I was homeless and needed my plants to be taken care of. So I dropped them off at a friend’s. One planter, a year later, didn’t look so good:
The middle plant died and the ones on the left and right, were about to give up as well. This is the planter right now, three years later:
I just transferred them to a bigger, nicer one as they are thriving! The scale is off, but that small red spiky thing became this huge green spiky thing. The one on the left was in bloom all spring! They’re juicy, other plants joined them. I’m in love.
I never gave up on them. I kept watering them, once in a while. Sometimes I would forget, and they would look dehydrated. I would double-down on caring, for a short period.
And now they look fabulous.
Something something love, effort, consistency. It works.