Spider Plants, Avocado Trees, and Critters who Belong Outside

October 29, 2016 by JoAnna 26 Comments

Today’s Stream of Consciousness Post is brought to you by Linda G. Hill, author of

All Good Stories, “a romantic comedy with a twist.”

Soon it will be time to bring my outside plants inside. They are really indoor plants, but they like to be out in good weather which we have a lot of here. I just hope they don’t have spiders hiding in them when I bring them in.

For the past two days, I saw a small gecko/lizard/chameleon hopping around my avocado tree on the back deck. I’d rather not have to try to get these little critters outside because I’m always afraid I’ll hurt them. Except for the water bugs, aka Palmetto bugs. Not afraid to hurt them. Yet, they are living things too, so why…..

But back to he plants, because I don’t want to talk about bugs. I have so many spider plants (there I go again with spiders) which some people call airplane plants, though their babies do look like spiders, that I have planted some of them outside. They die off in the winter and come back in the spring. Once I had a poinsettia do that, but only once. Usually the winters here are too cold for a poinsettia to survive. But there was the time when I planted one from Christmas out in my backyard in the spring, and the next spring, a year later, I saw something red out in the yard and had no idea what it was. Lo and behold, it was the poinsettia I had planted a year earlier. It must have been a mild winter. I have one that’s doing very well in a pot outside, but I’ll probably bring that one in and put it in the dark in November to see it it will turn red.

I have two avocado trees in pots that I planted from pits. I’ve had them for many years and cut them back so they will fit in the house. They drop a lot of their leaves, even in the house, in the winter. I’ve been tired of lugging them back in and out of the house, since they like to be outside on mild winter days, so this year, I planted the leggier one outside in a semi sheltered area. I’m going to see it it will survive. I’ll probably cut it way back and cover it on freezing days like people do with banana trees around here. Who knows, with climate change/global warming, maybe I could grow avocados.

(Not saying climate change is good. It’s bad. And it’s real. But that’s another story.)

Today’s prompt was “in/out.” Linda directed us to “use one, use both, use ’em any way you’d like.”

Here are the SoCS rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!