Minerva’s Promise for 2021
Confessions of an indoor gardener
My late Choctaw friend had such a gift for growing things that once a year she gave away dozens of plants. She offered me my pick and I selected the most beautiful flower I had ever seen growing indoors. To my amazement, she gave it to me!
It is a Being with a powerful presence. I’m never sure it will bloom again when one year’s spectacle ends. Commercially grown, these plants are forced to bloom around Christmas, but mine blooms whenever it pleases. The original bulb has two daughter bulbs. It throws up a stalk at least 36 inches tall and produces flowers as large as my face.
It is a Minerva amaryllis. Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom, and before that, an Italian goddess of handicrafts. Since I have been a knitter, embroiderer, and lifelong student of wisdom literature, maybe we belong together. Goddess Minerva was indigenous and so loved that each succeeding wave of conquerors adopted her as their own.
The return of Minerva 2021
Until ten days ago, the plant seemed to be all leaves. In its beginning years as my housemate, the plant’s leaves would all die before the flower bud emerged. But wait! Something is growing out of the mother bulb amidst the big leaves. Wow! The leaves are celebrating this year’s flower with…
