Following on the heels of my post of yesterday regarding the stray begonias, since I’ve moved to New Jersey I seem to have acquired a Green Thumb. My houseplants that just barely survived in Colorado all flourished when we moved here. I had to keep repotting everything every couple of months. It was insane! A few months ago one of my scheffleras fell over and broke an entire branch, leaving it hanging by a thread. I thought to myself “I’m not going to just chop off all this new growth. Heck, no.” So I wrapped a band-aid around it and left it alone. It mended and is now sending out more new growth—healthy as can be. I kid you not! Look ...

Maybe instead of a Green Thumb I have Green Fingers. Have you ever read the short horror story by R. C. Cook called Green Fingers? It’s a little on the creepy side, but that’s exactly what I thought of with my new-found plant skills.

In the story, an old widow has a way with growing things. First it’s just her garden. When someone brings her exotic species of plants not known to her area, she plants them and they grow as well. She came into the habit of just pushing things into the ground; such as hair clippings, a fingernail. They all grew. Then she buries rabbit bones by mistake and lo and behold, they grew into a rabbit which eventually hopped off.  hmm….

Next thing you know she chops off her finger accidentally while pruning a tree in her garden. Yes, you guessed it: she sticks her severed finger into the soil. A few weeks later she observes a hand breaking through the ground; then of course, the rest of the body follows and it looks just like her. She’s not really happy about this alternate “self” but she can’t quite keep herself from checking on it everyday. One day she went out to check and it was gone. When she went back inside there it/she was, sitting in her rocker.

The newly sprouted widow kills the “real” widow and lives on in her place; complete with all her fingers. Sigh. Just goes to show you reap what you sow. Maybe the next time one of my plants breaks a branch off I won’t try to save it. You just never know what might happen.

creepy story - i like it!

i’m just reading a collection of women’s horror stories - clearly in the mood for creepiness.

I’m certain you’ve always had a green thumb - or fingers. Colorado is not as hospitable an environment for green growing things as New Jersey. When I first moved back to the east coast, I was stunned by the buzzy life force of summer - there’s nothing like that west of the Rockies. As time passed, I became more used to the jubilant green world of this muggy eastern landscape.

Unlike you, I’ve never had a green thumb. Oh well!