All of a sudden my plants are dying. OK, not all of my plants. The hoards of spider plants and wandering jew plants that I am taking care of for friends are still thriving as always. The plants that are mine, all mine, however, are doing poorly. My pretty little ivy, my philodendron, my cayanne pepper, and the spider and wandering-jew that are not foster-plants....all look sad. I'm not sure why, because nothing had changed.

The ivy is doing the worst. Almost all of it's leaves have gone brown and dry, within the past week or two. I have been watering it consistantly (not too much, not too little) since I got it last fall, and it has been thriving up till now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will recover.

The philodendron has also gone from thriving to droopy within a months time. More and more leaves are going yellow and dead. I've had it since September, so the sudden change is disconcerting.

The cayenne pepper is a little yellow and droopy, but it seems to be hanging on better than the other two. Again, this is a plant that I've had since fall. I think this one has a good chance of making it, despite the droop.

I think the spider plant just needs to be trimmed down and forced to re-grow. It has gone from verticle to horizontal. It doesn't seem to matter which way I turn it, if I turn it away from the sun, it doesn't change direction. I'm not terribly worried, as spider plants seem next to unkillable.

The spider plant also might be ready for a come-back. It was very lush when I first got it, and then bits of it died. I've done some judicious trimming, trying to coax it into bushing out, but for the moment it is pretty damn spindly. Again, not terribly concerned.

I think if my ivy dies entirely, I'm going to cry. I don't see any mold on it, or any obvious reason for it to have shriveled. I'll keep up the sun and water regimen, and see what happens. Maybe I should put it outside, now that it is warm?

Argh.