Mother-in-law's tongue

My grandmother Mildred (Gran) as a girl in the early 1900’s

When Elle was born in the spring of 1926 her father was there. She remembers seeing a photo of him holding her as a baby yet the mystery of his disappearance would remain for many decades. His marriage to Mildred must have been so tumultuous that she erased his memory and none of her relatives ever mentioned him. After going through a required waiting period and legal proceedings including posting notice in newspapers concerning the whereabouts of Elle’s biological father as a missing person, Mildred married Dutch who became the only father Elle ever knew.

Mildred was a mother working outside the home when most women were full time homemakers. After Mildred’s sibling became adults Elle was an only child. She loved Mildred’s youngest sibling who was the only girl. Elle later named her only daughter after her aunt.

Mildred could cook, sew and create domestic tranquility and beauty but she had her hands full even after her marriage to Dutch. My Gran seemed to want to make up for the Great Depression by collecting doodads (more on that later) and blessing me with whatever toy, stuffed animal or doll I wanted. Gran gave me my first doll that was like a real baby and I named her Mary. I treasured her, carried her everywhere (until sexy Barbie and Ken came along when I was older) and I still have Mary today. Gran and I made several trips on Saturdays to the doll hospital where a man made his full time living repairing dolls. It was Gran who taught me to crochet and sew doll clothes and she was the qualified professional seamstress.

Gran collected plants and because she never threw away anything I thought that when you acquire a house plant it meant a lifelong relationship with that plant. Only in the last decade have I realized that house plants eventually need to be thrown out and replaced-strange how old habits linger. Most of my life I felt terribly guilty if I threw out a plant- well I just couldn’t because it was a living thing. Now when they start looking bad they are tossed into the trash with only a small tinge of guilt. Am I a bad person?

Gran did have some well to do relatives and one of them was a taxidermist.  She had several large glass cages filled with branches and beautiful stuffed birds at the front of her parlor. Surrounding the multi-colored birds was a jungle of plants. African violets were everywhere and there were always new violet leaves growing roots through aluminum foil over a glass with water. There was one prolific plant that fascinated me since Gran called it “Mother-in Law’s Tongue.” I’ve never heard it called that by anyone else so I decided it was probably not the nicest name for an innocent plant. Since these plants are hard to kill, multiply in the pot and require almost no maintenance I have a few in my home now. Here are two photos of the “Mother-in Law’s Tongue. If anyone knows the real name of this plant and the best ways to care for it I’m all ears.