Growing plants

I listened to my friend Sayo tell me about her experiences of growing plants.

This is her story of losing confidence when her plant died but also how successfully growing plants has supported her recovery of self-confidence.

In the next post, I will share with you a broader occupational view of growing plants.

Growing plants

Sayo is watering plants called Devil Ivies on her veranda every morning

Sayo is in her forties and works as a full-time occupational therapist.

She lives with her husband.

She cultivates lots of pots of devil ivy and herb plants on her veranda and

inside her house.

She has been enjoying growing plants for six years.

She originally got cuttings of devil ivy from her friend and placed them in water,

waiting for roots to develop.

When she found a root coming out from a cutting, she was afraid she couldn't

take care of it well enough for it to grow.

However, her plants have grown and she enjoys cultivating them.

When Sayo gets up in the morning, she checks her plants in the pots and talks to them. She gives them water if the soil in the pots is dry or the leaves have turned a little yellow. Sayo is happy if her plants are healthy.

Sayo has been cultivating devil ivy for 6 years.

In the beginning, it rarely grew well.

But Sayo got really busy after she married and moved to a home which was far

from her work.

Then her ivies withered badly.

But when she realized what was happening, she put some cuttings in water for rooting and then planted them in sandy soil.

She was glad to see that her ivies recovered.

For a few years since, her ivies have had more leaves and have grown well.

Sayo separated their roots and replanted them in many pots and they have been

growing more and more.

When Sayo talks to her plants she tells them that she’s happy they have been

growing and are healthy.

Sayo also has small pots of ivies inside her house, close to her dining table.

While eating breakfast or dinner, she looks at the plants to check if they are healthy. When her plants need sunshine, she moves them out to her veranda.

But to avoid too much heat, she puts them in indirect sunshine.

In the evening, when she takes her laundry in from her veranda, she always

checks her “kids.”

She calls them her kids because, for Sayo, her plants are like her family, a responsibility and joy to take care of.

When they need it, Sayo waters them, adds soil in their pots, moves them into the sunshine or back to indirect sunshine.

Sayo divides their roots when they grow, and plants the parts in other pots.

Sayo feels really happy that her ivies are growing, having more leaves and healthy.

When Sayo was a kid, she used to play in mountain fields full of plants and trees

next to the multiple-unit housing complex where she lived.

She liked climbing a big tree to play in a secret base she had on it.

She also liked running in the mountain fields. She remembers she felt the breeze

on her cheeks while playing in her secret base or running in the fields.

She felt calmed down and comfortable with lots of plants and trees.

Later Sayo was interested in living things, the environment, and ecology,

so she chose an agricultural department when she went to a university.

While working for a company after she graduated from the university, Sayo had a pot of pachira (cayenne nut).

She was so very busy with her job that she forgot to move the plant back

inside into her room after she left it outside to get sunshine.

Her pachira plant withered.

Sayo lost confidence in her ability to cultivate plants.

Later, she realized she had been too busy with work to adapt in and find balance

in her daily life.

She didn’t have enough time to cook and enjoy her meals.

She couldn’t take care of her pachira plant.

So when she got cuttings of the devil ivy from her friend, she was afraid she could not take care of them.

Even though it took long time, her ivy plants have grown and increased so that their roots can be separated and planted in other pots.

Devil ivy is strong.

For Sayo, growing her devil ivy support recovery of her confidence in her ability to take care of plants, a confidence that she had lost when her pachira died because she couldn’t manage it well. Sayo is happy that her devil ivy supported her recovery of her self-confidence.