La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
San Geraldo has recovered well from yesterday’s mishap in the shower. I will not call him an idiot again because it reminded me too much of my parents. At least it was the worst I said and I didn’t pronounce it with hatred in my voice. His left pec and left thumb were tender and swollen last night. Both are greatly improved today. He hauled groceries and bags of potting soil (which he calls dirt) with no problem.
We haven’t yet transplanted our new plants. But I do have a few photos to share. I selected another orchid. It’s a bit late in their blooming cycle, so among the beauties at the greenhouse there was only one that still had plenty of unopened buds. I didn’t realize, although the markings differ, the colors are similar to the one I already have. Also, it’s another phalaenopsis. Oh well. I’ll have to get a third for some contrast. It’s kind of like adopting one cat. Those three cats will be the best five cats you ever had.
We got a dracaena (corn plant) for the terrace. We also bought a couple of kalanchoes with beautiful flowers. There are several other plants I’ll eventually share. The staff at the garden center were great. This is their first year in business, so they have some growing to do. I hope they have success. It’s about 3 km (under 2 miles) northwest of us outside the city center in the neighborhood called El Brillante. We actually climbed the foothills (in a taxi) to reach there. It might be a fun walk one of these days, especially since it’s downhill going home.
I’ve included a photo of bird of paradise, although we didn’t buy any. They require a lot of sun. It reminded me of a former friend in San Diego who wanted to provide the central flower arrangement (her favorite flower) for my birthday party. She arrived with an enormous arrangement of “red bird of paradise” but she was crestfallen. She said she went to our small local florist and saw they had no red bird of paradise. She told the owner how sad she was and the owner said, “Oh, no problem. I’ll just spray some up for you right now. They take no time to dry.” She grew up in Beverly Hills and always thought the reds were an exotic variety that didn’t grow locally. The friendship suffered when SG was heavily recruited for a position at UC Berkeley and finally decided to accept it. The friend had had breast cancer about 20 years earlier (we had been friends less than 5 years) and said, “Well, I guess you don’t feel the same about this friendship as I do. I always thought, if I ever got cancer again, you would be here to help [the partner] take care of me.” It went downhill from there. People!
San Geraldo se ha recuperado bien del percance de ayer en la ducha. No lo volveré a llamar idiota porque me recordó demasiado a mis padres. Al menos fue lo peor que dije y no lo pronuncié con odio en mi voz. Anoche tenía el pectoral izquierdo y el pulgar izquierdo doloridos e hinchados. Hoy están mucho mejor. Cargó la compra y las bolsas de tierra para macetas (que él llama tierra) sin problema.
Todavía no hemos trasplantado nuestras nuevas plantas. Pero tengo algunas fotos para compartir. Elegí otra orquídea. Está un poco tarde en su ciclo de floración, así que entre las bellezas del invernadero solo había una que aún tenía muchos capullos sin abrir. No me había dado cuenta de que, aunque las marcas son diferentes, los colores son similares a los de la que ya tengo. Además, es otra Phalaenopsis. En fin. Tendré que conseguir una tercera para que haya contraste. Es como adoptar un gato. Esos tres gatos serán los cinco mejores gatos que hayas tenido jamás.
Compramos una drácena para la terraza. También compramos un par de kalanchoes con hermosas flores. Hay varias otras plantas que compartiré más adelante. El personal del centro de jardinería fue genial. Este es su primer año en el negocio, así que tienen que crecer un poco. Espero que tengan éxito. Está a unos 3 km (menos de 2 millas) al noroeste de nosotros, fuera del centro de la ciudad, en el barrio llamado El Brillante. De hecho, subimos las estribaciones (en taxi) para llegar allí. Podría ser un paseo divertido uno de estos días, especialmente porque es cuesta abajo al volver a casa.
Incluí una foto de ave del paraíso, aunque no compramos ninguna. Necesitan mucho sol. Me recordó a una antigua amiga de San Diego que quería traer el arreglo floral central (su flor favorita) para mi fiesta de cumpleaños. Llegó con un enorme arreglo de “ave del paraíso roja”, pero estaba desanimada. Dijo que fue a nuestra pequeña floristería local y vio que no tenían ave del paraíso roja. Le contó al dueño lo triste que estaba y el dueño le dijo: “Oh, no hay problema. Te rocío algunas ahora mismo. Se secan enseguida”. Ella creció en Beverly Hills y siempre pensó que las rojas eran una variedad exótica que no crecía allí. La amistad se resintió cuando SG fue muy solicitada para un puesto en UC Berkeley y finalmente decidió aceptarlo. La amiga había tenido cáncer de mama unos 20 años antes (llevábamos menos de 5 años siendo amigos) y dijo: «Bueno, supongo que no sientes lo mismo por esta amistad que yo. Siempre pensé que, si alguna vez volvía a tener cáncer, estarías aquí para ayudar a [mi pareja] a cuidarme». A partir de ahí, todo fue cuesta abajo. ¡Qué gente!
