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| From In the Garden |
Houseplants are something I grew up with and I really enjoy houseplants even though I complain about them all the time. This post will be a complaint about a stinky houseplant, but a complaint with a smile. I was given a start of a starfish plant, aka Stapelia gigantea, several years ago from a garden club friend. I liked this plant because I barely had to water it and it did not drop its leaves in the winter like most houseplants in my home. It just was there. A nice dull green but alive plant that was easy to care for. Easy enough so it stays around my home in the winter and lives on the deck in the summer time. Recently, while bringing in this houseplant I noticed it had two buds. I thought how cool! It has never bloomed in all the years I've been the keeper of it. This plant is one of the few that comes into the house and it gets a coveted sunny south facing window in my computer room-within two feet of where I sit. Once the plant was safely ensconced in its winter home I forgot about it and the two buds.
Forgetting about this plant was a mistake. After being away from home all day I entered the computer room during a sunny warm day and oh boy did I get a surprise. I initially thought a rodent had died and rotted right under my desk. A quick search following my nose ruled that out when my nose led me right to this carrion starfish plant. Ew! It is a most disgusting smell and one that there is no mistaking the smell of rotting flesh. The bloom even looks like flesh and feels quite-um-well fleshy. Yuck! But the bloom is ever so cool despite its smell and looks and feel. The bud shown right next to it is a huge balloon a good five inches from end to end. It too is most cool. I am posting a picture of the stinky plant here because I have to laugh at myself simply because this is a case I shoulda known better and seen it coming....
in the garden....
Any stinking surprises from your plants?
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,
In the Garden
