House Plants
By Lynne Berrett
My Reflections on Bringing Nature Indoors
There is a 6 foot tall, ungainly Rubber Tree plant in my house. It’s so big that I have to lean it against this window facing East so it won’t fall over because of its weight. Opening and closing the blinds without knocking it over is a challenge.
It’s over 50 years old now. it was an anniversary gift from my husband in the mid-1960’s. It traveled with us from Michigan to Connecticut in a U-Haul in the mid-1970’s. It refuses to die.
Next to it you can see an equally ungainly, much squatter Mingaralia. Ming keeps trying to escape into the room, although I have desperately tied back its branches with twine wound around the stakes I’ve stuck in the pot. It’s also over 50 years old now.
It was left with me by a close friend when her family moved away from our area in the mid-1980’s. Once a year it looks as though it will expire. Fronds drop, littering the ground. But no, it bounces back even though it never gets taller.
Our other house plants have similar back stories. The floppy Jade plants below, which are perfectly healthy but I am sure are not like any Jade plant you have ever admired, started as very small sprigs sprouted in tiny pots by another friend about 15 years ago. He gave me a set of care instructions along with them that I promptly lost.
Then there’s the plant whose heart-shaped leaves wind around anything it can grasp — a gift from another friend 10 years ago. I forget to water it, but it also will not die. It’s as bad as the Christmas Cactus. That blooms early in November, apparently unaware it is more than a month too early. Perhaps because I never remember to put it in the closet, as the internet recommends?
And here’s the piece de resistance of this odd collection: a tropical plant I have never been able to identify. I inherited it from a departing co-worker over 20 years ago. If anyone knows its name, please tell me in the Comments!
You can see where I’m going with this. Why do these plants not die? I don’t prune them. I feed them sporadically. Clearly, they have the tenacity — and means — to survive in spite of their human caretaker’s failings.
I am realizing, as I write this, that anything I have tried to plant outdoors does not thrive. The perennials mysteriously disappear after their first season. I had to stop growing vegetables - Lyme ticks loved those patches.
What message is Nature giving me here?
We are at the downsizing stage of life. We’re thinking of moving closer to family, who live quite a distance from us. Should I take these “characters” with us? Why would I want to?
What do you think?
An Invitation
Many thanks to our Co-founder, Lynn for sharing her reflections on the role her elderly plants play in her life. We’d love to have you join us by sharing some of your own experiences in nature as a poem, Chat Walk, photo or a short essay.
We also invite you to join our AMP community. You can learn how to take part by clicking HERE. There is no obligation to share, but if you’d feel the urge, please email your submission to AgelessMindProject@gmail.com.
Previous Nature Journal Posts
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Curiosity and Love by Kate Morgan Reade
When I Die by Audrey Roth
Chat Walks by Jena Ball and Ginger Caldwell
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Exploring Nature with Beethoven by Joshua Berrett
The Zen of Floofles by Lorraine Evanoff
Corresponding with Nature by Phil Youngblood and Lynne Berrett
True Synchronicity by Lorraine Tillbury
A Magical Beethoven Experinece by Joshua Berrett
Parallel Walking by Sheila Webber
Luminosity by Jena Ball
Chenonceau Castle by Lorraine Tilbury
My First Experiment by Lynne Berrett
Nature Journaling with Phil by Phil Youngblood
Rhythm as Old as Time by Gloria Horton-Young
Sing the Song of Your People by Jena Ball
Cultivating and Ageless Mind with Nature by Phil Youngblood
A Life Shaped by Nature by Phil Youngblood
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Now that is an approach I understand. I was looking at it from a different point of view but I will try active listening and try to avoid projecting my own answers onto them. Thanks for responding!
I keep looking for a way to add my thoughts about what is an ageless mind. First I have to find this mind I have looked for over 50 years and I still cant find it. There are thoughts and there is silence. From my explorations I have found the silence without a thinker,or a thought. And yet there is awareness and as Eckhardt Tolle says there is Presence. It is this presence this awareness that is truly ageless Every other thought activity comes and goes. It ages Silence and space do not age