When we moved to Michigan in February of 1987, we bought our rambling ranch from a widow named Stella (who lived next door). She was in her upper-80’s and still sharp as a tack. She had bought the house for her step-daughter who had recently died of cancer.

Since we moved during the winter we didn’t know what kind of yard we had. Our lot was an acre and had an overwhelming amount of trees. Thirty-eight to be exact. Michiganders love their trees. We’re from Iowa where there aren’t many trees, just crops, hogs and cattle (to feed the world). As soon as the snow started melting Stella stopped John after work and told him emphatically to get our lawn in better shape. Hahaha, it was her property the month before. Luckily Hubs has always been anal about his grass and the war on weeds so that was his goal too and he started immediately.

Stella and I regularly had tea together and I often brought her whatever we were having for supper. She said it wasn’t much fun to cook for one when you’re getting close to 90. But Stella was weary from multiple home ownership, so she ended up selling her house about 18 months after we moved in. She moved to a fabulous independent living facility a few miles away and reached her upper 90’s before God called her home. But in those 18 months I learned a lot from (and about) Stella.

Stella had a ‘way’ with plants. Our homes were very similar but her picture window was much bigger than ours. This window almost went to the floor. She had several different height shelves close to the window which was filled with house plants. Boston ferns, ivy, peace plants and oodles of African violets, every color you could imagine. They were just gorgeous. One of the first things Stella mentioned when she came over to visit is my lack of house plants.

I’ve never been good with plants or gardening. I don’t enjoy digging in the dirt and think less of weeding than having a root canal. I kill house plants and have never found annuals very appealing (although I like landscaping, trimming unusual shrubs and trees). If you’re gonna live in my yard, you’d better come up on your own every year and not bring too many weeds with you.

Being a retired teacher, Stella made it her goal to teach me to love, nurture and grow indoor plants. Ugh. I was one of ‘those problem students’ who made her life difficult but she was up to the challenge. She gifted me with a couple African violets. “Put them in the north window, water once a week but don’t use cold water. Fertilize every couple months, and try not to physically touch them very often, they don’t like it.”

Since 1988 I’ve been sharing my house with plants-because of Stella. Not gonna lie and say it’s been smooth sailing and I’ve never killed another house plant but it’s been a rare occurrence. She gave me the gift of turning one of my thumbs green, and I’m still grateful to her.

I’ll always be perplexed about plants and their healthy growth around me (I don’t know what I’m doing but they seem to like it here-and me in spite of it). Somehow I’ve managed to keep a century old (I’ve only been her caretaker for 20 years) Christmas cactus thriving (seriously she’s been on death’s door step twice-because of over watering). I left it outside for the summer when we moved and stayed with Shannon for a couple months and didn’t pay attention. She was so waterlogged I had to trim 20 green ends and start over. Since that near fatality I’ve started a dozen plants (and gifted them to friends and family) from Milly, just in case.

During these plant filled, happy years I’ve never experienced the odd phenomenon that’s happening. Right now there’s more than a dozen plants sharing our space and of those 15, I’m ‘mom’ to 8 African violets. All eight are blooming. At the same time! I’ve never had that happen before. They’re in different rooms but spread the word somehow (probably through the Internet, the moochers) that it was time to be united and show off. I moved them to the table for a family reunion (several are offspring that Hubs separated and replanted for me). Every time I see all these tiny flowers I’m reminded how kind my neighbor was to encourage me towards growing some houseplants. Thanks again Stella. Bloom on…