On a wing and a prayer...

A long time ago, my sister-in-law gave me a tiny plant.  She told me that it was just because she was thinking about me when she was in the store and the plant looked like something I would enjoy.   Susie is one of those people who always does the most thoughtful things..things that lift a person's spirits to the greatest heights.  Just the small sprig of a plant brightened my day immensely!  This plant is a small specimen of a Maranta or Prayer Plant.  The Prayer Plant has an unusual habit of folding its petals up at night just to open them back in the morning light.  This action resembles hands being folded for nightly prayers and gives the plant its common name.

I was out after one of the rain showers and noticed that my poor Prayer Plant had been attacked by some leaf-eating critter!!  Some of the leaves had holes chewed in them while one was cut clean in half!  Something  evil was attacking!  Oh, my!  I looked high and low for the culprit but never saw a thing that might devour my plant! Is there some demon critter out there that is adverse to prayers? (Sorry, I just had to throw that in there!)  Anyway, I looked up possible pests to the Prayer Plant and found that there are several but the one seeming to be most likely is the dreaded slug!  Even the name sounds disgusting..slug..ugh!  At least I know how to do battle with this plant demon!  A dish of beer will call all in the vicinity to drink the night away.  The slugs will drown their sorrows away in my dish of alcoholic beverage!  An open bar will get rid of the slugs!

My Prayer Plant has had such a rough time ever since I received it.  When Susie gave it to me nearly ten years ago, it was a healthy little thing but since then one disaster after another has plagued it!  Several times it has frozen back to the ground,  Hurricane Katrina flooded it with saltwater and tossed it under a debris pile, Ezzy ate it when she was a puppy and now slugs!  Still..it lives.  Maybe it is because of the kindness in which it was given..maybe it is because of the hardiness of the plant..maybe it is because it says its prayers every night!  After ten years of neglect, I have now vowed to make life better for my little plant!  I shall fight the demon slugs!