The wheel of life, for a plant

Gardening is a meditative experience for me that blocks my mind from external disturbances. It is a way of self-care to rejuvenate us, while the body gets some exercise, the mind becomes calmer without outer distractions.

Sharing an example of the plant life cycle I witnessed in the past few months. It is an enriching experience and a pure joy to see how the plants turn out from one state to the other.

I took a long lone stem of pothos/money plant that was looking too dull without any leaves. It was about to wither away. With time in hand to observe, I was keen to know how it could respond to my experiment.

First, did cut that stem into multiple pieces to fit in the paper cup and added water. As this plant can form roots and leaves in any of the nodes in the stem, I was hoping to get new plants from this stick.

After about ten days, I could find small roots in the cut pieces of the stem. It was an encouraging sight! How the plants respond to a little care despite the adversities in hand! I changed the water, put some tiny rubber bands to hold the stems in place to maintain them in a paper cup.

I was adding little water once in a while and observing the way those stems are shaping up. In about two weeks, stems were getting tiny leaflets and stronger roots. It was nice to see the lush green leaves from the almost dried sticks. Another thing I observed was that as the leaves grew more and more, the stem started decaying. So I had to check the plants once in 3-4 days and cut off decayed parts of the stem.

After a couple of weeks later, I had to take out all the old stems and left with fresh plants!

What a life-cycle it is! So much to seek and learn! As we think more, there is more to learn. It’s quite a lot to understand, infer, and write! It is up to you to decipher as you wish.

I was not sure of getting any new plants from the almost dry stem of the plant. I took a chance to cut it and keep in a cup of water. Life thrives! Each piece of the stem developed roots, leaves, created a plant, and finally left the place! Was it the purpose of that stem to give rise to these saplings?

Was it my decision to cut it into pieces made the stem to realize its purpose or the destiny of the stem inspired me to try this experiment? Or the situation of being confined at home that created these beautiful saplings?As I think, getting more questions like this. One of these options may be true or may not. However, I enjoyed the journey of the plant. I could get a few lovely plants and some thoughts to ponder.

—Anitha KC