Saturday Morning Piffle: A Plant Story

When I was a little kid, somewhere around third or fourth grade, I won my Mom a plant at the school carnival cake walk. I remember that it was just a little Styrofoam cup (which undoubtedly still exists) with some potting soil, and a stem with maybe two leaves on it. I believe I also won some goldfish, but they have a much shorter story (ie. catfood). Mom cultivated the plant, and it was a fixture in our house from that day on.

The plant was just always around. At some point, some 20+ years later, my Mom gave the plant to my sister, who has also had it for several years. On my 40th birthday, my sister cut off a three-leaf segment, puffed up a Zip-Loc baggie, and brought it with her for a 2,000 mile journey to my house.

It's been about 14 months since she brought it, and it is thriving. I managed to kill a 3-leaf segment that I tried to transplant, but that gave the rest of the plant a growth-spurt. It's been growing like crazy since its "birthday" in April, and has been growing shockingly fast for the last two months.

I know that a philodendron is probably the easiest plant in the universe to grow (a little plant food, a little water, some sun), but for a guy with a "black thumb," I think I've done pretty well with it!