[ A hanging pot holds a slightly sparse-looking aloe vera plant. It’s getting plenty of light from the left side, at least. ]
That’s Sebastian!
I’m not usually one for naming my plants, but Sebastian was already named when he came to me a couple of years back at a Newcomers event in Unser Hafen. Apparently someone’s aloe vera was just getting too big, so they divided him up & handed pieces around to anyone who wanted them.
& then apparently this happened a few more times, so now Sebastian lives in a lot of homes throughout the Outlands.
This is hilarious to me, so I was happy to keep the name, & if I pass pieces on to anyone else, I’ll be sure to tell the recipients that these, too, are Sebastian.
& then a few years later at the farmers market I purchased a tiny aloe vera planted in one of those plastic cups you get tiny tomatoes in, thinking, well, now I’ll have two, & also the kid selling them is adorable & totally deserves three bucks for being clever about making a little extra on the side. It was probably a year before I replanted it, but it grew well, easily surviving the time or two it got knocked over by the cats. A few of the bits that got knocked off rerooted, & I figured I’d repot them when I got around to it, & then I’d have a couple spare aloes, which is really never a bad idea.
I finally got around to repotting them a couple months ago, & my friends, it was not a few bits growing in that pot.
It was SIXTEEN bits.
[ A table under a window holds a whole bunch of aloe vera plants, most in cans with the tops cut off, but a few in pots. There are also a couple of cans with the stumps of green onions planted in them. Ten of the aloes are separately potted, & the one planted in old cooking pot has five little stemlets tucked in with it. ]
I do not, obviously, need that many aloe plants. Some of these will be going to other people — I’ll likely bring them along to events & shows this summer. But I’m not giving away aloe plants without naming them, so I’d like to introduce you to Gustav. Would you like some of Gustav? Find me at an event this summer!
Of course adding the second window meant there was MUCH more sunlit space for plants, so now Gustav lives on both sides of my room.
[ Five soda cans, two bean cans, and a former cooking pot now hold thirteen iterations of Gustav. They’re gathered around a green bowl with a bit of water in the bottom, and the whole lot of this is sitting on a table in front of the new window. ]
Here’s the green onions, now growing very well! I need to stick some of that in dinner, is what.
[ A tin can, formerly holding peaches, is now filled with dirt. Four green onions stems are enthusiastically growing in it. ]
& lastly, my rubber plant, currently unnamed, but MUCH happier now that it gets direct sun in the afternoons. For a while there it had lost most of its color (& most of its leaves, alas) but now it’s doing very well.
[ A much bigger purple pot holds a rubber plant; each branch ends with a rosette of pointy-ended, oval leaves, dark green with accents of yellow and orange. ]
The local convenience store & cafe has a BIG spider plant in the lobby, with a whole bunch of babies growing from it. Next time I’m in there I’m gonna see if they’ll let me grab a couple. I can always use more plants!
