A rose for my rose

Well - the feelings of sorrow for my cat Vicki have led me to the garden centre today where I have planted a rose in her memory. Its a mini patio rose in deep red and is planted inbetween my pansies. I feel it a fitting tribute to a cat that had it so bad to start with, finished it so well and like my rose, is beautiful and like her, I will nurture it and care for it.
Has anyone else done this or is it just this loopy Yorkshireman?
Kev

Kev-

I think it's a wonderful idea!
I am trying to revive a Poinsettia plant that George had posed next to (he hated having his picture taken so it was a rare shot of him).
I don't think I have what it takes to bring this plant back to life.
I trimmed it back. . .in hopes that it would come back so I could repot it and put it in the basement, but it looks like it's dying.

Laurie

laurie - now plants - you are talking my language. You have to remember that a point is a finicky plant and once its red leaves have gone - unless you reproduce the exact growing conditions, then you will never get the red back at all that you possibly got it in.
The red is caused about by depriving the plant of light for long periods a long way pre christmas - its not a natural color for the plant at all and sooner or later - it WILL go all green and the red will all drop off (sounds like a one armed Russian- my name is handropoff).
You will find it will all go leggy and then goto nothing - if it does - get it deep sixed and on the compo bin

Kev

Just an FYI here...Poinsettia's are toxic to cats. Just thought I'd let you know that in case if you didn't.

I used to believe that too. . . . I read somewhere recently where that is a myth. . .
My cats never chew on the leaves. . . . but I'll do more research.
Thanks for your concern.

Laurie

Originally posted by Shell
Just an FYI here...Poinsettia's are toxic to cats. Just thought I'd let you know that in case if you didn't.

Click to expand...

So is Diffenbachia - gives humans terrible stomach ache as well.

kev

I just found this and many other similar pages on a Yahoo Search. . .

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Claim: Poinsettia plants are poisonous to humans.
Status: False.

Origins: Have you ever read a warning like the following?


Don't ever let your kids eat the poinsettias! They are deadly poisonous, and every year several poor unsuspecting little ones are killed at Christmastime by taking just the slightest nibble from a poinsettia plant.
Scary
stuff. Luckily for us, it's not true. It's a wonderfully persistent myth though, and it seems to have arisen from a long-ago death of a child's being attributed to the wrong cause. From a fact sheet prepared by Ecke Poinsettia Growers:


The poinsettia poison myth had its origin in 1919 when a two-year-old child of an Army officer stationed in Hawaii died of poisoning, and the cause was incorrectly assumed to be a poinsettia leaf.
Since that non-poinsettia death in 1919, there haven't been any real ones either. And no wonder: a 50 lb. child would have to eat more than 1.25 lbs. of poinsettia bracts (about 500 to 600 leaves) to exceed the experimental doses, according to the POISINDEX Information Service. (POISINDEX is the primary resource used by most poison control centers.) Further, the American Medical Association's Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants lists nothing more than occasional vomiting as a side effect of ingesting otherwise harmless poinsettia leaves. And in 1975 the Consumer Products Safety Commission cited lack of substantial evidence in its decision to deny a petition requiring warning labels for poinsettias. (Perhaps the confused warnings came about because the genus to which the poinsettia belongs -- Euphorbia -- includes several plants that are toxic.) The Floridata web site also addresses this legend on their page about poinsettias:


Every holiday season newspapers run stories about whether or not Poinsettia is toxic and to what degree. Although many species in the genus Euphorbia are highly toxic, poinsettia is not among them. Having said that, ingestion of this plant probably will make you sick (it just won't kill you).
Even with all that to dissuade anyone from believing in poisonous poinsettias, this is still a tenacious legend. Nearly 66% of those participating in a 1995 Society of American Florists poll still believed poinsettias toxic if eaten. A 1994 survey of 1,000 Americans by Bruskin/Goldring Research for the Society of American Florists showed that 42% of the males polled and 57% of the females polled also thought that.

Thom David, marketing manager of the Paul Ecke Ranch in Encinitas, California, has a way of convincing people otherwise, though. He's been known to grab a few bracts off the nearest poinsettia plant and eat them in front of persistent disbelievers. Seems to work, too -- they don't doubt him after that.

Speaking from "bitter" experience, he says it's unlikely a kid or an animal will eat more than one bite. He describes the taste as far worse than the most bitter radicchio. Frankly, he says, the flavor is indescribably awful.

Even if poinsettia is awful to eat, it's still nice to look at. The plant was named after Joel Robert Poinsett, an American ambassador to Mexico. In 1829 Poinsett was so impressed with the brilliant red "flowers" that he sent some home from Mexico to South Carolina, where they did very well in Poinsett's greenhouse. Poinsettias are also called the "flower of the Holy Night" because their red bracts are said to represent the flaming Star of Bethlehem.

Mexican legend has it that the poinsettia originated in a miracle. Having nothing to offer Christ on his birthday, a poor child gathered weeds into the form of a bouquet. Upon approaching the altar, the weeds transformed into brilliant red blooms. (Another version of this tale has the poor child's sadness causing the colorful plant to spring from the ground at his feet.) The product of a miracle, the poinsettia's colorful bracts became known as Flores de Noche Buena, or Flowers of the Holy Night.
***

Originally posted by George'smom

My cats never chew on the leaves. . . . but I'll do more research.
Thanks for your concern.

Laurie

Click to expand...

I think over the years with the amount of cigars i have had, I have smoked a few!!

K

hey kev, i think that is just the sweetest thing you could do, thanks for the idea. i hope your days gets brighter. your wonderful memories of your kitty will always be with you.

About Poinsettas- The University of Ohio did a study on this two years ago and found that the plant is toxic to cats and children but only mildly so and not lethally. But even mild toxicity is to much to risk for a wonderful feline that shares your life.

Thanks for educating me and setting the record straight, Hissy.

Laurie

I love that idea...what a sweet reminder of her.

Kev, that is a wonderful and touching tribute to your Vicki, it will be a beautiful reminder of how beautiful she was. A rose is a most fitting choice, but then I am very partial to them.