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Potting Plants

        As I re-potted red begonias, candy-striped petunias, and coleus, I thought how I have enjoyed doing this since my college days. I did not start early because of my grandmother with the green thumb and my father the vegetable gardener. My great-aunt Ruth had a green thumb, too. I remember she had plants in all kinds of pots, including old pans and coffee pots out in the yard. If anyone admired one enough, she'd break off a piece to root for her. She had a really nice house, that was nicely kept, with good furniture and doilies, and so forth, so the odd pots around the edges of the driveway or by the house seemed out of place, but the overall effect was still neat and serene.
 
        My mom and her mother also had plants, so I never needed to grow them. And it seemed like an "old person" thing. Then finally, I developed a house full of plants. I lost most of them in a small apartment after my divorce. The upstairs neighbor had her mother complain to me about plants in the hallway, which I only put there during frost season. I had no choice but to put them back outside and let them die. When I finally had no money and no prospects and moved to where I am now, I had no plants.

      Now I live in a nice house--someone else's, with a nice yard, and lots of cacti, peonies, azaleas, holly trees, shrubs, clematis, jonquils, pampas grass, elephant ears, coleus, dusty millers, hostas, a raised vegetable bed, and much more. We have two solitary rose bushes and feed them banana peels. Strawberries and dill and parsley and chives grow in big pots on the porch. We also have lots of colorful flowers in pots that brighten the view from the breakfast table, along with the resident red birds and wrens, and the occasional blue jay.

      Of course, before I go out to re-pot my plants or even to water them, I have to cover with mosquito repellent from head to foot. I know some of them can have bad side effects, but I have such a miserable reaction to bites, I have to risk it. Besides now in my old age, the bites are turning into skin problems that don't go away. I need to do more weeding and earn my keep, but the bug-proofing takes so long and leaves an odor that I don't want to carry with me when I go out.

        But enough whining! (Did I mention the wasps and the bumblebees?) Getting your hands dirty, and putting plants in pots of healthy dirt, tamping them off, and watering is very satisfying. Choosing the right size pot and arranging for adequate drainage can give a great feeling of accomplishment. Tending to them, weeding the pots, monitoring the sun and shade, keeping the squirrels and the neighbor's cat out of them all contribute to the sense of nourishing, of helping something good to transpire. Watching them grow and seeing their beauty, whether grand or simple, is a joy. Smelling the flowers, cooking the herbs and veggies, eating the strawberries and tomatoes, now that's a bonus!