My younger daughter sent me an interesting and fascinating link yesterday from the Daily Mail, Australia written by Matilde Rudd and Cindy Tran. It was so funny, it made me laugh and surely made my day!
It is about this gardening obsession of housewives during this pandemic. One husband tagged his wife as " a plant lady". Apparently he was too scared to say anything so he expressed his suppressed feelings by a post on social media.
This "plant husband" said he was asked to bring up plants to their bedroom one day only to find that these were two "Jurassic-size palms" (his words). The taller one was by his night table. When he asked his wife how much they cost, she said she lost the receipt. His post encouraged husbands all over Australia to also air their frustrations.
One said that he came home from a weekend walking a jungle trail to find the entire wall of their master bath covered with hanging plants from the ceiling down. "I thought I was still in the jungle" , he said.
Another couldn't watch tv from his vantage point in the dining area because the place was covered with plants. Then there's this husband who when they had guests over couldn't join in the conversation because his face was concealed with vines. So he just drunk his beer quietly lest his wife would send him dagger looks. Another husband got tired putting up and down plants so his wife could get good photos of them.
But I must say here that one housewife countered: "you told me to find a hobby and I found one". So plant husband, what can you say to that?
Gardening indeed had become one big pre-occupation during this pandemic. Almost everyone has a garden to cultivate, be it big or small. Some do not really have real gardens but amazingly made do with just containers. As long as there's a space, horizontal or vertical, we can have a garden.
A friend cultivated and sold on line succulents and cacti in pretty little containers that her children helped paint. Some made terrariums with small plants. A resort owner turned the big yard into a vegetable plantation to provide jobs for his employees. A parish priest planted squash that provided viand for the hungry and unemployed.
Unknowingly from the beginning, this pre occupation did not get past me as well. While I've never really stopped gardening, I became more enthusiastic and determined to enhance my ornamental front lawn because I realized it needed more color. With the exception of the hibiscus covering the entire front fence, most of my plants are palms. At the same time, I wanted to keep our backyard exclusively as an edible backyard garden.
Fortunately for me, I have a dear and generous friend who gave me branches of her Bougainvilleas. I got a branch each of the Mona Liza that bears red flowers; the Mr and Mrs, that bears pink and white flowers and the sundown orange variety which in its name alone says what color of flowers they bear.
That was about eight weeks ago and now I'm happy and more inspired after the twigs started to bear a new leaf or two. This says I'm successful in propagation. I learned that a mature stem is the key with a few small leaves left. If the leaves remain fresh and healthy, it means there's hope. A necessary tip; NEVER TOUCH the plant, keep it steady after it is stacked into the soil and water gently on the sides every other day.
But I was partly impatient to see some color at once so I went to a nearby nursery and bought a climbing 6-foot tall Mona Liza and 2 crepe myrtles; a red 4-foot tall and a pink which is slightly shorter.
I asked the nursery owner how her business is faring, I presumed it is slow considering that people aren't freely allowed out of their homes except for necessities. I was surprised to learn that she was making good.
Well, gardening for sure has been and still is one of the major pandemic pastimes. How about you? Was it baking or gardening that occupied your time? Do share your most enjoyable and fulfilling pastime during the last 4 months.
No comments:
Post a Comment