• Flor del Paraíso. Strelitzia, no sterlitzia. Quienquiera que haya hecho los letreros cometió muchas faltas de ortografía, pero logré descifrarlas.
You did get some pretty plants.
As for your ‘former’ friend…let’s just say she had some ‘great expectations.’ Ask much?
I had a former ‘friend’ who put ever increasing demands on my time after a year or so of being friendly and who eventually found another sucker when I, as a mom of four already employed full time, wouldn’t meet her high expectations. Basically wanted me to be her biatche. Sigh. As you say…people.
Mary
Mary:
That friend was a disappointment. Broke up with her partner a month after their commitment ceremony because she was having an affair with a client. So much changed after that for us all.
I guess your former friend expected you to give up your life and your dreams because of her. I wonder if she’d have done the same.
Now, the pretty: the orchid is gorgeous and the flowers are a pretty punch of color!
Bob:
What a disappointment. So much more to the story of that friend. I do like the orchid, but I do now need something for variety. I’m not complaining!
Love the flowers, Scoot. I see beauty, color and future plant slaughter victims.
I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt on your calling SG an idiot. I think you were just scared and it came out that way. It’s like when I call BH an ass. It’s only because….well, he’s acting like one, but that’s different. Forget I mentioned it.
Deedles:
We’re good with plants but I’m worried about light. I’ve never lived someplace with so little direct sun. At least there’s natural light. We’ll see.
I envy those who are good with plants. I can grow a great geranium, but I think they are just hardheaded. I look at all plants as possible victims of my ebony thumb.
Deedles:
My mother had her own garden center in her apartment and on the balcony. Neighbors would bring her their dying plants to cure and then they’d tell her to keep them because they’d only quickly kill them again.
I think about getting an orchid. I do have two bird of paradise, one in the ground that freezes down every year but comes back and it has yet to bloom since I divided my big pot and planted that one. The one in the pot multiplies but I failed to bring it in the garage winter before last and it froze down but came back. It has yet to bloom again though. Probably needs more sun than it gets where it is. That’s a fancy kalanchoe.
ellen abbott:
In Southern California many people we knew considered bird of paradise a weed because it was so common and prolific. I didn’t feel that way, but we never did plant any at our homes. That IS a fancy kalachoe. We bought two.
Ohhhhh, my goodness, I missed a couple of days, and as soon as I saw, “…San Geraldo’s mishap in the shower”, I rushed to read yesterday’s post…YIKES! That really is hilarious that SG thought he should pull up the mat and rinse it off while still standing in the now-slippery shower… ha! Sometimes we’re so focused on one task, that we don’t see the rest of the story 🙂
The one negative about the spacious, clean, modern, well-appointed apartment that we just had in London, was that the bathtub shower in the master suite bathroom (where I was staying) had no rubber bath tub mat and it was as slick as could be, making that tub completely unusable. I stepped one foot in, to climb in, turned the hand-held shower on, and my foot immediately slipped … there was no way I was getting in there the rest of the way (and, it had a half-length glass shower panel, so I could just see me grabbing on to that, and breaking it, and…oh no…). It couldn’t have even been used for a bath, because once that surface was wet, it was nothing but dangerous.
I love the little songs you pick out for us, and those flowers are so beautiful!
Judy C:
Our recent hotel in Fuengirola had the same problem. A dangerously slipper tub. You’d think hotels would be worried about law suits, but I guess they don’t think like Americans.
Unfortunately for plants 💐 🌷 I have the kiss of death 😘
Adam
Nekorandom.com
Adam:
I’ve known a little of people who claim to have black thumbs.
I’m pretty much in the same boat; after I am done planting, I give the plants Last Rites. My husband has the green thumb, though not quite astute as to the width of the lawnmower deck. He’s plant his bulbs just about anywhere, then get pissy when I inadvertently mow them down in late spring.
Rade:
We hired a lawn service in Connecticut. I was in charge. The second week, the mower caught a piece of one leaf from SG’s iris bed. I was way up on our deck and he was down the hill inspecting. He raised a finger in the air and yelled, “You fire them!!!” I laughed and did and he then had to spend three hours every week mowing.
