At some point, the flowering cabbage plant Heather G gave me started to shed. The top leaves remained supple and fresh, while the bottom leaves would dry up and fall off. I couldn’t figure out why. I liked the look anyway, to see this plant growing out of the decay it cast around itself, so I didn’t worry too much.
I wasn’t used to having a plant that was so alive. It had a pungent smell, and I noticed a few insects on it here and there. I thought the insects were a good thing, cause that meant the plant was healthy enough to support other life.
When I watered the plant, I noticed the water would bead on the dead leaves, as if it refused to accept life in it again.
One day, the main trunk wilted and bent over. It completely collapsed and wouldn’t stand upright again.
It turns out the insects were aphids. They started out as maybe a half dozen I could see walking around on the leaves. I tried to change locations, alter the amount of sunlight, and use a different water source, but nothing would resuscitate the fallen plant.
So I decided to leave it for a few weeks.
Then the aphids died off too. I wonder if it was because they cannibalized the plant, or because I wasn’t able to keep the plant alive, with them losing their primary food source in either case.
Eventually, there was a mass graveyard of tiny aphid bodies around the plant, along with what may have been their droppings, their eggs, or both.
Aphids are usually a pale yellow-green. But I discovered that when they die, they lose their colourings, as if the pigment in their bodies fade when the souls leave these hollowed shells.
Fascinating pictures — you’ve turned something most people would find disgusting into something really quite beautiful.
It’s funny you say that, because I do find the entire concept disgusting. I purposely didn’t look at the pictures to see if they came out the way I wanted, because I knew it would gross me out too much. So after I took the pictures, I cleaned everything right away and threw out the plant, and then I went to look at the pictures.
ew ew ew!
Also I’m sad for the plant.