how do you separate from a dead beloved plant?

15 years ago

cant waste a good rant buried at the bottom of another post ... how do you deal with separation anxiety .. as it relates to dead or dying plants ...

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stream of consciousness.. eh dax ... let me give it a try ...

when a plant dies.. i get really teed off at the lost investment ... and i ignore it.. the standing dead to coin a term ... until one day i am driving by on the riding lawn tractor with the appropriate tool for removal.. shovel.. saw.. pruning shears ...

i then grab the de-earthed planted.. and forcibly remove it to the garden cart.. and drive at top speed ... wind blowing through the top of my head where my hair used to be ... top speed around 7 mph .. lol ..

i drive straight to the burn pile and foist the petard .. dont ask.. my own caffeine fueled stream of consciousness ... lol ... onto the pile..

should i get overly enthusiastic ... and heave it straight over the other side.. i may take the time to grind it into the earth with my boot ... and hurl a few adjectives at its corpse ...

at this point.. i am no longer attached to the plant.. rotflmbo ...

later that night .... i THEN come to wonder what caused its demise ... lol ... and it is just a bit too late ... i mean really .. its been standing dead for two years .... why now .... anyway

when the pyre is finally lit many months later.. i hurl one more epitaph at the conflagration for all the lost souls taken away ...

at this point.. i have completely separated from it .. unless i forgot to remove the aluminum inventory tag ... and find its days later in the ashen remains of the pile ... then i get teed off all over again ...

i wonder what the point of the reply was ...

oh ... i knew i was zone pushing with laws... i dont care what caused its ultimate demise ... disease or winter ... so i dont spend a lot of time trying to delineate such ... its a curiosity, and life goes on ...

if i plant 10 plants... and 9 prosper ... or even 8 ... i am beating the odds.. and i knew when i bought a zone pusher.. that the odds werent in my favor ...

and finally .. in my pure yellow mineral sand... i usually attribute all losses to foo foo plants that dont appreciate my ideas of a watering schedule ... if they thrive in Britain .. with its copious rain/fog/temperate weather.. then there is a good chance they dont like my dry/high drainage/sand with miserable high summer heat.. more intense sun ... and my conception of 'free range' after one year of aftercare ... then add my z5 blistering winter wind with reflected winter sun ... blah.. blah .. blah ..

you win some.. you lose some ... and dont complain if you lose with zone pushing ...

there you go

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: i wish they blew up

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Comments (11)

dcsteg
15 years ago
"how do you deal with separation anxiety .. as it relates to dead or dying plants ..."

Simple: Go buy a replacement...to fill the void.

Dave
barbaraincalif
15 years ago
The rant wasn't wasted Ken; I read it with great enjoyment first thing this morning.

For me, the loss is much more economical than personal. As you get older there is the realization that some things just aren't meant to be. I don't mean settle or overtly accept things as they are. Do the best you can, learn from your mistakes, and then move on. However with the prices of our conifer beauties...their loss can momentarily sicken me.

Anyway, just taking a break from yard work. My husband will be delighted that 12 rose bushes came out today. We badly need rain here. The ground where I was digging is dry and will drop a soaker hose on the bed once it's cleaned up a bit. Haven't seen the sun for days because the Sacramento Valley gets fogged in. Daily highs around 45F to 50F is perfect working weather!

