After about ten days of touring, when I returned home, the first thing that caught my eye was the two pots of Persian red grass that had withered into dried plum vegetables. Thinking back to their limp appearance when they first arrived home, after dividing, repotting, and pruning, the stems finally became strong, growing lush purple-red leaves. I happily held it, letting the thorns on the leaves brush against my cheeks. In the first half of the tour, they became limp without anyone looking after them, but after watering them at home, they quickly regained vitality. I then had full confidence in taking care of them in the second half. Unexpectedly, they couldn't withstand the hot summer days, not only did all the leaves wrinkle together, even the roots began to turn black. I had to cut off the remaining branches, send the roots to the plant ICU area at home, supplemented with root rot medicine, hoping for a glimmer of hope.
The condition of the three pots of wrinkled-leaved cold water flowers was also very bad. Although two of them still had green stems, the leaves had turned into dried plum vegetables, lifeless. Before leaving, they had already sprouted many new shoots, all of which had turned gray and brittle. Only one plant by the window seemed intact, but many brown spots appeared on the leaves, like mold, so I decided to cut them all off today. At this moment, they are in the ICU with the Persian red grass, looking bald like cancer patients.
The chicken feather vegetable still did not grow as before, not sure of the reason, but the seedlings had started to turn yellow and age, so I decisively stir-fried them with winter melon, red pepper, and salted duck leg meat, very delicious, and not wasted. The garlic chives were also very weak, judging that they should not be planted with peat soil, which does not retain water at all, and should not be planted in a stuffy glass balcony. So today at noon, I stir-fried them all to eat, soaked the remaining roots in water, repotted them, and planted them in those very fragile small plastic flower pots purchased online, placing them in front of the kitchen window one by one. It was a lesson learned, I should pay attention to the soil in the future. Garlic chives with scrambled eggs are very fragrant and delicious.
This time, the final stop was in Guangzhou, because the high-speed train tickets were expensive, so I spent about 20 hours sitting in a sleeper car to return. On the way, I was thinking about what plants to recommend to the plant killer Su, and I thought the bat flower would be very suitable for her, so I bought it to see if it was easy to care for. As a result, it was out of control, and I bought a bunch of beautiful tropical plant seedlings. After returning home, I was busy, trying to revive the dying sick plants on one hand, and welcoming the new seedlings in and out on the other hand, potting, repotting, and checking their preferred growing environment. Although I was running around the house all day, it was very therapeutic.
Observing plants often has taught me to observe myself, to learn how to prune my relationships with others, and make my own stems strong. Plants need time, and I also need time, so it seems like I have slowly learned to live without the external gaze and become an anxious yet beautiful bonsai, understanding what true sunlight and water mean to me.
I forgot to mention the pot of originally well-growing velvet caladium. After experiencing the disaster of high temperatures, it didn't die, but the new leaves grew excessively to absorb moisture from the air, turning yellow, the stems weak, and absorbing the main nutrients. So today, I also cut off the new leaves. Growing excessively is worse than not growing at all. Many things in life are like this, seemingly grasping something, but it's actually empty and meaningless.
In the midst of busyness, I saw the caladium sprouting side branches and new small leaves, the movements were very cute, so I took a picture, hoping for a strong future.