Week Two, March 2008
Misty Mount Si
This week’s poem:
MEMORY
It is that crimped silver hair
clinging to your best black
winter coat, the hair
no amount of sticky-backed tape
or stiff brush or shaking
can dislodge - that reminder
that here you are, falling
into time a strand at a time,
strands of DNA weaving
out across the expanse
of an impersonal void -
and just when you give up,
trusting you are stuck
with the certain knowledge
of your disintegration,
a freshening breeze
sings in the wind chimes,
ruffles your coat collar
and instantly it is Spring!
The tree pollen count is pegging the meter this week, clouds of yellow pollen billowing from chilly branches. My eyes burn, my nose has been stuffy for days - if I take an allergy pill I could so easily doze off at the wheel so I soldier on, wondering how long I can go without breathing.
Early hours are frosty but by noon I am shedding the company jacket to enjoy a tentative bask in thin sunshine. A time of bright beginnings. An appropriate time for me to start training a brand new plantlady. Molly just signed on as my route partner this week - brave soul! I have been introducing her to Geekatopia. So far she has held up well through our most demanding, challenging accounts - and was still smiling at the end of the week. Right now she is probably home soaking her aching feet and rethinking this weird plantlady idea - but I sense Molly has what it takes to survive in the cubicle jungle. Monday we will drive out into the Cascade Mountains to North Bend where scraps of snow sparkle on Mount Si - we will tend the Cascade Bank plants but I will make sure we take a few minutes to enjoy the view. And the fresh, pollen-free mountain air. Every job has perks.
OFFICE PLANT CARE TIP: Time to wake up your plants with a little breakfast! They have been resting in hibernation mode all winter, their metabolisms glacially slow. (Yes, even indoor plants know when it is winter and generally speaking it is not necessary to fertilize your plants in the dark of the year - they can’t use it while they are “resting”.)
Notice a few tiny new leaves opening up? A clear signal that your plants could use a light meal - mix the fertilizer at about half-strength to start, every other time you water. Note: always use the kind of indoor plant fertilizer you mix with water and evenly moisten the soil so that all the roots are fed. There are different kinds of fertilizers for different kinds of plants (orchids, african violets, blooming plants, cactus etc.) so be sure to read the labels to match the food to your plants’ needs. And forget about those fertilizer spike things - they don’t release the nutrients evenly and I believe they actually burn delicate roots. Spring ahead!
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