Thursday, March 13, 2008

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

our schefflera


I love growing plants. The problem is I don’t think I have a green thumb. Indoor plants die after a few months because I either watered them too much or too little. As for outdoor plants, I’m only lucky with a handful of bulbs and a few annual plants. I am more fortunate with roses, but I couldn’t take much credit because I think our roses are inherently sturdy, hence they can withstand my handling :).

We have books on gardening and taking care of plants. I try to follow them, but maybe my ineptness in horticulture exceeds my botanical interest. But miracles do happen. This schefflera (commonly known as umbrella tree due to its stems containing several leaves forming an umbrella like structure) has been with us for about 2 years, and it’s still alive and growing. Well, it doesn’t matter if its typically robust like yucca( a plant that appears to be a trunk with long, elongated, sharp-edged leaves) and agave (looks like aloe vera). What is important is that it lasted this long!! And what's more, it continues to grow!!! Most of our indoor plants only last several months. (By the way, we also have yucca and agave and they have been with us longer than our schefflera :)). Hooray!!!)

Well, I’m featuring our schefflera because it presented us with this heart-shaped leaf. I know, I know they are two leaves which in the process of their growth weren’t able to develop individually . Maybe a glitch in their DNA replication or something… hmmmm… interesting… too bad I’m not a botanist… maybe I can try experimenting with it… naaahhh! My imagination is running ahead of me… I know this occurrence is not that abnormal… Hey, some cells just don’t develop the way they’re supposed to… and I think plants are more susceptible to gene manipulations... That’s way George Mendel tried his first genetics experiments with peas… and we have a lot of hybrid plants, particularly flowers – whether natural or man-made… and I’m not yet talking about genetically modified plants which is rather a big issue as of the moment.

Anyway, before I turn too geeky, I’d just like to say I’m so happy about our schefflera. Maybe, this time, my plants are beginning to understand that I mean them no harm :). And I’d like to think that this particular leaf is its way of showing it likes me, too. It loves me, it loves me not… it loves me!!! (Don’t burst my bubble please:))

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