Go with the flow to minimize the shock of transplant.
This wonderful article about the shock of rooting in a new environment comes to us by the author herself, Ms. Janes. The article was published in The Salt Lake Tribune, on Friday, January 8, 1988 Jamuna
Go with the flow to minimize the shock of transplant.
One day while I was puttering in my garden, my husband came to me and said. “Honey Bunch (he only called me that when he knew I wouldn’t want to do what he had on his mind). I think it would be a great idea if we moved to Utah.”
It didn’t pay to get excited when he came up with great ideas.
I said, I think it would be an OK place to visit, but I certainly didn’t want to live there. The plant I was transplanting started to quake and quiver. He added, “But Honey Bunch, I think it would be a better place to raise our family.” I liked living in California. I loved gardening and I loved to experiment with transplanting different plants. I like to see how they would do in different soils I had mixed and created and then move them to different areas of my yard (sunny to shady and visa versa), or moving them into the house to see how they handle the shock of being transplanted.
If you’ve done your homework, they will perk up and grow with vim and vigor and adjust to their new environment and start taking root. My roots were in California. I liked my home and I didn’t feel we had outgrown it. I didn’t feel root bound or that I had outgrown my planter. So why move?
Due to the circumstances (his, not mine), I gave it some thought and knew if I didn’t go he would probably go without me (little did I know). So hesitantly I agreed to put our house up for sale. It sold. We moved to Utah, one husband, one wife, two boys, one Great Dane, and several plants. I never gave much thought to the plant’s viewpoint when I transplanted it until I moved to Utah and I became the transplantee.
If you ever noticed a plant after you have transplanted it, it wilts, loses some leaves, and its color fades (plant depression, better known as “Transplant Shock”). Well I could really relate to this now. I had all the symptoms of transplant shock, my arms and shoulders hung limply, my head felt heavier than I could ever remember, my eyelids dropped, I experienced some hair loss, my color was so faded I had to keep adding more blush to my cheeks.
After I was in Utah about two weeks (the hardest time of the transplant shock), I made up my mind I was not going to stay any longer than a year (transplant depression talk). I wouldn’t learn my way around the area or make new friends because I wasn’t going to be here long enough to have it make any difference.
After six long months, I realized I had to do something; I couldn’t just sit and wait for the “shock” to lift. I had to do something to help get acclimated to my new environment or I wouldn’t survive until I went back to California. This is when I decided to get my real estate license and sell property. Before I could do that, I knew I had to learn my way around the area and meet some new people. Maybe the reason I wanted to get into real estate was because I could relate to the people who were moving and knew they could use a friend when their shock set in.
I liked the idea of being a transplant counselor. I could always tell when a person was suffering from Transplant Shock. They scuff their feet when they walk, too listless to lift them all the way up and put them down. Their hair looks a little wilted (handing), but they love to talk, because they really do want to meet and make new friends.
After a couple of trips back to California to visit family, I realized how happy I was to be on the plane flying home, yes, to Utah. I knew then I had started to take root and was becoming acclimated to my new environment. My limbs picked up. I was getting my color and energy back; that overall feeling of good health.
I have lived in Utah 11 years now, own a home, and have no intention of going back to California. If I ever had to relocate again, I know I would suffer some transplant shock, but by going with the flow I could minimize this shock and start taking root much sooner.
Ms. Janes
