A Tree Grows In Dhaka

You may recall that back in September we bought some plants. In fact, we bought more than we had probably needed but we were happy with our purchases nonetheless. The multitude of plants brought a nice lively feel to our new apartment. Ever since day one we have had a hard time keeping the plants alive though. We aren’t exactly green thumbs. The first casualty was the plant whose name we never knew. Sam wrote a hard hitting expose (comment) about the plant's death on this blog last year. As the year progressed more plants perished despite (and possibly as a result of) our best efforts. In fact, Taborok always had suggestions on how to keep them alive and was always telling Jon he watered them too much. Jon took no heed however.

Christmas brought us a new opportunity to buy a plant so we got a small Christmas tree and decorated it. As the new year came and passed our plant population continued to decrease. Many of the plants that were kept outside got infested with Mealy bugs. These are disgusting little pests that form cottony balls to protect themselves from being cleaned off. The lime tree was hit especially hard by this pest. They destroyed the lime harvest (well that and the harsh chemical treatment Jon used on it). Jon fought a valiant battle against these pests. He saved the lime tree from near death by meticulously rubbing every square inch of the tree with rubbing alcohol (which is what some gardening websites recommended). Finally after several hours of pruning and cleaning with his bloodied hands (from the thorns) the mealy bug threat was defeated. Unfortunately, the victory was a bit hollow, as the chemical warfare had left the fruit of the lime tree inedible. In the end, the only plants that remained were the lime tree and Christmas tree and neither of them were in great shape. Jon slowly nursed them back to health.

After finally nurturing them back to (semi)health we had to make the emergency trip back to the US for Jon’s sister’s funeral. Of course we were too distraught to be thinking ‘who will take care of our plants while were in the US?' Previously when we traveled we would take them to the roof and the building guard would take care of them for us, but this time, we left in such a hurry we didn't make such accomodations. After returning from the US, Jon was sure that his plants would be dead. Miraculously, although they had gone weeks without water (or TLC) they were still alive! (No, Sam didn't do much for them even though she got back a week earlier than Jon. Only in a moment of weakness while missing Jon did she give them some water and put some coffee grounds in the lime tree pot. She wrote these plants off long ago..) Upon Jon's return they looked pretty pathetic, but after watering them for a few days and making sure they got plenty of sun they both started showing new growth. Now the two remaining plants are doing fine. Although they may not be as full and fruit bearing as they were before, they continue to show new signs of growth. These two plants have shown amazing resilience! They refuse to give up. Hopefully, we can one day eat a lime from the lime tree and we can literally enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Here are some photos of the glorious first day of our new plants and a picture of the lime tree today. It may not look like much, but the little guy’s got a lot of heart. Keep on fightin’ little lime tree!



Above are the limes that were on the lime tree when we bought it. These were mosty eaten by birds before we got to harvest them. The lime tree now: