The other day the doorbell rang. It was our mailman, Mr. Kim, and, as he handed me my mail, he inquired where my plumeria was. The plumeria had been on the front porch since our move and it had not been a happy plant since being uprooted from Bakersfield.
It turns out that Mr. Kim is also a plumeria fan and he was worried that the poor plant had finally bought the farm. I told him that I had moved the ailing plant indoors since its leaves had begun to fall off. Mr. Kim informed me that he always brings his plumeria indoors as soon as the weather turns cold.
I'm sure I was just imagining the slight air of disapproval as the grilling continued--had I placed the plumeria in a warm place? Oh yes--I'd put it in the bathtub. Was it getting enough light there? I thought it was--it was under a window. Well, what about moisture? It is next to the shower and I mist it regularly.
We chatted a bit more about the beauty of plumeria and I was hoping he didn't ask to see the plant for himself. Is there a watchdog committee for plumeria abuse? If there is, I'm in big trouble. What I would never admit to Mr. Kim is this is how my poor plumeria looks now.
Actually, I've not been having the best luck with plants in the new digs. As I have in the last 4 h
ouses we've lived in, I've planted a Colorado blue spruce. It turns out that Mr. Kim also likes the blue spruce and complimented me on planting the 15 gallon tree a week ago. I was chagrined when he once again brought my mail to the door and pointed out that the new tree had fallen over in the rain-soaked ground. Sigh....I'm losing face weekly with Mr. Kim.Mr. T., being the good sport he is, went out in the rain and replanted the tree. It was not to be. The next morning the tree had once again fallen completely on its side. And that is where it remains. I had told Senor Jacob, the gardener, that I wasn't entirely pleased with the shape of the blue spruce--I'd wanted something more along the line of Árbol de navidad--instead of the scraggly, free-form spruce.
I see I have some major image repair to do in this neighborhood.
2 comments:
Toccata, I loved this post! I too love Colorado blue spruce, but alas, alackaday, we can only grow the Arizona Cypress here which can pretend it's a blue spruce.
You can cut your plumeria "sticks" into 8" long sticks, harden them off and within a few weeks you can plant them and have multiple plumeria bushes. They look fine in the pic. They will pull through.
My little one leaf plumaria looks good?? Egads--but do tell more about cutting it into pieces until it "cowboys up" and then re-planting!
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