Classification Notice for Half-Dead Plant
The plant has been declining since February. It receives water in bursts, long periods of nothing, and occasional apologies. It is still alive.
CLASSIFICATION NOTICE RE: The plant in the kitchen window TYPE: Resilient decliner with periodic recovery events
Current Status
The plant is alive. This should not be taken for granted given the care history.
Condition: mixed. Three leaves showing active growth. Two leaves yellowed and likely to detach within the week. One leaf at an indeterminate stage that could go either way. The soil moisture: uncertain, addressed approximately every five to eight days or when the plant looks notably more distressed than usual.
The Care Pattern
The plant is watered when noticed, which occurs:
- When the plant looks obviously distressed.
- When someone fills a glass of water and the plant is nearby.
- After reading an article about plant care.
- During a period of general household reorganization.
- After a period of guilt about not having watered it.
The watering is sometimes enthusiastic and more than needed. The subsequent periods are long enough that the enthusiasm is fully offset. The net care level is approximately forty percent of what the care card specified.
The Plant's Response
The plant has not died. It has also not achieved the lush state it was in when it arrived. It occupies a stable intermediate category: surviving with occasional improvement events and occasional deterioration events, maintaining a sufficient number of healthy leaves to justify continued occupancy of the windowsill.
The Prognosis
The plant will continue in this state. Occasional good weeks will produce growth. Occasional bad weeks will produce leaf loss. The balance is not improving but is not worsening over any longer measurement period.
The plant is here. The plant has adapted to the situation. The situation is not changing.