New Acquisitions

Last night, before my eight-mile excursion that had me face-to-face with urban wildlife, I went to a lady's condo in Tenleytown to pick up "Mother-in-law's tongue," a "lily," and some Ikea baskets. I recently joined Freecycle, and this is the first thing I've nabbed--I have to avoid looking at the e-mail alerts, there's some pretty good stuff, but I don't have room!

Surprise surprise, I had no idea that Spathiphyllum was called "Peace Lily." When the lady said she had lilies, I just kind of thought "Huh, I wonder if she's growing lilies indoors like I am. How rare and exciting!" I was slightly disappointed, I guess, to get a Spathiphyllum, but since I don't have one, it's not too badly disappointing. (My mom was a Tropical Plant Care Specialist for a few years, so some plants I know by common names [Silver Queen], and others I only know genus names for [Spathiphyllum]. I also learned how to propagate a lot of standard tropical office plants, but I'm refraining from stealing little pieces from the lobby in my apartment... Until the most opportune moment, of course.)

I also had no idea that the snake plant, Sansevieria trifasciata, was called "Mother-in-law's tongue." I wonder why that is? Do mother in laws have long, stiff tongues that waggle and sometimes break in the middle under their own weight? I have had a few stepmothers (actually, same lady, multiple times), but never a mother in law. My stepmother was, however, a mother in law to someone else. I didn't notice that her tongue was exceptionally long, but her fingernails, holy hell, the clippers she had! (They were fake, too. She chose that look. I shudder to think of it.)

Anyway, the Spathiphyllum is cooling its jets near the front door for the time being. I pulled almost half of its leaves--I think the lady wanted to get rid of it because it's dying. The soil looks like shit, to be honest--overwatering with DC water, no doubt, and then left to dry 'cause she didn't like it anymore.

The Sansevieria actually came as rooted clippings in a vase, which I potted with some purple Verbena clippings I took from Mr. Yogato. I brought the mass to work today, and hopefully the plants will coexist well in my office. The Verbena is an experiment, so I won't worry too much if it doesn't make it. Besides, there is plenty more where that came from!