Schefflera

If you have ever had houseplants you probably had a schefflera, commonly called an umbrella plant. I remember being quite proud of one I had that reached about 4 feet in both height and diameter. Imagine my shock when I first saw this:

This is a couple of houses down from our house. It’s a very badly pruned Umbrella tree. Note the distinct umbrella shape, and the lovely shade it provides, too. I never knew it was supposed to be a tree. But it’s definitely a tree, and quite a common one, too.

Like Manna from Heaven

Here are the lovely flowers by our front gate. Okay, blocking the front gate for the sidewalk, but next to the driveway front gate.

When I decided to grow some basil and chilis and dill I bought 6 terra cotta plant pots. All six of them are still in the back yard, growing useful things. But as if the planting of herbs and spices triggered the beneficence of some unknown deity, new pots have appeared, one by one, in the front yard by the gate. First came the pale pink rose, then the short plant with the bright pink flowers. Then came the tall skinny plant with the red flower, the short fat one with no flower currently, and finally the red rose.

We don’t know where these plants come from. We don’t know why they arrive, they just do. We don’t know why they are in ugly plastic pots. Most of all, we don’t know if replanting them into less ugly terra cotta pots, or even into the ground someplace, would offend the plant-giving deity.