New Obsession: Macramé Plant Hangers

Our sweet potato slips have started germinating. It took less than a week.

Winter is going to stick around a while longer. It looks like we have a big snow storm coming tomorrow, March 14. Some predictions have us getting a foot or more of snow, and high winds. I say bring it: we’re just weeks away from thawing out and planting pansies at the foot of our Buddha shrine.

Inside, where it’s warm and the love flows, our sweet potato slips have started germinating. The purple Okinawa variety was the first to show signs of life. Two more mango pits have germinated. I’m treating all the mango trees like fussy ficas: I don’t touch or move them, just water when needed. Mango trees are so temperamental. I also planted a big pot of Italian basil seeds, which is sitting on top of the wood stove, where the bottom heat will trigger germination. This will be our first HG basil of the season, yay!

I have a new obsession with macramé plant hangers, those hippie, handmade, beaded, cotton and jute plant slings that were hugely popular in the 70s and 80s. Today, with the renaissance of boho style, macramé has made a comeback, and Etsy artists are offering gorgeous, intricate, macramé plant hangers that make the old-time plant hangers look positively ugly. I’m saving my money for an amazing one I found. In the meantime, I have a pretty but not amazing macramé hanger in the kitchen, where it cradles a healthy, leggy sedum tetractinum. Looking forward to bringing some beautiful macramé plant art into our home, as money allows.

The elephant ears we planted a week ago are starting to sprout. This is a lot faster than I thought, but the good news is that they can be cultivated indoors for months before going outside, so if they size up greatly before June, everything should be fine. They’ll join the other tropicals in the front flower garden.

My husband and I stopped by Home Depot yesterday for some man shopping, and I found, on a table marked ‘clearance’, a floor-sized palm tree (I’m not yet sure of the variety) for $6. It’s a sad-looking big guy, but I knew the moment I saw it what the problem is.

Brown leaf tips on an indoor palm tree indicate chronic dryness: the plant was not sufficiently watered. In some cases, brown leaf tips suggest overfeeding, but I doubt this would have been the problem. No, it was neglect that nearly killed this beautiful tree. If you know me, you already know I took it home, pruned it back, removed all the dead foliage, repotted it, cleaned its leaves, and gave it a deep feeding and watering. It’s now in the bright living room window, where I hope it will heal and have a happy life.

Check out the mindfulness/awareness meditation instruction by Pema Chodron called ‘Cultivating Unconditional Friendliness’. I listened to this Maitri instruction this morning in lieu of my usual morning meditation. Relax your mind, and open your heart. Love transforms. It is the root of happiness. Meditate for the happiness of others and to know the true nature of reality. Aspire to awaken your kind heart.

Live in peace.