The Year of the Dragon

“Yeah, I want to know what he looks like” my nephew is excited to tell me about his new imaginary friend. “Well, he is really small and has spikes on his tail to poke out eyes” Geez this went dark fast.

“Your friend has a tail?” I ask “Yea! He is a dragon.” “And it has spikes to poke out eyes?”

Anders goes on “yeah, but only the eyes of bad guys.”

“Oh, that’s good” I quickly blurt out with a little laugh.

I grab my watering can and start water my plants as he continues.

“And do you want to know what color it is?” Of course, I want to know what color his tiny imaginary dragon is. “Yes, please tell me what color it is!”

“It’s red and has some yellow spots, and there is grey parts too”

My mind starts to picture a small dragon that fits in the palm of a four-year-old’s hand. I see the red Dragon with Yellow spots, with spikes on its tail. I see it flying from my hand through the dark green leaves of my new vine, then over to my Pothos, flying in and out of its new neon green leaves.

“Does your imaginary Dragon friend like plants?” I asked.

“Oh, he loves plants!” Anders says emphatically. “And snow! He really loves the snow”

Snow! My nephew reminded me; I need to go to the store before it snows. My ZZ plant has outgrown his current pot. I need to replant him in a larger pot so it’s roots will spread out and support further growth.

“What’s the dragon’s name?” I needed to end the call, but couldn’t get off without learning the dragon’s name. “Sally!”

“Sally??” I ask.

“What mom?! No, I don’t have to go potty.” My sister knows if she doesn’t’ ask, he won’t go. He is unphased by the question. “Yes, Sally and he is really small.”

“Ok” I said, “Hey buddy I have to go”

“Ok I love you.” He is so grown up. “Love you too, bye”

With my phone in my left hand and my watering can in my right I stared out the window past my jungle of plants.

I noticed that many of my other plants were thirsty. I refilled and went back to watering them. I saw my black notebook on the windowsill, and thought, “I should move it so it doesn’t get wet.” I argued with myself, “you don’t have to move it, just be careful” Its my plant journal, but I have written a few poems and short stories in there too. Its getting full I thought, I will have to buy a new moleskin soon.

As I moved passed my Devil’s Ivy and over to my Lemon Lime Heartleaf seedling I splashed a little water on the cover of my notebook. It’s a hard cover, so a few droplets won’t hurt it. My book is fine. Everything is fine. As I watered my spider plant, I noticed its very first baby. The small star shaped flowers finally created a little plantlet. As I leaned in closer, I slowly tipped my watering can. It wasn’t until I heard the water splashing onto the ground that I realized I had been dumping water all over the windowsill and floor. Crap! I jerked to stop the water and knocked my spider plant, new babies and all onto the floor taking my black notebook with it. As the porcelain pot fell, it seemed to fall tin slow motion. I braced for impact as it came crashing down. The square shiny pot hit perfectly on the corner chipping away a chunk of the porcelain off but to my surprise keeping the rest of the pot intact. This of course was not the case of all the soil that went flying and now was scattered across the floor.

Thank god for hard wood floor. I laugh to myself as I look down at the chipped pot, water, soil and book… oh my book! I dive down to pick up my book like a mama bird rescuing her hatchling. The cover is soaked, the edges are wet… I flip it open to check out the damage.

The graph paper and blue ink bleed in together. But I can still make out what it reads.

Money Tree : April 25th 2014 : Plants and Pies

Water: Keep soil Moist Light: Medium to Bright

Notes: Don’t eat the pie. Birthday plant! Lets make it rain

I chuckle as I read my entry. “Make it rain” lol Apparently, I was listening to a lot of Fat joe that year. I thought this plant was going to help me live my best life. That was almost 7 years ago…

I continue to flip through my plant journal and notice its started to rain.

Peace Lily: Sep 12th 2015: Angel’s Garden and Plant shop

Water: Keep soil Moist Light: Medium to low light

Notes: Maybe this will help bring more peace in my life

Ah that’s right. That was a rough time. I looked over at my Peace Lily sitting in the corner. Its bloomed several times over the years. Its hanging in there. Just like me.

Being a parent is messy. Life is messy, and being a proud plant parent is not different.

There comes a time in every parents life when you have to get your hands a little dirty. For my sister, that’s changing diapers. For me, it means getting dirt under my fingernails, instead of poop.

I grab the hand broom and dustpan and start to sweep up the dirt across the floor.

