The family avocado tree

By Rita Kostreba of Holmes City, Minn.

Towering above his head, Sam said goodbye to his tree and leaves it in his grandmother’s care. Contributed photo

When our grandson Sam came to  stay with us during his two-year course at Alexandria Technical College, he didn’t come alone. He brought a spindly plant that he said was “ sort of a science experiment of moms. I know you will love it Gram.”

It turned out to be an avocado plant that his mother had started from some seeds that she had rescued from making guacamole. The seeds are very large and it looked like fun to her to try to see if they would grow.

I was not actually thrilled with the new addition, but who can turn a gift from a grandson down. My plan was that I would send it home with him at the earliest opportunity.

It came with only two leaves and was about a foot tall. We placed it in the sunny window by the deck door, and that crazy little plant fell in love with it’s spot. I watered it twice a week and Sam turned it a quarter turn every few days.

With all the attention it received it quickly grew upwards and put out many more leaves. It also quickly outgrew it’s pot. Thinking that maybe it wouldn’t grow too much larger, I re-potted it into a pretty blue ceramic pot. It had other plans.

It shot out two three-foot-long branches. And then followed with at least eight leaves on each branch.

Next it sprang up another 12 inches and added an equal sized branch to the side of that.

I thought that Sam’s summer break the first year would be a good time to send it home with him. However, Sam stayed with us during that summer to do his internship. My plans were foiled.

Sam’s younger sister came to visit that happy little tree that summer. She is tall. At least 5’8”. The tree that came to us was about one-foot tall. Now it was above her waist.

Sam’s mother said that usually the bottom leaves of the plant turn brown and fall off. For some reason, our tree wanted to keep all it’s leaves and it’s green color.

We thought maybe we should settle it on the deck during that summer, but the wild storms of Holmes City might have damaged that tropical plant, so it was allowed to continue to grow in its favorite spot.

Some happy events happened right in front of it. Sam’s cousin birthday saw it lurking in the background as he opened his presents. Another cousin introduced the tree to her stuffed animal friends.

There were comments from anyone who visited about how healthy it was, and how large it was getting.

It really was healthy. The secret, we believe, is that we fed it hibiscus tea leaves. Since this is something I drink every day, I didn’t want those tea leaves to go to waste, so after reading somewhere that they were very good for plants, I thought maybe they could benefit this tree. I also thought that it might kill  it or make it lose leaves, but that didn’t seem to happen.

One of the side effects of having that tree in the living room was that when Sam came home from school every day, he would stop and visit it and visit with me. We had many happy hours laughing about how independent that little avocado was.

At the end of his two-year college course, Sam graduated and prepared to go off seeking his job. I really wanted that tree to go with him where he would be working. Again, that little tree had other plans. It outgrew it’s pot again, and put out more growth.

Sam was not too eager to try to transport it to his home up north. Also, the tree would not fit in his pick-up unless he laid it down. Not a good plan.

So it looks like the tree is here to stay. It’s been re-potted again to a 20 gallon container. It sulked a few weeks about the re-potting, and I think it also missed Sam, but then it decided that it liked the spacious room for it roots and has put out more little leaf shoots. It is starting to grow branches on branches.

The life lesson of this gift for me has been that even if I am not exactly happy with what I was given, I have learned to appreciate something I would never have experienced. That spunky little tree has shown me that you can thrive wherever you are placed, and families can come together over the weirdest things. Most importantly, never disregard a gift from a grandchild.