Apr 23
2007
Save This Plant!
I found this little plant at Behnke’s last week when poking around after my yoga lesson. How sweet is this little beauty? And named after one of my favorite things–pocketbooks!
But as with many beautiful things, the beauty is only transitory.
Because I may be one of the last people left who has never heard of the pocketbook plant, I went online to find out more about my new treasure. Sadly, nearly all the websites say that the plant is usually kept until after the blooms have died and is then discarded. New plants can be started from seeds that have been allowed to dry on the plant, but propagation is, from what they say, difficult.
So let me get this straight. It’s very beautiful, so we are encouraged to enjoy the beauty for the here and now. But when the beauty fades, we are to just toss it away on the trash heap with not a backward glance or regret? Just go on with our lives, buying other beautiful plants that we will also toss away when they have passed their prime. We shouldn’t even TRY to keep the joy the plant has brought us alive by giving it the chance to live again as new little pocketbook plants?
That’s just wrong. And it’s also a symptom of our society’s unhealthy fascination with all things beautiful and easy. (Think Britney, Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton…The list goes on.) We are too willing to just walk away from things once they become difficult or ugly.
I say we put a stop to this wanton waste of pocketbook plant potential. I say, “Save the Seeds!”
I, for one, intend to harvest those little pocketbook plant seeds, plant them and let that plant live again.
April 30th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
pinch back the flowers as they die off and new ones will grow all summer and into the fall.
keep moist but not wet. prone to root rot. do not let it get dry, as it will not tolerate drought either.
do not get water on the flowers if you can help it.
prone to aphids, slugs, spider mites and whitefly, so be careful.
lots of light but not direct full sun heat. partial or dappled sun is best.
i too found this beautiful baby quite by accident and brought it home. it’s an annual so after summer, that’s it, but that’s okay, but i would never, ever throw away a plant just because the flowers died off. just pinch them off and more will come. it’s just so pretty.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Great article… and don’t forget the benefits that planting a tree will have on the environment. Each one will soak up 20kgs of CO2 every year and put enough Oxygen back in the atmosphere to support 2 people.