The Olive Weed

The plant began to grow in a potted Plumeria I had bought in San Pedro and brought back to the house in Fullerton. I had placed the Plumeria in the front porch beneath one of the 70 year-old Olive Trees which lined the front of the house. Did I mention that I recently found out that Norton Simon once lived in my house in Fullerton? As he made his fortune and acquired his art collection, he hid away in Fullerton. In the house that 70 years later would be mine! It was a gorgeous house. Spanish Bungalow built in 1928 with still everything original. The Olive trees had been planted by one of the owners with the help of some neighbors, which still lived there and told me the story. That is how I know exactly when those trees were planted.

And so one of the seeds germinated in the Plumeria pot as it traveled with my parents to Riverside County when they moved to Beaumont and I moved to DTLA. My mother may know how to cook the best Mexican food ever, but she doesn’t know a thing about plants so when she asked me if she could pull the weed out, which was growing next to the Plumeria, I’m glad I said, “let me see this weed.”

It was no weed, but an Olive tree I soon realized was an offshoot of my beloved trees in Fullerton–which by way, were taken down by the couple who bought the house from me. A disease took over them apparently. Unfortunate. That is why it’s extra special that they still exist in some form. When I moved to Whiskeytown, my mother said, “we’re bringing you your weed that has gotten so big.” The Plumeria had already been transplanted from that pot to the ground and it became a beautiful Plumeria tree which stayed in the Yorba Linda house when my parents moved. A Plumeria tree my lover of a thousand years loved as it was his favorite flower. I say was because I think he’s lost all ability to enjoy the small things in life like a perfectly formed, pink Plumeria flower.

Now Olivia the Olive Tree is here with me in the country and she seems to like it. We have traveled a lot to get here and I decided not to put her in the ground because I don’t think we’ll be here forever and I would love to have her come with me again and again. I just repotted her and she is heavy and strong. She has grown to the side like the wind wants to carry her away but can’t.