Signs of spring

Living in an apartment, I have little to go by when it comes to seeing the arrival of spring; unless I go out. There are of course the trees and shrubs across the road, but it'll be some time before the first green buds will start appearing on their now bare branches.


And this is where Jerome comes into the picture. Jerome is my ficus plant. When I moved into the new apartment in March 2011, my former indoor plants all ended up in my mother’s veranda for a beauty cure. My mother has a green thumb, and can’t stand the thought and sight of plants living in an apartment, where – according to her - they lack the light and air a plant needs to be happy and healthy. Their stay there was supposed to be temporary, until I had settled in and all the furniture was in place, with all the moving boxes unpacked.


However, I’ve lived this situation before, in 2001, when I moved from my first apartment to my former apartment. Knowing my mother she would either take to the plant, not wanting to let it go, either let it ‘die’ gracefully, because it was not healthy or becoming too big to fit inside.

Meet Jerome!

From March till August 2011 I therefore did without indoor plants, except for my orchids, which had a hard time adapting to the new living conditions. In August I realized that my former indoor plants had settled in at my mother’s and that there was little or no chance of ever seeing them again. And that’s when I decided to invest in a new acquisition: an almost 1.50 m tall ficus, which I named Jerome. I know, I’m silly, but I think that every living being deserves a name. And the name Jerome seemed to fit this big plant (the picture above doesn't do justice to its size).

Jerome lives between the television set and the new sideboard. He looked very happy there till last November, when he started shedding leaves. A lot of leaves! At some point, it became so bad, that I thought he would end up bald … and ready for a rejuvenation cure in my mother’s veranda. However, for two weeks now, the shedding has almost stopped and new sprouts are beginning to emerge. Is it a miracle or just the plant reacting to the increasing daylight and the general feel of spring in the air?