14 march 2020, a saturday, i went to the office to grab some things i needed. almost as an afterthought, i took my plant, sweet ivy. i was convinced we'd be back in the office real soon, but you know, just in case...
i can't remember who gave me the sprig that i first stuck in a pot of dirt, and i can't even remember when that was. alls i know is sweet ivy has kept me company in several different offices across two different buildings. she's been on the top floor and in the basement and in between. she's had natural light and fake light and practically no light. she can go a long time without water, but is consistently thankful to get some. she has always lived in the same white plastic pot tucked into an admittedly somewhat pricey-for-the-situation "m hadley" cereal bowl.
so i brought her home and she's been just fine until a week or 10 days ago. she sort of started to droop, so i watered her, but it didn't help. i put her outside when the weather allowed, but it didn't help. some of her leaves were turning a sickly yellow-brown, and she had developed a serious case of the droops.
so today i repotted her. the soil was pretty musty, and the pot and bowl were stained and looking sad. despite its supposed value, i threw away the bowl along with the plastic pot, and it was oddly freeing. i took the musty soil to the back of the yard in case it was diseased or something.
sweet ivy shed the old dirt like taylor swift sheds boyfriends -- just dropped it off and didn't look back. ivy roots are naturally shallow, so there isn't much to her hidden parts. i tucked her into some clean, rich, store-bought soil in a freshly rinsed terra cotta pot, and gave her a small drink of water.
time will tell. send your loving thoughts sweet ivy's way.
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