A little miracle

 Over 2 years ago, when my mom was in a nursing home after sustaining a fairly catastrophic stroke, my middle brother brought a plant to brighten things up.  This was probably in January - some winter month anyway.  I was living in my mom's house in Queens, NY after selling my home and before we moved to South Carolina.  The plant was a gardenia - they are not great indoor plants and need lots of tending.  After the  blooms fell off, I took it home.  In all the craziness, sometimes I forgot to water it - sometimes I remembered.  The plant would get dry and droop - the leaves would turn brown and then I would take care of it and it would come back a bit.  I moved it to South Carolina.  I kept it in a pot outside in the summer and then all winter on my porch.  Somehow the pot got moved to the side of the house and I completely forgot about it till spring.  It didn't look too great - but there were a couple of green leaves hanging in there.  So I planted it in the ground and fertilized it.

Lo and behold - it almost immediately formed a bud and then a couple more.  The first bud hung in there while the others fell off.  It looked spindly - but new foliage was coming.  Yesterday I noticed that the first bud had opened and this morning I took some pictures.  This is my mom plant - she was tough, she always hung in during the many stormy times, but was so very sweet just like this bloom.  So - I had to post this even though it isn't art related.  I am really glad that I didn't get rid of the plant and give up.  Mom never gave up on us.