植物と暮らす

Living with Plants

私の夫にはとても大切にしている観葉植物があります。

ロンドンに住んでいた頃、新しいオフィスに引っ越した際に買った小さな『インドゴムノキ』です。それまではあまり植物を育てたことが無かった夫はコーナーショップ (日本でいうコンビニ的な役割のなんでも屋) のお店のいちばん奥の暗がりの場所からその鉢を見つけてきました。「こんな暗いところにいても元気そうだから、大丈夫かな」と思って選んだそう。オフィスの机の上に置かれたその小さなゴムノキは毎週金曜日に夫からコップ1杯の水をもらって、すくすく成長。何回か鉢の植え替えをしたり、枝の挿し木を友人にあげたり。今でもオフィスでひっそり夫に寄り添っています。でももう卓上には収まらないので少し遠い場所から。

そして私が大切にしているのは『オリヅルラン』。子株の形が折り鶴に似ていることが名前の由来だそうですが、英名は『スパイダープラント』(Spider plant)といい、こちらも葉の生え方がクモの姿に似ているからだそうです。

数年前にウェールズに住む友人宅に遊びに行った時のこと、その友人が日本の大事な人に株分けでいただいたという『オリヅルラン』。それが成長して子株が沢山できたので一つもらってきました。その子を今度は私がロンドン、今はエディンバラで育て、また子株を増やしています。名前の由来通り親鶴、または親グモから子供達がぴょんぴょんと元気よく飛び出しているかのようで可愛らしいです。でも増えすぎてしまったから、そろそろ私もこの子達のもらい手を考えることになりそうです。

Living with Plants

My husband has a house plant that is very dear to him.

It is an Indian rubber plant that he bought when he moved into his new office in London. My husband, who had never grown plants before, found it in a dark place at the very back of a corner shop. He chose it because he thought, "It looks healthy even in such a dark place. So it should do well”. This small plant was placed on his desk in the office. My husband fed it a glass of water every Friday and it has been growing well. He re-potted it several times and even gave cuttings of its branches to his friends. It is still in his office in Edinburgh, sharing the same space together. But it doesn't fit on the desk anymore, so it sits a little further away.

I also have a plant that is very dear to me. It’s a spider plant. Apparently, the name "spider plant" came from how its leaves grow in a way resembling a spider's shape. A few years ago, when I visited a friend in Wales, she gave me one of her baby spider plants that were given to her by an important person in her life. The plant had grown and produced many babies, so she gave me one to take home. I have been looking after it in London and now in Edinburgh, and it is producing many offspring. As the name implies, they look as if the baby spiders are popping out from their parent spider and are just so adorable. But I will have to think about who I can pass on the little ones to next as it’s getting too many!