Harry has returned to Vermont. I am sad, but it does mean I can work from the desk in his room again. I’ve already taken over again.
The windows are open, though it’s going to get into the mid-90’s this afternoon so I will probably close them soon. The cats are happy.
The plants (Bertha the plant clipping, Bertie Bots Every Flavour Plant Clipping, and Bertrand Russel the Plant Clipping) are all happy too. I think… they are plants… their thoughts are tough to read.
Both of the clippings from Bellana’s plant are growing new leaves! Check it out!
Bertie Botts Every Flavour Plant Clipping is about to have it’s first new leaf. It looks like it’s just about ready to start unfolding itself. Good job, Bertie Botts!
Bertha, our original plant clipping and the plant from which Bertie Botts was clipped, is also just sprouting itself a new leaf. It’s the first new leaf since I re-potted into this new, bigger pot. See that little thing sprouting off of that other leaf? I should have gotten closer for this one, but I wanted to capture the spirit of the thing.
Now if I could just get the cats to stop eating leaves off of Bertha. I’ve been trying to keep them out of the room, but they are crafty little suckers and keep sneaking in. Stop eating my plants, cats!
I re-potted Bertha the Plant Clipping today. She’s in my step son’s room with me right now, sitting in front of the window and hopefully not dying.
Bertha the Plant Clipping is the plant on the right. The plant on the left is Bertie Botts Every Flavour Plant Clipping, which was clipped off of Bertha. Does that make Bertie the next generation, or is it the same generation in a different pot? What are the language rules on this kind of thing?
Bertie Botts Every Flavour Plant Clipping is still alive, but in the couple of weeks since I took her out of the glass of water and put her in a pot of dirt she hasn’t grown any new leaves. Bertha looked half dead (I did a lot of pruning off dead leaves today) and she’s grown two new leaves in the same amount of time. I’m getting worried about our little Berttie Botts.
First there was a plant that belonged to my step kids’ step mother’s mother. When she passed away, their step mother took the plant home with her.
When my step daughter, Bellana, got her own place she took a clipping of that plant and used it to grow a new plant for her apartment. She named the plant Burt. I don’t know if the original plant had a name or not.
During the early days of the Covid lockdown Bellana took her plant, Burt, to our house. While it was with us, Bellana gave us a clipping to grow another plant. We named ours Bertha. Bertha is now gigantic and still growing, but much of her early growth is dying off. The plant is alive, but it doesn’t seem terribly happy. I got nervous about the plant’s prognosis so I did a thing.
I took another clipping and put it into a glass of water. Nothing happened for what seemed like a very long time and I was afraid that I was going to fail in my attempt to keep Bertha alive forever. Then, late last week, a new root grew! Then a second new root! Excellent! The new clipping is alive!
A few minutes ago I put it into a pot full of potting soil. Will it survive the transfer? I hope so, but I have no way to know. It has plenty of soil, food, and water. I will watch it like a hawk to make sure it doesn’t lack for anything until it proves to me that it’s thriving. After that I’ll just treat it like a normal plant and let it grow like crazy the way Bertha did.
Say hello to the new baby plant. I have decided to name it Bertie Botts Every Flavour Plant Clipping, which I will probably just shorten to Bertie Botts Every Flavor Plant… or maybe just Bertie.
Wish our new green friend luck!
I took a new clipping of the plant we grew from a clipping from the plant that Bellana grew from a clipping from her step mother’s plant. It’s been sitting in water near a window for weeks and the cats have been terrorizing it. They drink the water, they knock the clipping out of the glass. It’s terrible. I assumed the attempt was going to fail, but I didn’t throw it out. I just left the glass of water with the clipping by the window. Two days ago I checked it after neglecting it for almost a week and there are two new roots sprouting off of it! Success!
I just ordered some potting soil and a little pot. Hopefully it survives long enough for them both to get here so I can pot this babie!
Bellana has a plant that she named Burt. It grew from a clipping taken from her step mother’s mother’s plant. During the pandemic lockdown Burt ended up at our house for a short time. Bellana cut off a clipping and Jen and I grew a new plant with it. We named it Bertha.
Bertha was a frequent source of blog posts for a while, but I haven’t been sharing any updates lately. She’s still alive and kicking, but she’s definitely having a rough go these days. A bunch of her leaves have died, while new ones are still sprouting. If I keep her watered she does okay, but she’s so big now that we don’t really have any place to put her and I fear she’s close to the live/die tipping point.
With the goal of keeping some form of the original plant alive forever, I took two new clippings this morning. They are in Harry’s room in a glass of water sitting next to the window. Unfortunately the weather is so gloomy and awful there isn’t a lot of sunlight to be found. It should get better over the weekend. Here’s hoping the two clippings grow some new roots and I can pot them both and have two more chances of keeping the original plant alive for all time.
Wish Bertha’s kids luck.
Bertha the house plant has seen better days. It’s still growing like crazy, but it doesn’t look nearly as healthy as it used to.
Robin the cat is still the prettiest cat ever.
And that’s what happens when I bring my camera upstairs during my lunch break. Amazing, I know.
Bertha the plant clipping is still growing. I paid attention over the last week or so and this branch at the end here is 100% brand new growth. Good job, plant!
I haven’t shown Bertha the Houseplant lately. We had to get rid of almost all of the plants because we weren’t sure if they would harm the new cats or not. We had to move Bertha to the top of a cabinet in the dining room. She’s not getting nearly as much sun as she was before but she seems to be hanging in there and staying healthy. I saw evidence of a new branch a week or so ago. I took a picture today that I can reference back to the next time I check on her to see if she’s still growing.
After last night’s post where I spit balled a new guitar pedal chain, I put together as close to that board as I could.
The Bonamassa signature Crybaby is at Mike the Bass Player’s house. This is the Gary Clark, Jr signature Crybaby which is really good, but not quite as good. I looked into ordering a Marshall Bluesbreaker reissue pedal last night. Everywhere I generally shop from is out of stock so I didn’t order one. The Blooze Maker is a copy of the original Bluesbreaker. I used the holy hell out of it on this year’s RPM Challenge. It’s super noisy so I kinda don’t want to keep using it, but until I get a real Bluesbreaker, this will be a thing.
The office has two candles burning again. Just ’cause.
Finally, in closing:
Robin…
…and Lily.
Bonus time: Bertha is growing a new branch.
Inside the Red Head's Head 