A SPRINGTME TRADITION

 A few years ago I discovered a really great way to have my kitchen windowsill filled with cheerful little green plants that didn't suffer the ravages a lack of water can cause because of my multi-day trips away from home with United Airlines. Prior to this discovery, each trip would result in some kind of casualty.  Just before leaving the house, I would glance backwards before I slipped into the garage.  It was always a pleasure to see everything in order, the house clean, and the whole place inviting to the glance, partly because of a plethora of houseplants which made everything look welcoming and alive.

Now imagine walking into the house a few days later and finding that my happy little pots of miniature plants were no longer standing at attention.  They were drooping....big time.  Sometimes when that happened, I could immerse them into a sinkful of water and wait a few hours for the stems to straighten themselves and look lively again.  If that happened too many times, though, the plant was ruined and would certainly die sooner or later.

Then during one winter layover in Bozeman, Montana, I ventured out to find something to eat.  It was toward the end of a multi-day trip, and I was either sick to death of the limited food stores left in my bag, or I might have been in the mood for something fresh.  At any rate there just happened to be a very big WalMart store right across the highway from our hotel in Bozeman.  I had gone there a few times on other layovers to achieve my 10,000 steps quota for the day by marching up and down the aisles in relative warmth and convenience.

This particular day as I was walking through the store, I found myself in the garden department.  An attractive end cap caught my eye.  That was the first time I had seen those tiny two-dollar treasures I wrote about a few years ago.  Mini little cactus plants in a HUGE variety of  species lined about three shelves!  I loved those miniature little potted cacti!  Here I was hundreds of miles from home...with some more flights scheduled before I actually got home.  But I WANTED some of those little two-dollar treats!  Is all I could think about was how lucky I was to be on a layover there that day--and motivated to venture out of my hotel room  into Montana's cold winter weather.  And I WAS going to purchase some because I had sadly learned over the years that not all WalMart stores have the same merchandise.  There were a few times I saw something in Virginia or Florida or Texas thinking that instead of lugging that something around on the plane with me, I would just go to my local WalMart and get the same thing.  Wrong!

So, after delighting in my find and determining that I would purchase some of the little plants, I narrowed my selection to only three pots.  I figued I could safely tuck them into my bag if I did some rearranging.  Maybe I could even put some soft articles into the emergency backpack I kept in my bag to accomodate unplanned purchases while I was on a trip.  Then for sure I would have room in my suitcase where they would be much safer.

When I got home, I could hardly wait to display them on the windowsill.  They looked so cheerful--three little plants in a clay pot dish big enough for all three.

Sure enough, those miniature cactus plants could survive  multi-day trips that were just too long for the regular small plants on the windowsill to be without water.  And thus began my quest for MORE little succulent plants.  My determination coincided with the rest of the country, too.  Because all of a sudden lots of stores like Home Depot and the grocery stores were selling small cacti, as well.  But it was the mini two dollar treats that were show-cased only at WalMart.

But this year there were none.  I have checked several different WalMarts in the surrounding towns, as well as other areas of Denver and the suburbs when Louis and I have gone places on little day trips.  Nothing.  Oh, now all the stores are getting classy and offering succulent dish gardens or larger singular cacti in fancy planters.  Yet not one tiny treasure.  

Is this another casualty of COVID?  The plethora of house plants that usually arrive in the stores in January didn't show up either.  I began wondering if the greenhouse in California which distributed the miniature cactus plants had to close or cut their work force or something.

Tiny Treasures from Montana

Whatever the reason, I have sorely missed those happy little plants that used to line up on the kitchen window sill in the sun--and still remain lush and green no matter how long I have to be gone somewhere.  

Guess it's "Goodbye" to yet another aspect of our lives that will probably only remain a memory from now on.

Bottom line....I'm going to miss my Springtime tradition!