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Friday Slide Show: The Money Tree
30 April 2021
When Joyce was hospitalized last summer for several weeks while radiated tissue was removed from her leg, friends in Texas sent her a pachira money tree from Monica's Florist across the street from the hospital. It was tiny but extravagant and sat in her one window looking out for her.
When she came home we put it in our front window. It seemed to like the light and has grown quickly into the space. We often look at it thinking we should take a few photos of the diffused sunlight brightening its large leaves.
So we did. Finally. Just in time for National Arbor Day.
It's very dramatic in direct sun but we wanted diffused light. Even in diffused light we were going to lose the background, we knew. As it was, we had to overexpose by a stop to lift the midtones into recognizable territory.
The leaves shoot out from their stem in an array of five elongated leafs. When they reflect the light, they look soft rather than waxy. When they transmit the light, they simply glow.
The trunk, though, is another story. It's formed by several braided bands of wood that twist around like muscles to hold the foliage above it. The contrast between a trunk and its greens is always impressive but it seems even more exaggerated in a money tree.
We used our 18-200mm Nikkor for the full-portrait distance shots and the Lensbaby Twist 60 (a 90mm equivalent on our D300) for everything else.
As a subject for photography, that money tree is just delightful. But what's it mean?
We found this authoritative explanation:
The money tree represents the five elements of feng shui in balance. These elements are wood, water, fire, metal and earth. This makes the money tree plant an ideal living example of harmony and balance. The money tree a perfect plant to use for attracting money, wealth and abundance.
The site goes into the history of the plant and how it got its braids and all the rest (like where to place it). We read it so you don't have to.
It did recommend placing it in the southeast corner of your home. Oddly enough we don't have a southeast corner. And the southern corner we do have is where we access our utilities. Not, in short, a lucky spot.
We can confirm that there's no financial advantage to harboring a money tree. It seems just the opposite. But then we should probably attribute the financial burden to the ongoing health situation rather than the lack of a southeast corner. After a return to the hospital for 10 days, Joyce is now receiving outpatient and in-home healthcare services for her continuing wound care.
"It's going to be a long haul," her surgeon warned us at the beginning. And she was right. The healing is just beginning to be noticeable eight months after surgery.
Despite its failure to flood us with fortune, we wouldn't willingly part with this money tree. Every time we look at it, we marvel at its power and grace. And we are reminded of some very special friends far away who are rooting for Joyce.
Which is something money can't buy.
