Little Green Giant

In previous blogs I've tackled the topic of family legacy and good family traits being passed down from generations past. Of course, there are those good traits that I wish I had acquired but apparently were not passed down to me. Case in point: To have a green thumb, or not to have a green thumb. I learned early on that I apparently skipped that gene and definitely fall into the "not" category.  My mom was a master gardener and plant grower extraordinaire. In my youth, I remember the vegetable garden she had. Plump red tomatoes that sprawled across the yard and up the chain link fence. When the Ade's were our neighbor our gardens were only separated by the fence and we would often compare produce. My mom was the envy of the neighbors. Cucumbers, green peppers, green beans. I'm not sure why my mom was so successful with the gardening, especially since we backed up to woods and we had plenty of critters living nearby. And it wasn't just her outside garden. My mom had dozens of indoor plants. Beautiful cascading hanging pots and an equal amount of table top varieties. For many years she had a glass table set up behind her living room chair that was in the room solely to have a place to keep her plants. They even draped over her sewing machine. Definitely a gifted gardener she was.

I'm not sure my sisters inherited this gene either. I remember my mom recounting the story of Cindy's ill-fated marigold from early elementary school. I imagine it was a spring school project that came home, which Cindy enthusiastically over-watered and effectively killed. In the spirit of true motherly love, our mom went to a local nursery and replaced it without her knowledge.  In vain my mom would prune her overgrown plants and send me home with them already potted.. Even gave me clear instructions on how to care for the particular variety she was passing along to me. Lo and behold, none of them ever survived. And a vegetable garden? Why bother. The thought makes me laugh. I think I'd better stick with driving to the local grocer and bagging my own.

Pam and I recently discussed this, too, as she pointed to the fake tree in the corner of her living room. Pam and her husband have had a vegetable garden over the years. Unfortunately, I think the majority of the produce gets eaten by the squirrels and rabbits despite their hard work. We joked how neither one of us have a single live plant in our home. Unless you count the cactus I brought back from Arizona in 2001 after visiting Bil and Thel Keane, which is still alive and kicking. Of course, I think you have to work pretty hard at killing a cactus. Just an observation that I think the cactus is surviving in spite of me being its owner. There is strange comfort in knowing I'm not the only daughter killing plant life.

Recently, I found out that apparently this gene did not entirely disappear, it merely skipped a generation. The story began innocently enough when I was cooking up a large bean, pasta and vegetable mixture to supplement the diet of our birds. Elise had been learning about growing plants and asked if we could grow a bean. She promptly swiped one from the pasta cuisine and placed it in water. Somehow I couldn't convince her that an already cooked bean wouldn't grow. After a few days, she finally relented and decided she would try something else. It took a while for me to come up with an idea to use our whole sunflower seeds that are also for our birds. Tony and Elise wrapped up the sunflowers in a damp paper towel and placed the dozen or so seeds in the baggie. 

Let me be clear: Tony was skeptical. While he was going through the motions of seed growth, Tony really felt that Elise was going to be disappointed again. Still, we needed to make a worthy effort. We documented their first day.


But, alas, within just a few days many of the seeds sprouted. Ever vigilant, Elise cared for her seeds diligently and enjoyed watching the progression of their growth.  Several times a day, much to my chagrin, she would ask to see them, as if she could actually see them growing. Friends and family who happened by would be accosted by her insistence for them to admire her seeds. She was proud of them. Rightly so after knowing my lack of success in plant growth....

After just a matter of about two weeks, it became abundantly clear that these little boogers were going to out grow their baggies. They grew at an alarming rate so one day Elise and Tony planted them in one of my abandoned pots from days gone by. Wanting to give them a solid chance of survival, Tony placed them by the kitchen sink where our cactus also resides. After all, if that thing can survive, maybe it's good karma for the sunflower seeds.

Fast forward a mere two weeks and those puppies have tripled or quadrupled in length. Un-be-lie-va-ble. We have a real life house plant in our midst. All at the hands of our 5 year old daughter. Not sure if I should be embarrassed or proud, we all enjoyed the fruits of our collaborative effort.

Heck, the plant has been so successful that in just two weeks more time, it appears to be outgrowing its pot. All in 6 weeks or less. What's ironic is that none of this had anything to do with me, really. It was Elise's vision, her due diligence and her care. Soon it will be time to transplant.outdoors to its final home. Amazing. I certainly cannot take the credit for this one. Thanks, Mom, for giving us one of your gifts in one of my greatest gifts--Elise.