Today’s Just Jot it January prompt is “abscission,” from Lakshmi. I had to look it up. Here’s what I found:
“the natural detachment of parts of a plant, typically dead leaves and ripe fruit.”
It’s good to learn new words, especially when there seems to be no one word alternative.
Last week we took Marley to the vet to be neutered. That was not a natural detachment, but hopefully it will help calm him down a little and not add to the problem of homeless pets. His previous guardian said he sometimes escaped and was gone for a couple of days, so he may have offspring somewhere. After leaving Marley at the vet for his procedure, I went to the nearby laundrymat, which is technically spelled laundromat, to wash and dry a big comforter that had been in the attic for years.
This laundromat has some very nice plants in a big window. The snake plants and succulents are doing well, but the spider plants are pathetic. They probably get too much sun and not enough water.
Abscission was not working for these plants. They needed help, and I could not ignore them.
I went outside to the attendant who was in her car on her phone and asked her if I could work on removing some of the dead leaves from the plants and give them some water. She looked at me like I was from another planet, then said, sure, I guess so.
Some of the plants were too high to reach, but some I was able to clean up and water. Later, I sent a FB message, presumably to the management who thanked me. The manager wrote that he or she had been very busy and did not have the much time to take care of the plants. I responded that I might drop by and work on them some more if that was okay and was told that would be fine. I hope this nudges someone at the laundromat to take care of the spider plants.
Sorry I didn’t take pictures of the healthy plants, but maybe will put some in the gallery below along with Marley the evening after his surgery when he was uncharacteristically mellow due to residual medication effects.
Spider plants are one of the few plants not toxic to animals. Fortunately, Mama Cat doesn’t play with them since she tends to be a cave dweller. For enrichment, we’re going to be adding some walking shelves that lead to her cat tree upper level, and I’ll be encouraging her with treats to use them.
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Anything is Possible! 