Sometimes it's the little things in life that bring you comfort. I've barely blogged this year, it's been rough to say the least, but in the darkest of times, you have to look for the little things that bring you happiness. And for me, one of those things is plants, succulents specifically.
My husband Stu likes to surprise me with plants. He comes home from work, or a trip to town, and he'll come home with a plant for me, hidden behind his back. He tries to find breeds I don't have, varieties I haven't seen before, something new. He never buys me flowers. Always plants, so I can keep them and nurture them. Every window sill in our house is covered. When they get big enough I move them into bigger pots, some go outside that are strong enough. Our garden is a sun trap and some thrive in it's light. These are all recent new additions to my ever expanding collection. I'm running out of room and I don't care. There's always space for more plants.
These succulents are all memories of loved ones, growing in my parent's greenhouse till they are ready to be re-potted and shared amongst our family. For both my Grandad G's funeral flowers, and my Grandma's funeral flowers, I asked to include small succulents in them. When the flowers began to wilt, we took the succulents from them, planting them, splitting them leaf by leaf so we could grow more from them. That is the beauty of succulents, all you need is a single leaf, and it can root and grow. These all came from single leaves, or tiny succulents. It gives us all great comfort to see them, something tangible from such awful days, something beautiful growing from it.
And these? These are even older. Three years old to be specific. Grown from the button holes Stu and I had for our wedding back in 2016. They inspired the tattoo on my leg, and our desire to have succulents form a part of the important times in our lives. These particular succulents live in my parent's garden, they've taken countless babies from them to propagate more again from them. They've become a beautiful symbol of our wedding day and one of the first things I do every time we visit my parent's house is go and see all the succulents and see how they are growing.
I know people think of plants and succulents as a 'millennial' trend, the media says we get houseplants because we are avoiding responsibility, or that we can't afford to have children and pets so we get plants instead. I have plants that I've had since the week we moved into our house 6 years ago, still growing, taller than ever. I've never wanted children and I have a house full of cats and one giant dog, so it's not that either. It's something else. Something about being surrounded by nature even inside that is so comforting. Something about being able to care for something that wants for very little. Succulents are cute, they don't take up much room, they're not like anything we normally grow in our gardens in the UK, and they don't mind being slightly neglected.
When I send people gifts I often send succulents. I don't send flowers. I like knowing they too can keep their gift and think of us. It makes me smile when people often their gift before their card, and know instantly who sent them it.
Succulents have become a way my family remembers moments. We care for them and they whisper to us of weddings and lost loved ones. We help them grow and they bring us memories, they bring us comfort. I look at my window sill as I sit on the sofa and type this and I smile. I know when I got each plant, what they mean to me, and what event they grew from. They are our comfort. Our families desire to heal. Our message of love.
Much love,
Kitty xxxx
