The Little Avocado Comes Back to Life

My little avocado plant dried out a bit last week.  I watered it and documented it's perking up process.

The trash can in the background is an aesthetic insult.  I used it to put  garden waste in.  Shortly after this photo sequence I repotted the  plant and gave her a bigger home for the winter.  Since it is starting to be frosty at night, I have her inside.  The plant in the background is a Lavender.  I have had it since I was in my apartment in 2005.  I decided to take it out of the pot and shake off the old dirt, and replace it with some fresh soil.  While doing that, I found an ant hill in the pot and many little red ants were scurrying around.  The lavender stays in the potting shed for the winter.  The fourth photo shows a little terra cotta pot in the background.  It has hens and chicks (a succulent plant) installed.  My father took that home to keep inside for the winter.

I grew this little avocado from a pit from an avocado fruit early in the spring of 2011.  My grand-daughter gave it a set back.  When it was about 7 inches high she yanked it out of the pot and snapped off the tip of the lead shoot, and pulled it out of the soil.  I tenderly replaced it and hoped it would not die.  The early cutting caused the seedling to shoot up two branches, where the one had been.  This plant is a survivor!

What Happens if a Cat Poops in the Madagascar Dragon Plant ?

This summer I did my daughter and her family a favor and when they went out of town I kittysat. I took care of Honey comb, the orange tiger.  I had a box of litter out for her but she liked the feel and texture of the potting soil in my Madagascar Dragon plant. I thought that it was going to become ill after she urinated and defecated in the houseplant dirt.  The day after it happened the plant looked a little wilty...so I watered it heavily (I had scooped out the kitty poo that I could identify) hoping I could reduce the damage by "flushing" the nitrogen out.

I was very surprised about two weeks later...

The Madagascar Dragon sprouted three new shoots!  When a houseplant, such as this, which has gone years without side branches or new growth just pops out new shoots it is a major event!

The above picture was taken in August.  Below are photos from tonight.  It has grown very well.

The plant on the right hand side, the singleton, I bought in 2004 when I lived in my apartment after my divorce. I brought it home when it was about 10 inches tall!  The two together on the left I bought at the annual church big yard sale, for 10 dollars,  I thought the singleton needed company.  Now they are a happy little Madagascar Dragon family!

I guess this sequence of events could be interpreted very philosophically!  A negative occurrence might actually have an unexpected great outcome!