Our School Superintendent recently retired and left behind a palm plant he’s had for years. He told his assistant that he was donating it to beautify our lobby area.
The problem was that the plant wasn’t beautiful. In fact, it was hanging on by a few roots.
She came and asked me if I thought I could save it.
“I’ll give it my best shot,” I assured her. So I brought it home and named it Steve, after our retired Superintendent.
I did some Google searches and learned that the plant is an Areca Palm. It needs diffused sunlight and thrives in summer. Its dormant time is winter. It needs liquid fertilizer, a pot with good drainage, and a fair amount of coarse sand mixed in with the potting soil.
I decided to do some surgery on the plant and divide it into three pots. Two small sections would go into the new pots, and the rest would remain in the current pot with new soil and a hefty dose of root aeration.
First, I cut all the fronds back to allow more energy to regenerate the roots as it grows back. Then, I shopped for Miracle Gro potting soil, some Perlite, a few Job’s Plant Sticks, some pebbles, some sand, and two new pots with good drainage holes in the bottom. I filled the base with pebbles, then added the new soil and perlite.
I mixed the potting soil and the Perlite together with some sand and placed the separated sections into each pot. Then, I stuck some Job’s plant fertilizer sticks into the root ball base of each plant before watering them.
I watered each plant and moved them all to the back porch to enjoy some diffused sunlight. Early in the week, I’ll move them indoors under the living room window at the base of the stairs, where they’ll receive diffused east-facing sunlight for a couple of weeks.
We’ll see how they do re-generating and growing, and with a little sun-kissed care, hopefully Steve can return to the district office lobby and be the beautifier he was destined to be.
We’ll think about the plans for the new set of twins and where they will live their best lives.
If you have any suggestions for names for these little transplanted palms, please share in the comments. I’ll announce their names next week.
Common Threads 
Kim – you are, in so many ways, a nourisher extraordinaire. From poems to potted plants, you exude love and care. I so hope Steve will be be able and happy to live in the lobby again! As for those twins, I am of two minds: First, fun names that are a play on their being palms, like “Koko” and “Mo,” a split of a Beach Boys title. And of course I must return, as I always do, to the old Mixon cemetery to offer the names of the baby twins, Audrie and Aubrie. Here’s hoping your little green twins will take root and live.
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Thank you so much, Fran. I hope I can save them. I love all of those name suggestions! Thank you for them – – what fun to think about the possibilities! The tropical vibe is fun, and so are the little twin girls’ names.
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