The squared porcelain pot is more of a trapezoid shape, and can’t stand up on its own. I guess I am getting two pots today.

I finish cleaning up, grab my plant journal and head out the door. By the time I walk across the street the light drizzle is a full on down pour. I get in my car and shake off the cold. The temperature will drop soon, and I don’t want to be out in the snow. I turn on the heat and let my car war up as I pick up my book.

Spider Plant: May 4th 2020 Dessert Rose

Water: Keep Moist Light: Low - Med

Notes: “You know what to do”

That’s right, I picked up my spider plant at a strange little shop that only had a few plants. The salesman was rude but the prices were great. I’ll never forget what he said, “you know what to do” I remember being a little unsure what I was supposed to do, but saw the price and didn’t argue, I left 5 bucks on the counter and walked out. $5 is a steal for this plant. I reminisced over what an odd experience that was.

“Didn’t’ I get my ZZ there too?” I flipped through the book.

ZZ: June 28th 2020 Dessert Rose

Water: Drought Tolerant, can go without water for a long time Light: Low to Med

Notes: The plants have gone down hill, maybe last time here

That’s right, well lets go back and see if they have pots now. The rain had turned to snow, but my car was warm so I didn’t care.

I went to the same street, just off Main. I found the corner and the ugly yellow awning, but the store wasn’t there. I looked up to see a faded wall where there once was a sign. I look in the windows, like for some reason the store will magically appear if I just look closer. But its completely empty. Sad. I was already out and in the snow, so I decided to keep walking. Two doors down was an antiques shop “Memories Made” with old pots displayed dusty but proudly. I walk in and purchase them, still sad about the plant store that’s no longer there. They were only in business a few months, how could they have possibly gone out of business? I remembered that the plants were looking rough last June, maybe they didn’t actually know how to take care of plants I thought.

I looked for traffic and than ran across the street, not bothering to look for a cross walk. I safely place my pots down on the floor of the car and drove home.

I already had extra soil so there was no need to stop. It was a good thing too because the snow was really coming down now and the plows weren’t out yet.

As soon as I turn off the car I grabbed the pots and ran inside like I was being timed. I quickly unlock the door and shake off the cold. Burr.

I looked at my poor spider plant. “I will repot you first.” I told it. After grabbing the soil and small spade I started to loosen up the dirt. That plant had clearly outgrown this pot too, because it was stuck and I couldn’t get it out. Strange I didn’t’ think the roots had gotten that big. As I used my fingers to break up the dirt I tried to feel the roots, and felt something else completely. Paper. Paper? I thought. As I continued I felt more paper. As I looked closer I realized this wasn’t paper at all, this was money. And the roots had now grown over it. I slowly and surgically remove the plant from the pot and then the stack of cash from the roots. I stared in disbelief. And then quickly counted. $5,000. Why would there be $5,000 in this pot with my spider plant?

At that moment I wondered if there was money in all my plants. I ran over to my Pothos and started the hunt. No, just roots, lots of roots, but just roots. “you will need to be repotted soon too.” I told my patient plant. I look back at the dirty money on the counter… “Dirty money” I thought to myself… From the plant shop that is mysteriously gone..

Like a tractor beam my eyes dart over to my ZZ. “I got you at that store.” Do you have money in your roots too? Is that why you stopped growing?” My heart is now beating in my throat and I can barely contain myself. I start soften up the soil with the spade but quickly throw it to the side. I place both hands deep into the pot not caring how much dirt will be stuck under my finger nails and start feeling around. I close my eyes because I think it will help my hands feel around better. And then I felt it. Paper! No not paper, Money! I carefully lift the ZZ plant up and turn my head to look at the roots. There, just like the Spider plant was a stack of $100 bills, but more, much more.

After I counted I realized there was exactly 3 times more. $15,000. Who’s money is this? I looked at the old money, still dirty but no longer covered in top soil. I continued to stare down this treasure as I took the time to repot my plants and make sure they were ok.

Without skipping a beat I grabbed the old Pot the ZZ was in and put all $20,000 in cash at the bottom. Then I took my Pothos, “I guess you are getting a new home today.” I stuck plant on top and covered it with soil. By the time I was done, no one would have guessed that I had $20,000 in that pot. I cleaned up the soil and then put my beautiful jungle back to gather. As I sat the Pothos down back on the windowsill I imagined my nephews dragon flying in and out of its green leaves. “Sally likes plants” I thought, “Me too”