It is a foolish person who buys a plant that they know is going to get really huge and then worries when it gets really huge. Dear reader, I am that fool.
Regular readers may recall that back in 2018 I bought a monstera, a 'Swiss Cheese Plant'. I knew that they get really big and knew that it would not spend very long politely living on the side table. As time went on, sure enough, it got big and needed repotting and some support to keep it upright. This was all fine. I had a nice space for it to grow in and it all seemed in control.
As with many of my indoor plants, I like to pop them outdoors for the summer, it is their summer holiday and it makes me feel a little less guilty for penning the up indoors for the rest of the year. "run free, grow free" I whisper to them as they go outside and I swear they wave back at me with glee.
A couple of summers pass and all is good, until this last year. In 2021 over the summer period whilst the monstera was enjoying itself, I seem to have filled the space where it would usually return to. Well in truth it was 2020 it became displaced and of course the pandemic is at the root of this. The monstera would live in the conservatory over the winter and be very happy there. Now I am using the conservatory as a home office the space where it lived is now where I my desk is. Last year I brought the monstera indoors and placed it behind the sofa. This wasn't great, but it was ok. It was also fortunate for the monstera as it was one of the few plants that was brought indoors before I broke my ankle which resulted in certain death for some of the larger tender plants that then could not be lifted.
This year I have filled the space behind the sofa with the cat tower, now beloved of Fluffy Pete.
I mean, I can't move it now can I?
and then it snowed.
The monstera went mushy and floppy and black and was looking very sorry for itself. "It's dead" I proclaimed and hoiked the pot from its space in the Courtyard Garden. As I wandered towards the compost heap I observed that the stems still looked quite sturdy. I trimmed off the foliage and decided to see it if could/would recover.
It does look rather drastic, but it is now much smaller and so easier to bring back indoors.
