On Planting: Spider Plants

The indoor plant that made me a "grand plant parent" is the Spider Plant (a pack of 6 is at this link from Amazon). I happened upon my first pot from a last minute decision at a flea market. At the time Mom & I would visit most every garage/yard sale & flea market she could find listed in the weekly advertisement magazine. We never knew what bargains we'd find, & as I'd begun to get out on my own, being in an apartment, then having a house of my own, working our way through the listings in the weekly advertisement became our every Saturday morning - oftentimes even into the afternoon.

We did well, both with bonding, as well as bargain hunting. I found many unique things which could help me decorate, or help me be otherwise efficient. And then I came across a pot or two of Spider Plants. I think I initially considered the pot as a decoration & put it in my general living space.

Fortunately, with just some general affection & simple watering, the plant not only didn't die, it grew. I decided to purchase a few pots with drainable bases as the ones I already had were basic black ones where I added a clear plastic base which wasn't attached. Soon I was attaching the growing plants into the new soil & soon after that, it seemed, I was attaching the grown plants from those plants again into the soil. It seems like such a strange statement now, yet I clearly recall exclaiming to my parents, "I'm a grandparent! My Spider Plant children have had children!" They just smiled.

As much as the Spider Plants were such a part of my apartment living, moving them along to my house didn't work out as well as would have been nice. The situation turned out almost the same way as a false alarm when I had them lined up along the mantle, & they seemed to be doing well. It'd been suggested to me to ease them into the new environment, the new air they'd be breathing.

All seemed to be well, then I noticed ten to fourteen days after the move, it hadn't worked out. I had a lot of new things going on, so I was able to move on & focus on these new projects rather than sulk that these plants, which I'd been enjoying for many months now, & that I'd actually gotten to grow, hadn't ultimately survived.

Their remains joined the rest of what was my backyard & I embraced the new opportunities presenting themselves throughout that space as well as my side & front yard. My "indoor green thumb" would have to take a hiatus.