I recently won a Norfolk Island Pine tree, and it inspired me to write poetry!
Oh Norfolk Island Pine
Your beauty is so fine.
Would you like to be my tree
And celebrate Christmas with me?
Oh Norfolk Island Pine
Your beauty is so fine.
If I load you down with lights
Will you be able to stay upright?
Oh Norfolk Island Pine
Your beauty is so fine.
After all the holidays
Will you continue to amaze?
Oh Norfolk Island Pine
Your beauty is so fine.
You’ve inspired this bad poetry
How did you get this out of me?
Oh Norfolk Island Pine
Your beauty is so fine.
*****
I won this tree at work and immediately had several questions about it thrown at me by my co-workers.
Here are my answers…
Yes, I’ll get it to grow. It likes the same relative temperatures that I do, and I’ll water it like a regular house plant. I’ll also provide it with some direct sunlight in the sunroom where it will get both morning and afternoon sun. The biggest challenge will be to keep the humidity around it on the high side. I can do that by misting it and possible setting the pot on a bed of wet rocks.
No, I will not plant it outside. It isn’t hardy here, not by a long shot. Having to provide this answer just points out that many people don’t really ‘see’ all the plants around them. Otherwise they would have noticed that there are no Norfolk Island Pines growing outside in Indiana, or really anywhere where there might be a frost.
Araucaria heterophylla. Surprisingly, no one actually asked me the botanical name of this plant but I’m providing it as an answer anyway because some people like to know stuff like this.
And the final answer…
No one really understands why this particular tree inspires bad poetry. Researchers are still coming up it with hypotheses, testing them, and going through the data.
Those researchers might appreciate this bit of data, a Haiku I just wrote.
Norfolk Island Pine
Tree for Christmas holiday
That grows year around.
Can you write something worse?
Other Christmas related posts:
Annual Christmas Letter From May Dreams Gardens
It would take me too long to figure out something worse and it is late. I’ll work on it tomorrow!
But I am not surprised that your co-workers did not ask the botanical name. I’d guess many do not even know botanical names exist, if they are not gardeners.
Nice tree! It has been suggested to me as a houseplant several times.
I think the world will never get a
Plant I hate more than the poinsettia.
Whatever care the thing receives,
It only wants to drop its leaves.
(We’ve been having an ongoing situation with the points at work. Root rot is suspected, but nobody really knows. I went from liking them to never wanting to see another one as long as I live in the space of about four weeks.)
Oh Christmas time,
carols run through my mind.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year,
but all the jingle belling is making my mind swelling.
I am of good cheer.
But, if I can’t stop, I will need a beer.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
Love ya, Dee
A particularly lame haiku~~~
Lovely Norfolk Pine of yours,
table top it sits.
Brings cheer to all who see it.
Happy Solstice Day Carol!
Gail
Pine from Norfolk Isle
a prize for one
who can grow
most anything
I liked Dee’s need for a beer! HA
Frances
O Norfolk Island,
I pine to be
where your trees
grow outdoors.
O Norfolk Island,
I pine to be
where it’s not
minus 15 degrees.
O Norfolk Island,
I pine to be
where the snow
is only a dream;
not this relentless reality.
Thanks Carol. That made me feel better. Now maybe I can summon the energy to go out and shovel. I used to buy tiny Norfolk pines at the grocery and decorate them for Christmas. When they got too big, I’d put them by the curb with a “Free to good home” sign.
Hard to top those, Carol.
While in Florida this past February I saw a most unusual and beautiful evergreen that I wasn’t able to identify. Araucaria heterophylla the natives said. Huh? Norfolk Pine. Oh. Looks nothing like the Christmas Tree variety sold for indoor plants.
Perhaps a chorus of your state anthem ” ..back home again in Indiana and it seems that I can see the gleaming candlelight still shining bright through the Norfolk Pine for me…”
There once was an Idaho Gardener,
who lived on a snowy hill.
With mountains around her,
the the desert below her,
she leaned on her windowsill.
To take it all in,
it made her head spin,
she lived in continual WONDER!
I, like Gail, like haiku, too:
Eight degrees it is today
Makes me want to hide
Wake me up when spring is here
And it just started snowing…again. I can be grateful, though, that I’m not in MN. Keep warm!
Tiny evergreen tree
could you be the plant for me?
Or will you yellow, wilt & shed,
ending up a dried stick instead.
Are you just a waste of cash?
Will you end up in the trash?
Or will you linger several years,
defying all my houseplant fears?
Those are popular houseplants in San Francisco where they will, and do, grow outside. I’ve often thought about getting one myself. I like them limbed up quite a bit. Makes it a different plant, but very interesting to look at.
That Norfolk Pine
Is mighty fine
How I wish that
It were mine.
But since it’s not
I’ll stop my whine
And have another
Glass of wine.
I think the world will see
nothing prettier than your tree
and you got it for free!
I am not a poet or a song writer, but I seem to have “Oh Christmas Tree” or should I say “Norfolk Island Pine” going through my head.
I used to have a nice one that we decorated for Christmas, but don’t remember what happened to it.
Merry Christmas,
Sue
I have a small Norfolk pine that I got as a little gift one year. It was about 8 inches high, including the pot, and was decorated with tiny little bows.
I planted it outside (sans bows) in another, larger pot, and put it in (what I thought was) a spot that was temporary.
Turned out it really LIKES that spot and put down a taproot through the bottom of the pot.
It is now considered to be in a “raised bed”.
I am still surprised that it’s alive, after almost 4 years.
Christmas doesn’t come to mind
When I think of Norfolk Pine,
Because I met it through a story
Where it grew in tall, green glory.
Michener’s Tales of South Pacific
Won the Pulizer terrific
Paradise meets World war two
With fighter planes where trees once grew.
(bad enough for you?)
Another famous auricaria is the monkey puzzle tree – but it wouldn’t look so cute with Christmas bows. May your Norfolk Island Pine spend many happy Christmases with you, Carol!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Love your little Norfolk Island Pine, though it’s funny to think of your being able to keep it small. They are very common here, especially planted along beachfront parks, but small is not a word that applies to them!
While Annie may be thinking of "South Pacific," her mention of the Monkey Puzzle Tree reminds me of "The Ghost & Mrs. Muir."
Haha… great poem! 🙂