d ago

@CiaraNi but not by you? 😅

ragazza senza grazie 1d ago

@CiaraNi omg me too, I love plants but I'm a plant killer! did you water it one or two times or no water at all for one year?

@sans_serif_girl

"did you water it one or two times or no water at all for one year?"

Haha - I see we have the exact same style of plant management. I've been doing the no-watering thing, I think.

ragazza senza grazie 1d ago

@CiaraNi one of my dearest friends is in charge to send me a message every mmm 10 days maybe? to remind me to water plants, otherwise they'll all die. my other problem, apart from being a plant killer - even if I'd love the idea of my house full of plants, is that if I don’t have something right in front of me, I completely forget it exists until I see it again. a deadly combo for those poor plants!

@sans_serif_girl That's great, that you have a system of reminders. I noticed once that my plants suddenly seemed to be thriving and growing. I wondered why, then realised that I'd been away a fair bit and had a lot going on and had forgotten to pay any attention to them whatsoever for ages. So I decided to start ignoring them most of the time. Now I water them once at Easter and twice at Christmas and that seems to help.

ragazza senza grazie 23h ago

@CiaraNi it might be a sort of payback from the plants: you ignore them, and they show you just how well they can thrive even without your attention! the psychology of plants is a mystery (if it exists)

@sans_serif_girl Perhaps! Though now I am paying so much attention to this one that it is probably going to die in revenge.

ragazza senza grazie 23h ago

@CiaraNi nooooo! go do something else straight away!

@sans_serif_girl Yes, I think I should!

Carsten Raddatz 1d ago

Impressive! I know the weird aspect of this. When moving an office, we had these huge pots full of soil and Semiramis stuff. Like, too heavy for one person to carry. Devoid of plants. We thought, put those into the dark storage room downstairs and out of the way, once we unpacked the boxes take them out and re-use the soil.
Weeks later when we got to it, we entered the storage room, turned on the light and saw frigging chest-height plants had grown from nowhere and were blooming. Fascinating.

@carstenraddatz That's amazing. That must have been quite a surprise! I am genuinely fascinated by the way this plant has just suddenly produced an unexpected bit that just keeps growing and growing and growing. So fast that I'm surprised I haven't caught it in the act.

Carsten Raddatz 10h ago

Chances are it will outlive many, many more dry seasons. Taking care by not caring much makes it promising.

Stephen Darlington 1d ago

@CiaraNi I would also recommend rhubarb as a difficult plant to kill. I put some in the garden six years ago and it keeps coming back, with no effort on my part. Stuff I planted more recently: dead.

@sdarlington Good to know. I wonder if you can grow rhubarb in a pot. After years of killing everything, I've been trying out the same strategy of 'just ignore them' for the outdoor plants on my balcony as well and it's showing promise there too. Great that your rhubarb keeps coming back. Delicious in tarts.

Stephen Darlington 23h ago

@CiaraNi I don't see why it wouldn't grow in a pot. But then I don't see why my other plants die. I may not be the most reliable information source.

@sdarlington This is sound advice, I think. I've stopped trying to work out what'll work because it's all a mystery to me. So I can just try it, because who knows, maybe it will grow in a pot. And like yourself, I can't see the pattern to why some of my plants die and others thrive. Every day a little surprise.

Ken Butler 23h ago

@CiaraNi @sdarlington I once lived in a house with a yard and every year, the rhubarb just grew without any effort on my part.

(I should find out whether you can grow it in a pot. Maybe I could grow(*) it on my balcony.)

(*) meaning "allow it to grow".

@nxskok @sdarlington This all sounds very promising, rhubarb just wantonly growing. Has to be worth a shot in a pot. I find that not finding out in advance works for me now. I and the rhubarb may just take our chances.

Ken Butler 23h ago

@CiaraNi (casts anxious glance at my daughter's plant, which I am trying to remember to water periodically, but not too often. The leaves are green and the plant is not obviously drooping.)

@nxskok That sounds like it's going fine, nice work!

"trying to remember to water periodically, but not too often' - it was this balance that drove me bananas when I first got plants. Everyone who has thriving plants told me 'oh, just don't give them too little water, or too much water' as if that helped.

Ken Butler 22h ago

@CiaraNi my daughter (who is much better with plants) tells me that for this particular one, if the soil is actually dry, it needs watering, but if there is any moisture in the soil, not yet. That much, I can remember.

I also have a snake plant, which seems to thrive on benign neglect.

@nxskok 'Benign neglect' - that's the right phrase for it. I will borrow that.

Aabra Mastodon, PDX stereotype 23h ago

@CiaraNi "Plants are the new grandkids"

@glassdelusion I can see the sense of that

ʀɛɖ ❄️23h ago

@CiaraNi You're sharing your home with a ZZ plant, the only plant thus far I've been able to kill.
I salute your dedication to the laissez faire of plant management.

@hemlockcookie A pity yours didn't make it. I am pleasantly surpried that mine seems to be both alive and thriving. 'Laissez faire plant management' - that's it!

PG1958WILLNOTCOMPLY 🇺🇸🇷🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸20h ago

@CiaraNi keep watering it and one day it will reward you with a flower!

Tim Stickland 20h ago

@CiaraNi
Have a look at Aspidistra. Known as Cast Iron plant - will tolerate all sorts of neglect.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/aspidistra/how-to-grow-aspidistras

How to grow aspidistras / RHS Growing Guide

Learn how to grow aspidistras including planting, feeding and pruning tips from RHS experts.