There was a time I was known as the “Plant Lady”. There were actually two stories behind it, but the nick name came during the second one.
Years ago, I was living in a tiny apartment, and owned approximately 100 plants. I was walking down the street one day, and noticed the local copy shop. It had beautiful display windows, but there was absolutely nothing in them. I somehow came up with the idea of giving them some of my extra plants. The next time I walked in that direction, I carried a plant with me. When I got there, they were really busy. I waited for a little while, but got impatient. I decided I’d just put the plant in the window instead of standing around any longer to wait to talk with someone. Then I decided to take more plants. Every time I went (it was just around the corner), I’d take a plant or two. I’d walk in, put them in the window, and then leave. Soon, both windows were full of happy green plants. I noticed they weren’t getting watered regularly, though, so I mentioned it to someone. I told him that I had put the plants there, but they needed to be watered, and asked if I could have some water for them. He seemed surprised, and said he was wondering how those plants were getting there! I thought that was pretty funny.
A few years later, I had a job that wasn’t far from city hall. I took public transportation in; it was faster and cheaper than driving – and much less stressful. I’d walk from my stop to the building where I worked, and would pass city hall on the way. The K-9 cops would be there in the morning, but not in the afternoon. I think they had an early shift. I always said good morning, but that was it. At one point, I decided to take a baby spider plant in to work with me. I had so many of them at home, but no plants at work. I happily put it on my desk. People noticed it, so I started to take spider plant babies to work every day. I usually carried 4 of them in a small container, and then handed them out to anyone at work who wanted one. I estimate I took in about 40 or 50 of them in total. Anyway, one day, one of the police at city hall looked at me, and asked, “hey plant lady – why do you keep carrying those plants to work every day?” – it turned out he thought I was carrying the same plants to and from work every day. It kind of made sense – he was gone when I went home at the end of each work day. He just saw me carrying little plants in paper cups every day and they more or less all looked alike! I thought that was pretty funny, too. I liked my little nick name as well.
