Lost and Found/Christmas Cactus

Week Three, February 2008

A PLANTLADY’S LIFE IN GEEKATOPIA

Mountain Haiku:

Swath of stars beneath
the cloud-kissed tree line wink off
as dawn lights North Bend.


Have you ever had someone important vanish from your life? Of course you have. People have a tendency to fall away from our lives like frost crisped leaves off an apple bough - usually through inattention and our own misguided faith that our relationships will never change. Sometimes a catastrophic event separates us but more often than not we set out upon the world in an exciting new direction - we change jobs, buy a new house, start a family, get busy - until one day we hear ourselves muttering that harbinger of encroaching old age: whatever happened to . . .

Yet happy Providence can pull our lost ones back into the sphere of our lives when we least expect it. Here are two “lost and found” stories from the past week:

First story: I arrive at a brand new account ready to introduce myself -the receptionist, seeing me at the door, leaps out of her chair, her eyes round with surprise.
“Plantlady!” she exclaims. “I haven’t seen you in, what, ten years or so?”
“More like fifteen, Carol. As you can see, I work for another plant company these days,” I say. ”When did you leave XYZ Software?”
“A little over five years ago. They went out of business.”
“But I see you are still doing the receptionist thing,” I say.
“Yep. And I see you are still doing the plantlady thing.”
We laugh and enjoy a cheery reunion, marveling at what a small world Geekatopia can be.

Second story: Back in the early 1970s I met Sam in a community college creative writing class - which, if I remember correctly, he signed up for thinking to grab an easy five credits. We were both veterans starting college on the G. I. Bill, a fact that meant we were just slightly older than our classmates, lending us a sense of camaraderie we might not have otherwise shared since we had very little else in common.

I had loved poetry since I heard my first nursery rhyme, writing verse as soon as I could hold a pencil. Sam didn’t know poetry from pot holders that first quarter - the only poet he had read was Robert Service (“The Shooting of Dan McGrew”). But Sam is a fighter and he was determined to ace that course. We met before and after class to talk poetry over coffee. He attacked each assignment as if it were the hill he had chosen to die on. During that time, unnoticed by either one of us, something strange, magical and completely unforeseen happened - Sam became a poet.

I have no idea when Sam realized that poetry would be his life’s work but one thing I know about the man is that he has never done anything by half-measures - he throws his whole heart at the wire every time. He went on to major in poetry, bought a hand crank letter press to print poetry books, moved to a nearly-deserted island in the upper left hand corner of America to write poetry and publish poetry, live and breathe poetry.

It has been nearly a decade since I last saw Sam, though I think of him often. You don’t run across his kind of single-minded dedication, bravery, and passion very often in this wishy-washy world. He has been a huge inspiration to me - and a reproach, since I know I lack the kind of courage it must have taken for him to plunge head first into the deep end.

A few weeks ago Governor Christine Gregoire appointed Sam Green to be Washington State’s first Poet Laureate! He is in town giving readings from his new poetry collection, “The Grace of Necessity” (Carnegie Mellon University Press). Perhaps I shall meet up with him again soon to talk poetry over coffee.


President’s Day Office Plant Care Tip: Christmas Cactus
(Thanks to Joyce Irish for suggesting this plant.)

First, it is not a “cactus” and it blooms at Christmas only if it really wants to impress you. In addition to the familiar pink Christmas cactus, there are Easter and Thanksgiving varieties which have slightly different leaf shapes and flower colors.

This plant is a native of Brazilian forests but has been a favorite house plant since Victorian times, being one of the toughest, most beautiful plants you can share space with. (It is also one of the longest lived - as the family plantlady, I inherited my great-grandmother’s Christmas cactus. It is over a hundred years old - my mother, who is 94, remembers this plant from her childhood. So if you own one, be prepared to pass it down to the kids!)

Watering: About the only surefire way to kill this plant is to keep it soppy wet - though if you think you never have to water it at all think again! If the leaves are shriveling up you are dehydrating your plant. Water thoroughly, then let the soil dry out before watering again.

Getting them to bloom: I have had good results using orchid fertilizer once a month from Spring through Summer. These plants bloom best when they are tightly rooted in the pot so you will rarely have to repot this plant. They like to feel secure. (My great-grandmother’s Christmas cactus has been in the same pot for ten years now.)

Light: For best results keep this plant in bright, filtered sunlight.