One of the advantages of having a blog is that it becomes a diary of our garden progress through the years that we can reference to from time to time. It's been a handy resource for us for various reasons, and will continue to be so for as long as we keep updating it.
Butia archeri to the right, photo in 2014
Saying that however, I tend to hover more over the photos and rarely read through the old posts thoroughly for the fear of cringing at what and how I had written things before.
As much as it's nice to look back, one aspect I don't enjoy though is getting to see some of the plants we have lost through the years.
Losing plants is part of the process of gardening. And losses happen for a myriad of reasons, sometimes even deliberately so especially if you've decided to move on from them. And I don't always understand why I did that looking back at photos a few years later but at that time it seemed a good thing to do.
Same Butia archeri above, taken in 2012
Then there are the plants that despite all the extra care you've given them, you still lost them. Like the Butia archeri featured in this post. To me it looked very pretty, graceful, petite for a palm, and very rare that I opted to keep it indoors for that extra protection.
It lived well under glass for awhile but when it started to show distress, it went into terminal decline pretty rapidly. We've lost Butias before (especially with winter 2010 here) but this one I lost indoors, sigh! And it's not exactly easy to replace...
As you can tell, when I looked back at old photos recently and spotted this palm, I found myself pining for it again. Oh how I wish I can get hold of one again. And this is just one example of a plant I still pine for, as the title suggests there are many and looking back at old photos doesn't always help.
I spotted this old photo of our greenhouse full of plants and again found myself focusing on those not with us anymore. But I do try not to dwell on those too much. There are also many plants in there still with us, doing very well and giving us joy by thriving in the care we give them.
What about you, have you lost any particular plant before that you still miss and somehow can't get hold of again?
Mark :-)
