Impossible to Kill Plants

By Michelle Rauch Posted: May 1st, 2012



I have always wanted to garden, even as a child. As I’ve written
before, I always thought I had to wait until I had a house with a
yard; so many years were lost to a hobby I now relish. But I never
knew where my interest came from because my mom is anything, but
a gardener. Her skills at growing and caring for any plant, flower,
or lawn are about as good as her ability to trim hair. (I had to
suffer the humiliation asa child of going to school after she cut my
bangs. Each time she trimmed they were uneven so she kept trying to
correct it. Needless to say, I was left with a small fringe of hair
over my forehead before she gave up.) You get the picture.My mom +
gardening = bad news. That said, there is a top ten list of plants that
are virtually impossible to kill. A few of those have been tested by my
mom. English Ivy was the one and only thing she planted from a small
clipping she received. Year after year it grew, climbing up the side of
our house covering the brick. She never watered it or gave it supplements.
That baby was on it’s own for more than thirty years. It was beautiful.
The Ficus tree fared very well inside our house for more than a decade.
I don’t remember my mom ever doing anything with it. As a child I would
water it occasionally. We also had a little bottle that sprayed mist on
the leaves, which I thought was neat. I would spray the plant from time
to time. It proved to be another no-fuss plant that doesn’t seem to mind
periods of neglect.Other plants that complete the list include: spider
plant, snake plant, jade plant, California poppy, pothos, cast iron plant,
bamboo, and geranium. Geranium is on my list for beginning gardeners, too.
It has proven to be a hearty and beautiful plant that requires little to
no care. I also had a small bamboo plant on my desk at work once.It
survived quite nicely. I enjoy easy care plants. But, unlike my mom, I am
challenging myself with other varieties. So far, so good. Which begs the
question, where does my knack for gardening come from? I did not realize
this until recently, but my grandmother was a successful gardener. The
green thumb gene must have skipped a generation. Not only did my mom not
get it, but my aunt doesn’t have a green thumb either. Fortunately for
them and others, there are impossible to kill plants out there.
 


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