Lucky Bamboo/Lily and Dandelions

My "Lucky Bamboo" plant as it looks now

I wrote a post on the 12th of September this year about a butterfly that landed on my kitchen windowsill -

A Butterfly That I Felt Was Worth Crowing About

My half dead "Lucky Bamboo" plant
 last September with the butterfly

In that post I promised to write a follow up post about a few synchs I had with my "Lucky Bamboo" plant at the time, but I kept putting it off until today, which probably makes it a richer post now in hindsight.

I have since found out that "Lucky Bamboo" is not bamboo at all, but from the Lily family, so it should probably be called a "Lucky Lily" instead.

"The Lucky Bamboo is not a Bamboo plant at all.

It belongs to the same family as the Lily plants.

It is native to the tropical rain forests of Africa and parts of South East Asia.

The Lucky Bamboo plant is also known as Curly Bamboo, Chinese Water Bamboo, Friendship Bamboo, Goddess of Mercy Plant and Ribbon plant."

Although that probably wouldn't be a good idea in Australia, as Lilies are a plant associated with death.

I had no idea on the day I saw the butterfly that my "bamboo" was really more of a lily and when I thought of bamboo plants I thought of pandas, because pandas are meant to like eating bamboo.

And the weirdest thing is that a few days after I wrote the post about seeing the butterfly I saw that the world's oldest panda died on the 1st anniversary of my father's passing, Wednesday the 13th of September.

China mourns death of the world's oldest panda Basi at age 37

My "Lucky Bamboo" in my rented unit around March

I first mentioned my "Lucky Bamboo" plant in this old post, which was more about dandelions than my lucky plant -

Plant Medicine, Rune Soup and Dandelions

That post involved the above podcast of Gordon from the 'Rune Soup' blog interviewing Becky Beyer about plants as food and medicine.

The Dandelion plant growing from
 a crack in my carport concrete

When I was renting in my last place of residence about the only outdoor plant I had growing was the dandelion pictured above.

Today when I was in my backyard, I noticed two dandelions had sprouted in the last week.

Dandelions sprouting in my yard today near my tin chook

And mushrooms growing in my brickwork, too

I hadn't spent a lot of time in my backyard this week, as it has been constantly raining all week, hence the mushrooms thriving between my pavers.

In a way I see a dandelion as a potentially luckier plant than a "Lucky Bamboo".

Although that may just be wishful thinking on my part;-)

Dandelion Meaning & Symbolism

"To this day, Dandelion still reminds us that wishes have power, but they also come with responsibility.

We have said this before: Nature spirits may be capricious.

They don’t operate exactly like humans do, which also makes them a lot of fun.

Dandelion’s favorite saying is “expect the unexpected.”"

That's just par for the course around my home, I reckon.

And I see this week that Gordon's wish came true, and he is now the proud owner of a farm in Tasmania.

THAT TIME GORDON BOUGHT AN ACTUAL FARM

I love Tassie, so maybe in the years ahead if it's in my cards I might be down there, too.

Might just depend on my "Lucky Bamboo"?

When I was in my last home, I tended to neglect watering my plant, but since I moved into my new home, I give my plant some water out of the jug before I make my morning coffee and as you can see from the photo right at the top, it's starting to thrive.

Even the little stalk that I had given up for dead is coming to to life.

I would have thrown what I thought of as the dead plant out a while back, but I liked the Yin/Yang type motif of a dead plant/live plant side by side.

But the dead plant wasn't dead at all I found out. 

Unlike the lady in the video above, I did nothing to bring my "dead" plant back to life, except look after the living one. 

Another bizarre coincidence occurred the morning I was Google-ing around for information about "Lucky Bamboo" and came across this website, which was also the website that I found out "Lucky Bamboo" was really not bamboo at all but related to the lily.  

Facts About the Lucky Bamboo Plant

There was a video on this site (the one above) where this guy was wearing pretty much a copy of the same clothes I was wearing that morning.

Although my Pink Floyd t-shirt was a cheap Big W knock off, which was good for wearing to bed, but not out in the street.

Me in my cheap Big W Pink Floyd t-shirt
 while watching Bamboo guy

Maybe I should get a 'Bad Panda' t-shirt instead?-)

I think I need to read my Benebell Wen book and keep rubbing my laughing Buddha's tummy until I'm laughing all the way to the bank;-)

And maybe get a few more plants?
"Although the word bamboo occurs in several of this plant's common names, D. braunii is of an entirely different taxonomic order from true bamboos.

Despite several of its common names that suggest it is from China or Belgium, it is a native African species.
Keeping lucky bamboo inside houses and business places is believed to bring happiness and prosperity, and this belief has promoted sales of lucky bamboo shoots grown in decorative pots.

The plant has become the most popular indoor plant in certain parts of India, where the plants are usually imported from China and Taiwan."

Ah ... the story of my life on one DVD

And maybe rent some movies, too?

Still, it could be worse, like in 'The Married Guy';-)