Sharon's blog: Figaro

Meet Figaro.

He's a houseplant who spends May through October outside on my deck. The other six months are spent inside in the same spot beside the glass doors every single year.

I've had him for I don't remember how long, but years and years. He's now above the roofline of my house.  Once or twice I've pruned him to shape him up a little, but he doesn't take kindly to pruning and seems to revert always to his ungainly shape every time. It's useless to prune Figaro.

So then I started cutting back his top. He out grew my ceiling.

That worked for awhile. The biggest problem I have is moving him. He's too heavy to lift; he should have been put on wheels years ago when he was a tiny little sprout. I just never thought he'd be with me this long.

He provided the perch for kittens. One time he housed my son's irate iguana for a few hours until son coaxed Oscar Iguana down and back into his cage with a bit of cantaloupe. At the time that iguana was about 3 feet long including razor sharp tail.

Critters and plants and children seem to grow fairly large in this house.

So it's October and Figaro needs to come inside. All my pleading and coaxing haven't even budged him. The weather around here is highly unpredictable and I don't want Figaro to freeze. He housed two families of cardinals in the spring. I want him to live to do that again.

Maybe if I remind him of his winter purpose . . .

Sometimes I think plants, like critters and children, have a mind of their own.

I might never get this ficus inside for the winter.

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