Taming the Monster

Although the temperature here in northern Ohio is forecast to reach 83F by Sunday, we are now officially in autumn.  It is time to begin doing autumn chores, one of those being to bring in the houseplants which had spent the summer outside.

The toughest part of that chore is to bring in the rubber tree plant which in the twenty eight years which I have had it has grown into a monster.  Each summer it grows a little bit bigger.  I have to drag it in and out of the house, and when it's inside it seems to take up half of my bedroom.

If it weren't a tropical plant, I would it outside and let it grow into an enormous tree as it does in Mexico.  I love my rubber tree, and I love how it has grown over the years, but I decided that enough was enough.  I took the clippers to it.  I did not clip its height at all, but I did trim off many of the outspreading branches.

It may not look that much smaller in the photo, but I had reduced its width considerably.  It still has to be dragged inside, but once it was in my room the difference was dramatic.

It is still a large and impressive plant, but it no longer seems to be threatening to take over the entire room like something from "The Little Shop of Horrors".  I even have room to place a couple of smaller potted plants next to it.