When the Growth Stopped

As I've mentioned before, I picked "growing along with my houseplants" as the subtitle of this blog for a reason. I've had houseplants since I was quite young. Growing and caring for them has been one of the few constants in my life--one of my greatest joys--as I've gone from child, to teenager, to adulthood and on to middle age. One of the other constants in my life, unfortunately, has been a tendency toward depression. I've always come through, though, and my plants have always come with me. I've had many plants during some of those times, and very few in others, but I always enjoyed caring for however many I've had. They always provided a bit of green joy amongst the blue shades of sorrow.

But after I recuperated from my lingering cold this winter, I realized that although I was better physically, I was not in a good state mentally. And for the first time in my life, the classic depression symptom, "loses interest in things one usually enjoys" affected my relationship with my plants. Instead of sustaining me through the tough emotional times, tending to the houseplants began to feel like an insurmountable chore, one that I thoroughly resented. I suffered, and the plants suffered. I lost some to insect problems, and at least a few, I am ashamed to say, to neglect. Some of my others, though still alive, are definitely not looking their best.

But I am slowly getting better, and I hope the plants will too.

My new Easter cactus, Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri aka Hatiora gaertneri, purchased on Monday. For the first time in a while, I am actually looking forward to taking care of not just my old plants, but new plants as well.

I am also looking forward to getting back to blogging on a more regular basis. I know I said that after I recovered from my cold, and I meant it. I mean it this time too, and I hope things will work out better. I am making a personal commitment to posting at least once a week, and I hope it will work out to being much more frequent than that.