Barbara
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Well, they are supposed to send replacements next month. The quality of what the plants would have been, if they had been alive, weren't that great, either, Just tiny pieces. I spent almost $9, and their box cost $5. I mean, I probably would have been better off just buying one plant at the nursery, but I love getting trades! It's like Christmas. I can't imagine that they sent them bone dry. They had to have been dug before. I mean, it's been hotter here than where the trader's at, and less humidity here, so the ones I mailed would have been in worse shape, I would think. I did explain about proper packing, maybe it was just not understanding how to do it, but I wish they would have asked! I'm hoping that Christmas will come early in September, but we'll see. I'm done with plant trades for the year, though! Unless, they really know how to pack! If you pack correctly, plants will be perfectly fine in triple digits, as long as they're shipped Priority and not left out waiting on you. I don't consider the weather a good excuse. Now, too hot or rainy to dig, of course, but not to ship. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've never had any problems with it. Thanks for the moral support! It's great to have a place to vent about lost plants and bad trades where people understand, and don't look at you like you've got 3 heads! Or, if they do, at least you can't see them! LOL! HW
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if it is a plain old RBud ... it may sprout from the ground sooner or later.. or in spring ... if it is a grafted plant... and it sprouts from below ...it will not be the cultivar you bought.. but a plain old ... if you have a warrantee ... exercise it .... and learn about proper planting times.. and proper watering ... ask for re-planting in late September or early April in z5 ... if the seller balks.. offer to take a smaller tree ... smaller trees transplant easier.. and 'establish' faster ... and can easily outgrow a bigger transplant in a given ten year period ... ken
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Sounds like they could be dead. You said they are just two pots of soil, but if there are branches sticking up, bend a branch to see if it is flexible or snaps. Snapping could be a sign it is dead, but look inside the branch then to see if you see green or brown. (Green=good, brown=bad.) If they literally are two pots of soil with no remaining plant parts above the soil, then I would suggest recycling all that potting soil into another pot with a new live plant in it!
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amccour
15 years ago
Grow trees that look interesting even when they're dead, maybe?

People collect sea shells. Those are dead snails. I'm sure collecting dead tree-trunks isn't hugely different :)
elvie z9CA
15 years ago
I call it "another shopping opportunity."

And by the way Ken, I always enjoy your posts and all you conifer lovers on this forum have helped me get hooked.
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
15 years ago
I agree with the "shopping opportunity" recovery. The death of my 2nd Giant Sequoia was my hint to try that tri-color beech in its spot lol.

Ken, kinda on your note, I LOVE it when I have a chance to burn a honeysuckle root I just dug up. It's more of a final act of revenge though.
amccour
15 years ago
Somewhat related:

When a neighbor cuts down a tree (More common since the horrible ice storm from a few years ago), if the trunk is wide enough--say, about two feet in width, maybe?--we get the tree guys to cut the trunk into sections and use it as free lawn chairs.
noki
15 years ago
{{gwi:862026}}
Fledgeling_
15 years ago
Cool picture.

If a really good plant dies, I direct my misplaced frustration on any weeds on the property. Suffering for all!
karinl
15 years ago
That is a cool picture!!

To a large extent, I'm with "another shopping opportunity!" I regret some of my losses, but mostly I am ready to move on as having once possessed the plant often meets a lot of the needs that drove me to acquire it. For me, the joy of acquisition is half "the thrill of the chase" and half the pleasure of getting to know it. What does it look like up close, what does it feel like, how does it respond to various conditions. In some cases its death satisfies the latter interest so well that I have no further curiosity about the plant! And the truth is that I have too many plants by far to the extent that most of the deaths are a bit of a relief: one less placement decision!

KarinL
ginkgonut
15 years ago
When it due to my own neglect, it takes a while to stop kicking myself.

We had another droughty summer and thought I was giving everything enough water. Sometime in August, I noticed the soil around my Skylands spruce, which I have been babying through two summers and winters already, was dry. I got the hose out and as soon as the water hit it all the needles fell off. Oh was I ticked for a couple of days. The little guy was doing great up until then. The remains are still out there, sticking out of 4 inches of fresh snow.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
Original Author
15 years ago
that pic of the posed woodpile is cool ...

i think the bigger problem is which one dies ...

i find something i have been coveting for years ... or 2 or 3 .. but to justify the order.. i i have to fill a box ... so i round it out to 10 .. with 7 easy to grow plants ...

the rarity of the 3 that i had a hard time finding.. is that they are foo foo plants that either repeatedly fail at grafting... or dont take well to transplant ... or are just problem children ...

of course i dont know that part [ well i suspect such .. abut in denial at order time] .. and my NEED is all tied up in the few i have been wanting forever ...

of course.. its not hard to figure out.. which ones die ...

ken

how do you separate from a dead beloved plant?

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how do you separate from a dead beloved plant?

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