Mimulus Puniceus... aka Miss Monkey Flower

Meet mimulus puniceus... isn't she beautiful? She's a Monkey Flower, and for our story, let's call her Miss Monkey Flower.

She's is a native California flower that originates from San Diego. Let's revel in her beauty for a moment... faint orange flowers, with papery delicate petals, so fragile, so pretty. Definitely a Miss.

I got her as a present from one of my coworkers. Or really, from my coworkers husband. Native gardening is his hobby. He loves it, and teaches it to others. He's the kind of guy who has such intense hobbies, and does them so well and with such fervor that you wonder what in the world you're wasting your own free time on. But I digress.

Back to Miss Monkey Flower. So she was propagated from a plant in Griffith Park by my coworker's husband. He took her home, planted the clipping, nurtured it, and then sent it to work with his wife. Thank you!!!

Here's a picture of her in the office, kinda nice, right? But I soon learned that the problem with having something that was propagated from a plant in a park, and then nurtured in dirt outside, is that when you bring it inside, it sometimes invites its friends...

So in my first watering, I picked up Miss. Monkey Flower, and saw movement. I saw. A millipede. I would have taken a picture... but it was fast. And for something an inch long... kinda scary.

(It's my personal opinion that animals, err organic creatures, should have either two or four legs. None is definitely scary, and more than four gets exponentially creepier the more legs you add. Think about it, and ant... okay, I can handle that. A spider? It's time to call for reinforcements.)

So here she sits today. Safely in an pot, in a bowl, and full of pesticide that I was assured is as organic and non-toxic as something that is meant to kill things can be.

Rest in peace, millipede. Rest in peace.