Sweetie chose this plant for me when he dropped by my childhood home. He said it looked very sad and brought it back home. I was getting mixed results from Google Lens, so I decided to ask my friends. Some said it was tsaang gubat, others said it's Fukien tea tree. Either way, it's tea and a tree, hehe.
I think the plant was given to my Mom. It was still in a black plastic pot, but placed inside a terracotta pot. The soil was very sticky and muddy. I had to remove broken pieces of terracotta from it. Mom probably placed them there to ward off cats. I struggled for about ten minutes trying to remove it from the pot. I got help from Sweetie to remove it.
My friend, Boss, said it's best re-potted in loose loam soil. I mixed loam soil, some compost and rice hull and then transferred the plant to a slightly bigger pot. I added back the broken pieces of clay on top to make sure our cats don't get ideas to use it as a toilet (gaah). I added more rice hull on top as an additional deterrent.
It's been six days since I re-potted it and it looks like it's adjusting well. I gave it some rice water from a friend's recommendation. I hope it will grow and last for a long time. Maybe in time I can propagate part of it. Maybe it can be a bonsai :)
#BeKind #StaySafe
