I’m not a gardener. I have little interest in gardening and frankly, I don’t have the patience to plant something, take care of it and invest time and money into it while hoping that the bugs, birds and animals won’t eat it. That said, a number of years back I was shopping at Target looking for a notebook and while browsing through the aisle, came across a small little plant that had been abandoned by someone and was sitting on the shelf all by itself. Now, I’m not a particularly sensitive guy (ask my wife), but I felt bad for the little thing. It was kind of cute and it was just sad to see it sitting there by itself, away from all the other plants. No plant deserves to be alone.
My office is pretty utilitarian, I have multiple computers, keyboards, a desk, lots of bookcases and books but zero in the way of decorations. Perhaps I could give a home to the little guy and while I was at it, make my office a bit more presentable. I picked it up to see if there was a price on it and found that it was only going to cost me three dollars. That seemed pretty reasonable so the deal was sealed.
I took my new little friend home and set it up in a nice location on my desk in a position where I could watch it as I worked and make my day just a little bit brighter. It was my little ‘rescue’ plant. I had given it a nice home and could now brag to everyone how virtuous I was for taking care of this poor, abandoned plant.
The plant, some sort of succulent, didn’t seem like it would need a lot of water, so once a week I would give it just enough to get the soil wet but not enough that it would spill out onto my desk. This seemed to work. The plant was green, healthy and looked to be in great shape. Success! Gardening was easy.
A year or so went by and one morning my wife, the gardener in the family, came in to talk to me about something and as part of the conversation, I mentioned how good the plant was looking and how I had been diligent about watering it every week.
She looked at me with that look that wives sometimes give husbands that says, ‘What are you some sort of idiot?’
‘I think it’s plastic,’ she said.
‘Huh. No, it can’t be, just look at it, it’s obviously real.’
She picked it up and pulled on one of the leaves. It didn’t break. She pulled harder. It still didn’t break.
‘Plastic,’ she deadpanned.
Could it be? It sure seemed real. We continued the discussion/argument for a bit and then she moved on to do other things.
It’s been about five years now, I haven’t watered it since that day and it’s still thriving. I guess it is plastic.
(Note: The image at the top of the post is the actual plant and I don’t care what anyone says, it looks pretty real to me)
