Bye Bye Babies

It was a confusing few minutes. After Richard's doctor appointment (he's officially in great shape, thanks for asking) we hit the grocery store. It was while unloading the groceries that the texts started coming in on his phone.

He'd advertised on Craig's List and several other locations about the agave babies. Several people had let us know they'd come by and gathered a few off the stalk, and indeed, last look yesterday showed a bit of a bare spot growing. Most had been assured there were hundreds left. Now the first text was an offer to take the whole stalk from a "plant rescuer" if they still needed a home.

Cool! I told Rich to text back to give it a few days so a couple of folks who were interested could swing by.

As soon as that was sent, another came through from somebody who'd just stopped by and the stalk was already gone!

Say what? Rich stepped out and verified that it was indeed gone, sawed off at about the four foot mark. We hadn't even noticed when we returned to the house. So Rich had to contact several people who'd expressed interest and let them down, then erase the advertisements.

I went out and took down the sign I'd made up about recommendations for planting, attached to the house by blue painters tape arrows pointing at the stalk. Before heading back in I gave an exploratory pull to the remaining stalk, just to see how easily we could remove it. It'll definitely take a saw at ground level, taking care not to cut through its offshoot. My fears of it toppling in case one of those hinted-at monsoon storms came through were completely overblown, despite its taking on a decided tilt in the last few days.

Now I just have to deal with my final concern, removing the babies which, nicely rooted and potted, are sitting outside the front door on a pair of small patio tables and relocate them to the back patio before somebody comes by and decided we actually meant those were the ones we meant for them to pick up. They can be gradually reintroduced to the sun from there, and easily watered. Then, in a month or so, it'll truly be bye bye babies, except for the few growing in my yard by then.

Funny, I'm both heartened by their finding as many homes as they did, and saddened at the same time.