Why I’m a Lousy Gardener

It was one year ago when I first put the flowering house plant into the ground. Now it’s a huge, pink tree. It, and its new offspring, are a favorite feast of snails. I know this because last spring snails were the bane of my existence.

Gardening experts told me I could get rid of the snail problem, once and for all, by baiting the snails very early in the springtime. I bought my bait and waited.

Then, in February, little holes in the yard began to appear. Hundreds of young armadillos were venturing out in the night to feast on snails. The armadillos had cute little pink snouts. How could I deprive them of their snail delicacies?

Now the armadillos have grown up and, for the most part, moved on. My garden is ravaged by snails. As I go to the shed to get the snail bait, a snail is climbing on the screen door.  The snail and I are face-to-face. The snail is so cute, with its little antennae.

Everyday Miracles

Here’s another post about my favorite plant. It’s a seven-foot-tall angel trumpet (brugmansia) given to me as a potted plant by a snowbird returning to Canada.

Now my plant is as tall as a tree it’s large pink fragrant blossoms have caught the attention of my neighbors. Do I have any seeds to share? Not yet. But I read on the internet that the brugmansia is easy to grow from cuttings either left in water or simply stuck in the ground.

It was time to prune anyway.

When I was finished pruning I had seven sticks prepared according to the internet instructions.

I put four in individual jars of water. I stuck three in the ground.

I had only a wee bit of hope for the sticks in the water. I figured in a few days I would be dumping out the water and throwing sticks with mushy bottoms onto the compost heap.

I had even less hope for the sticks in the ground. I even had a few people tell me they were pretty sure you couldn’t just stick a stick in the ground and have it grow.

What really happened was life. Right before my eyes life happened. Each stick sprouted new life.

I quickly gave the sprouts in jars to my neighbors. Now I’m watching the sticks in the ground grow leaves and branches.

These sprouting sticks remind me of the suit of Wands in many tarot decks. The suit of Wands is related to the element of Fire. In some decks the Wands are shooting out flames. But in some decks the Wands are blooming and growing leaves and flowers.

In some traditions of Wicca a sprouting branch is the appropriate altar tool to invoke the element of Fire.

The metaphysical properties of Fire include life energy, passion, creativity and spirituality.

The ease with which my trumpet flower sticks became new life spoke to me of the fiery power of life force energy.

It reminded me of the miracles that happen around us every day, and of the miracle that life is every day.

That I’m making this discovery in the middle of December feels like the biggest miracle of all to this Yankee living in the Sunshine State.

A Special Plant

One of the plants I inherited from my Canadian friend was simply called “datura.” I thought this was cool because my office in West Palm Beach where I spent five happy years was on Datura Street.

The plant was large and had spiky seedpods. Soon it developed two distinct kinds of flowers.

When I transplanted it from its pot into the ground it became clear that I was working with two plants, not one. Some internet research lead me to the truth.  What I had was a sacred datura, also called moonflower or devil’s trumpet and its close cousin, a brugmansia, also called angel trumpet.

I was startled by the names of the flowers. One of the first spiritual groups to which I belonged was called “Moonflower,” and the Angel Trumpet reminded me of the Judgment tarot card. Surely these plants were meant for me!

The seedpods belonged to the moonflower, and soon I had moonflower seedlings sprouting up all over. The angel trumpet is becoming a tree that is taller than I am.

Breeding the angel trumpet will be a more difficult matter. It can only be fertilized by one insect – the hummingbird moth.

When I lived in Loxahatchee I had a neighbor who invited me to see a hummingbird moth at his angel trumpet tree. I had forgotten about that until I saw the beautiful blossoms on my own plant.

Another interesting thing about these flowers is they are night blooming. There is something really special about plants that bloom at night.

Both of these plants are considered poisonous. They are from South America, and both are used in spiritual ritual as an hallucinogen.  Sadly, here in the United States some people have tried to use them recreationally with poor results. Therefore, the plants are only legal in 47 states, and datura and brugmansia enthusiasts are very careful about with whom their share their seeds and plants.

There is a strong worldwide community of people who grow, collect and breed these interesting plants. I feel that I will have a lifelong connection to these beautiful living things.