The Forest of Chachkis

Over the years, my labmate and I have accumulated numerous plants at our desk window. In fact, we've begun to measure the course of our graduate degrees based upon the height and breadth of the 'monster plant,' otherwise known as Mr. Prickly.

Mr. Prickly is a Christmas cactus that spent years as a two stalked stick-like eyesore in the window of a fellow graduate student. We eventually inherited him and on a whim, decided to repot the poor thing. Mr. Prickly quickly expanded, growing roots, stems, leaves and even flowering a couple of times. Mr. Prickly grew so big, in fact, that he blocked out the sun from our window (this is saying a lot since the window is impressively expansive.) For months we worked in near-darkness. After a massive battle of branch clipping and chopping, things are more or less under control. We can now look out our window without leaves blocking our view. Mr. Prickly may not tower over us like he used to, but he does preside over a growing collection of random odds and ends...

...and thus began the saga of The Forest of Chachkis...
Image from www.library.okstate.edu