Love the plants!
I love plants and it’s a chore to keep them beautiful in an apartment. I have that same plant in the first picture! Thanks IKEA!
And glad SG is better and carrying dirt around.
XOXO
Sixpence:
Once we determine which plants thrive in our environment, we’ll be fine. Right now, it remains to be seen which will do well with the sunlight we have.
We bought a packet of 3 strelitzia seeds down on the front in Belalmadena in January. (I know… you can actually just go outside and pick them in the streets/hotel gardens!). We sowed them and we have one growing on our windowsill. It’s been so hot here this summer that it’s loving it. Whether we can keep it going seems to remain.
But it gets first class care along with our Amaryllis which we too brought into flower in July. I’ll send photos.
Karen:
I was never one for taking cuttings from public or private plants. I love the idea of growing from seeds, but SG does not. I plan to buy at least one amaryllis bulb this year. We used to have them every year.
I am glad that SG is on the mend. Your plant photos are beautiful. That “friend” really wasn’t a friend in my opinion.
Michael:
In hindsight, that was not a healthy friendship. I was friends first with her partner. Then we four became, we thought, the best of friends. Then they had a commitment ceremony (we were in it and there were so many tears). A month later, they split up because this one had been having an affair with a patient for 6 months! Within a week, the other friend was living with a new partner, but was angry with me for still speaking to the cheater. We tried to remain friends with all. We didn’t much connect (to put it mildly) with the new partners. Then we moved.
I love Strelitzia – such a dramatic flower! We’d only ever be able to grow them if we were fortunate to have a greenhouse, however. Over here, Kalanchoe has an unfortunate reputation (much like Cineraria) as being the sort of thing you can pick up at a petrol station if you’ve forgotten to bring a present to someone’s house. The yellow-orange double flowers on yours are rather special, however. As is the orchid! Jx
PS That former friend of yours sounds like a selfish bitch.
Jon:
Friends in Southern California call tiger lily a weed! I love it, but we never did plant any ourselves. We have never bought kalanchoe (same as you) but these double flowers got our attention. When that friend said that to me, I said, “Wow. My mother wouldn’t even say something like that.”
Now you’ve got me wondering if I’ve ever referred to potting soil as dirt or not. Is something you’re not supposed to say in polite company?
Kirk:
Potting soil is a mix of things especially good for container plants. It doesn’t even contain dirt, which is any combination of sand, silt, and clay… and who knows what else. And I’m a nitpicker.
Corn plant…looks interesting and bright. I like it. Wondering if it is available around these parts………..
Jim:
I’ve had corn plants several times over the years. They were popular house plants wherever I lived in the States. I just read that local nursery sometimes have them in Nova Scotia, but you can always order them online.
And if you have five cats, you will have kittens sooner than you expect.
David:
Only if you don’t do the right thing. Are you thinking of bunnies? But anyone with five cats, will easily “save” other cats from the street. Our nephew and niece got up to 13 without ever breeding kittens themselves.
Good luck with the orchid. It’s a beauty. I have no such luck with making anything grow indoors…except my men.
Mistress Borghese:
At least with the men! And outdoors, you can make anything grow.
Birds of Paradise and orchids — both so exquisitely beautiful! I knew a lesbian couple once who went to couples therapy and one of them ran off with the female therapist.
Debra,
That’s exactly what happened. Except she was the therapist.
That friendship sounds opportunistic on her part. Just as well you moved! I end up with more houseplants than I want, rarely of my choosing, because of rescuing them and having them inserted into my house by friends! It’s like pets. I don’t think I’ve ever chosen one. They’ve just moved in. Growing from seed and cuttings is my preferred method. Plants, that is, not pets. Boud
Boud,
Painfully disappointing friendship. It made it easier that we moved. My mother bought, clipped, propagated and rescued plants. It was a jungle. I did a bit of that … the buying and propagating.
My mother used to sing that song!
The orchid looks a lot like one that we have, too. In fact we have a couple of them. You’re right — they proliferate! We have a kalanchoe too but it has mealybugs so it’s living outside at the moment. (Mealybugs — the bane of my houseplant existence.)
Steve,
The bugs have not struck yet. Pray for us. That was the bane of our existence on the terrace.
I too read these in reverse, so I have to have a look-see what happened in the shower. I hope he is OK now.
Urspo,
He recovered amazingly well. Sometimes he’s like a young man.