susandennis | why sure, i'm down for my least favorite chore, thx, julio

I have one house plant. I got it in the early 80's when I lived in Minnesota. It was a gift. It was spread across 5 pots and one water vase. The pots all badly need repotting but I hate hate hate doing that.

It once won me $20.

I had it at work on my window sill and I think I'd been on a business trip or something anyway it was very very very thirsty. My smart assed coworker told me it was dead and I should trash it. I told him it was not dead, it was thirsty. "Twenty bucks says that thing is D E A D. If you can bring it back to life in a week, I'll pay up."

It's a philodendron pothos. I'm not sure it is possible to kill it. Lordknows I've tried. That time, it came back from the dead in 4 days and I got my $$.

Most of the pots are on the mantle because that was the only cat free zone in the house. Until I moved the couch.

And so this is why I repotted the plants this morning.

It's a horrible, messy chore even when you don't have a cat and a kitten helping. Plus now all the plants look pathetic until they get used to their new dirt. I did spread one over two so at least he'll be happy.

I cleaned up half the mess and now I am resting before I clean up the other half. Whew. Julio is on the counter wondering where all that fun dirt went.

I did go outside and walked around a few blocks. It's lovely and not hot. Still the temperature right now at 11:30 am is 68 on my terrace.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From: (Anonymous)

I'm glad you are posting the good and bad. It's not all cute kitten photos. It's all fun and games until you have to clean up a mess. Both boys are still adorable.

From:

susandennis

Yeah, I am remembering now why I didn't run out and and get a new kitten right after The Smalls died. They can be trouble. Although, I will say Julio is less trouble than either Biggie or The Smalls were for sure.

halfmoon_mollie1

I don't have plants because Bonnie thinks they are salad. So, you have my sincere admiration.

sweetmeow

Oh. No! Soooo .... where are you going to put your plants, now??? There's a reason why I've never had plants! (Well, it's not only because of the cats, but my "green thumb" is really black!). Despite it all, they are way cute pics of Julio!

carriea31

Juuuullllioooooo! No attacking the plants!

vegetablearian

Oh no!

He's getting so long

desdemonaspace

It's amazing how cats make work for you. I stepped in a still-wet, hurked-up hairball this morning. Had to clean the carpet.

I am always looking for impossible-to-kill plants, so googled "philodendron pothos" -- apparently those are two separate types of similar plants, so yours is one or the other. However, whichever it is, both are toxic to cats, so I hope Julio loses interest in it soon. Luckily, they seem to be OK for birds, so I can keep an eye out for some.

I've heard/read that toxic to cat thing but my cats have sporadically chewed on the leaves forever without issue. i did your same google and what i have is pothos. i'm sure the other would work as well.

when the leaves start to droop and curl up, water it good. otherwise leave it alone. it likes light, shade, neglect.

oh and you can stick it in water and it does just fine! shouldn't be hard to find.

arlie

I've been suggesting that when our elderly dog eventually passes on, we get a pair of kittens.

My housemate is OK with the cat thing. We both love cats as well as dogs, but we've been unlucky with having only dogs who regarded cats as dog toys, and couldn't be trained out of it (with our skills, at least).

But she keeps warning me that kittens will be majorly destructive, not to mention a whole pile of work.

mollywheezy

I have the same plant. My husband's coworkers gave it to us when his grandma died in 2008. It's still going strong, even though I don't have a great location for it in this house.