I re-potted my cayenne plant earlier this summer and it has really been thriving. It has gotten huge and bushy and I've been harvesting quite a few peppers. Of course, I don't use many of them, so it's about time to start pawning them off on other people--people who eat spicier food than I do.

I'm very fond of this plant. I've had it the entire time I've lived in this apartment (since fall 2002). It went through a bit of a dark time when it was outgrowing its pot and I hadn't been able to re-pot it. At one point it was almost entirely dead, so I cut off the whole top of the plant and let it re-grow from the sprouting at the base. I'm amazed at how lush it has gotten since then. It's bigger now than it was when I was first given it.

I see it as somehow symbolic. Most of my other plants are spider plants (blah), wandering jews, or philodendron, so they will thrive not matter what. It takes a lot to kill them. My poor little English Ivy died last year. But this plant is the one that I have the emotional attachment to--at least, as much of an emotional attachment as you can have to a potted plant. It's pretty and spicy and useful and somehow manages to keep going despite the odds being against it.

You go, little cayenne!