green freak

Knowing my penchant for growing things, friends give me gifts of plants. I love this. A gift from work one year was a beta fish (subsequently named Peacock for his glowing blue color). This friendly puppy-dog of a fish of course came in a vase with a plant in the top, roots extending down into the water. A month later, the plant's roots grew so much there wasn't much room left for Peacock. The plant was taken out and planted in soil, and subsequently given away (back to one of the giftee's) due to its monstrous size.

Another friend gave me a poor little dehydrated juniper bonsai. She didn't know that I belong to the BLF (Bonsai Liberation Front), and dream of planting those enslaved trees and shrubs in the ground.
Grow! Be Free!
Unfortunately the dehydration was beyond my abilities to resurrect.

For a few years in a row, Rick (a friend of mine from school) and his partner Keith have sent me a plant for Christmas. For a couple of years, knowing that I grow orchids, it was an orchid. Then a couple of years of Amaryllis. Last year the Amaryllis came from Smith&Hawken, which as you know, is a rather high end company. The packaging was rather nice, but the bulbs were miserable little shriveled bits. They didn't bloom. They went into pots and into the garden. This year, one of the plants bloomed (the other is about to bloom). I finally saw what the blooms looked like, and sent a photo to Rick (shown above).

He sent back an e-mail, "...you have such a green thumb..."

Not that I'm going to complain about the compliment, but it gave me a weird feeling, a flashback to the 70's. I wonder if there is an updated version.

When I was in elementary school, we were in front of the school and some kids were climbing into an ancient sequoia tree. A woman said, "They're hurting the poor tree!" To which a classmate of mine made the comment, "plant freak" in a very derogatory manner. Now, however, I think I like that term. Take it. Make it yours. Kind of like how if you are gay, you can call each other "fag" but if you aren't gay, you can't call another person that name. But this name is a flashback to the 70's also.

In this age of the growing movement of Sustainability, the buzzword is "green." As in "green" products. Or "GO GREEN!" There is also the old description of having a "green thumb" as Rick said.

So I propose a new name for the plant-passionate. How about "Green Freak"?
Thoughts?